1941: Missouri

Area and Population.

Admitted to statehood Aug. 10, 1821, Missouri, 'the Ozark State,' ranks 18th in size among the states, with an area of 69,674 sq. mi., including 404 sq. mi. of inland water surface, according to remeasurements of the United States undertaken for the 16th census in 1940. In population it ranks 10th, numbering 3,784,664, according to the 1940 census. The largest cities are St. Louis, 816,048; Kansas City, 399,178; St. Joseph, 75,711; and Springfield, 61,238. Jefferson City, the capital, has 24,268.

The Ozark region in the southwest, which gives Missouri its nickname, is one of the most popular all-year resort areas in the Midwest, with its profusion of hills, streams, and lakes.

Education.

The latest figures released by the Superintendent of Public Schools show that the inhabitants of school age (6 to 20) on June 30, 1939, were 946,475 (6 per cent Negroes). Seventy-five per cent of these attended 8,750 schools, 519,830 in elementary grades, 192,496 in secondary. There were 26,342 teachers: white, 6,268 men, 18,610 women; Negro, 360 men, 1,089 women. Their salaries averaged as follows: white, men in city schools, $942 in elementary grades, $1,422 in secondary; women in city schools, $1,201 in elementary grades, $1,367 in secondary; Negro, men in city schools, $1,234 in elementary grades, $1,850 in secondary; women in city schools, $1,660 in elementary grades, $1,682 in secondary. Salaries in rural schools averaged from 70 to 30 per cent of these amounts. School expenditures for 1938 were $57,875,789.

Agriculture.

Agriculture conditions throughout the state in 1941 were reported as the best in 60 years; above-average crops, and production of cattle, sheep, and hogs, were combined with above-average prices. The seven southeastern counties enjoyed the greatest prosperity they have ever known, from their production of cotton. These counties are the only producers of cotton in the state; and the yield was the highest in the country, averaging 580 lbs. per acre.

The U. S. census reported as of April 1, 1940, a total of 44,332,800 A. of farm lands, comprised in 256,100 farms, operated by 91,155 renters, 29,836 part owners, and 133,927 full owners.

Livestock returns, as of Jan. 1, 1941, showed 8,659,000 head, valued at $204,672,000, including 524,000 horses, worth $30,314,000; 219,200 mules, worth $16,794,000; cattle, 2,970,000, worth $122,862,000; 1,624,000 sheep, worth $10,878,000; 3,322,000 hogs, worth $23,824,000. There were also 20,795,000 chickens, worth $11,229,000; 262,000 turkeys (1,240,000 raised in 1940), worth $550,000.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture 'food for freedom' campaign to increase the production of high protein foods (meat, milk, and eggs), and of vegetables, is being met by this response from Missouri farmers: Pork production will be increased 32 per cent over 1941 (16 per cent increase was requested); eggs 35 per cent (13 per cent requested); veal 18 per cent; milk, 17 per cent; beef cattle and calves, 18 per cent; soybean acreage, 57 per cent; tomato acreage, 73 per cent.

Industry.

The leading peace-time industries of the state are flour-milling, meat-packing, and the manufacture of petroleum products; with railroading, automobiles and transportation equipment, printing and publishing, and iron and steel manufacture, all of considerable importance. Flour-milling was prosperous in 1941 (Kansas City second in the nation), with a good supply of grains, good sales and good prices. In meat-packing, the year was both active and profitable, as domestic and export demands continued to increase. Kansas City has the largest livestock exchange building in the world, and is second only to Chicago as a livestock and packing center. The petroleum industry had a better year than in 1940, and the domestic demand for crude oil and its by-products reached an all-time high.

Mineral Products.

Production of lead, for which Missouri ranks first in the Union, advanced in 1940 to the highest amount since 1930, totaling 172,052 tons, worth $17,205,200, compared with 156,281 tons worth $16,001,052 in 1939. Next in importance was cement, of which 4,867,799 bbl. shipped in 1940, had a value of $7,616,247. Zinc production was slightly below that of 1939, at 12,705 tons, but an increase in price made the value exceed, at $1,600,587, that of 15,096 tons in the previous year.

In the Kansas City area is the largest steel mill between the Mississippi and the Rockies; at its 100-acre plant are made more varieties of steel products than in any other mill in the world.

Defense contracts mounted to high levels during the year. From September, 1940, to September, 1941, the St. Louis area, as reported by the Office of Emergency Management, received contracts totaling $192,646,414, and the Kansas City area $198,795,474.

Banking.

Missouri is unique in being the only state to include two of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks distributed throughout the country, one in St. Louis and one in Kansas City. Each of the three largest cities does Federal Reserve business throughout the central area, from Colorado to Tennessee and from Iowa and Nebraska to the Gulf. Bank earnings in the state were generally higher in 1941, chiefly due to increased loans; but they are expected to be lower in 1942, because of higher taxes.

Finance.

The State Auditor reported general revenue collections in 1941 of $51,576,659, the largest in the history of the state. The major items included in this total were: Sales tax, $29,514,619; income tax, $7,558,656; liquor and beer taxes, $6,170,899; general property tax, $1,946,777; foreign insurance tax, $1,749,795; inheritance tax, $1,524,779; corporation franchise tax, $1,517,712. Expenditures from the general fund totaled $51,169,168, including public-school funds, $16,947,081; social security funds, $17,560,263. Of the latter, old-age pensions accounted for $10,559,214, aid to dependent children $2,194,971, direct relief $3,254,590, and administration $1,551,487.

Among appropriations voted by the 1941 Legislature were these: For old-age assistance and dependent children, 1941-42, $38,400,000; public schools, January-June 1941, $9,967,717; vocational education, $128,540; state university and other educational institutions, $2,070,700; penal institutions, 1941-42, $7,871,135; eleemosynary institutions, 1941-42, $9,816,850.

Federal funds allocated to Missouri, January-June 1941, for old-age assistance were $6,176,472; for aid to dependent children $1,218,750.

Events of the Year.

The major political event of 1941 was the unsuccessful fight by the 1940 Democratic candidate for Governor, Lawrence McDaniel, to wrest the governorship from his Republican opponent, Forrest C. Donnell. Missouri's greatest political story since the Civil War, starting in the fall of 1940 with one of the closest contests on record, which gave the election to Donnell by a majority of 3,613 votes in a total vote of 1,833,729, then continued with a bitter fight through the winter and spring of 1941 in the Legislature, with all other business put aside. Weeks after the appointed time, the Republicans won out and Governor-elect Donnell was finally inaugurated. Most surprisingly, the state, nationally known for its city-machine struggles, then reached the end of 1941 without further political activities — apparently adjourned 'for the duration.'

The state Legislature passed three measures designed to reduce political control. One provided that, in the interests of a secret ballot, the serial number on each ballot shall be covered with adhesive tape when the ballot is voted. Another amended the state Constitution to provide for non-partisan selection of judges (circuit judges in Kansas City and St. Louis, state Court of Appeals judges, and state Supreme Court judges): election to be purely on the individual record, without primaries or party designation; or by gubernatorial appointment of one from a list of three submitted by a judicial council. The third measure to reduce political control took the Department of Liquor Control out of partisan politics.

Defense.

Among the defense achievements of the year were the completion of Camp Leonard Wood, near Rolla; of the U. S. Cartridge Plant at St. Louis; of the Lake City Ordnance Plant, near Kansas City (for small arms ammunition); and of the Curtiss-Wright plant near St. Louis. Work was also begun on Camp Crowder, near Neosho, to accommodate 18,000 soldiers; and on the 7th Corps Area Base Hospital at Springfield.

State Officers.

Governor, Forrest C. Donnell; Lieutenant Governor, Frank G. Harris; Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown; Auditor, Forrest Smith; Treasurer, Robert H. Winn; Attorney General, Roy McKittrick; Superintendent of Schools, Lloyd King.

United States Senators:

Bennett Champ Clark, Harry S. Truman.