1942: Alabama

Area and Population.

Alabama has a land area of 51,078 sq. mi.; three major river systems; Coosa-Alabama, Tombigbee-Warrior, and Tennessee; more than 5,000 mi. of railway, 3,000 mi. of improved highways, and 1,600 mi. of navigable waterways. The population, according to the 1940 census, was 2,832,961, of whom 1,847,850 were whites (foreign-born 13,066), and 985,111 Negroes. This is a population increase of 7.1 per cent since the previous census. The three largest cities are Birmingham, 267,583; Mobile, 78,720; and the capital, Montgomery, 78,084. The rural population numbers about 47.5 per cent of the whole.

Education.

School attendance is compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 16. Public elementary schools, comprising grades 1-6, enrolled 485,855 pupils in 1940-41; the 12,940 elementary teachers received an average salary of $588 for a school term of 148 days. The high schools, grades 7-12, enrolled 196,419 pupils; the 6,578 teachers received an average of $977 for a term of 167 days. The total net revenue receipts from all sources for all schools amounted to $22,311,814. Of this amount $571,199 was allotted to the University of Alabama, and $704,699 to Alabama Polytechnic institute. The state system includes, in addition, five teacher-training schools, the Alabama College for Women, and the Agricultural and Mechanical Institute (for Negroes). During the year 1941-42 students enrolled in the Engineering, Science, and Management Defense Training courses at the University of Alabama and the Alabama Polytechnic Institute numbered respectively 9,531 and 9,783.

Agriculture.

More than half the total area of Alabama is classified as farm land; the size of the average farm being about 80 acres. The value of the 1941 crops exceeded that of the previous year by more than 50 per cent. The growing season was retarded by early droughts, whereas a dry fall contributed favorably to the harvesting. In order of production value the leading crops were cotton, corn, peanuts, cottonseed, hay, and sweet potatoes. The total value of all crops approximated $164,000,000.

Industry.

During the year 1941 industrial activity in the state reached its highest peak. This resulted chiefly from the defense program, which stimulated demands for the products of heavy industry. In electric energy the state consumed more than two billion kilowatt hours. The cotton industry used 1,224,300 bales of cotton. In the metropolitan area of Birmingham there were 164,123 gainfully employed people whose weekly pay roll amounted to $3,363,500. The city had 541 manufacturing industries which produced 2,325 different products.

Legislation.

The bicameral Legislature, composed of 35 members in the Senate and 106 in the House, now meets quadrennially, but will convene in biennial session after 1943. In a short special session of the Legislature in November, 1942, the following bills were passed: to appropriate $2,000,000 to lengthen the school term to eight months; to protect the jobs of state, county, and municipal employees in military service; to amend the state code so as to bring it in line with the 'lame-duck' section of the Twentieth Amendment to the Federal Constitution.

Finance.

At the close of the fiscal year of 1942 Alabama had a surplus of about $25,000,000. Not since the state entered the Union, in 1819, has she enjoyed such financial strength. Low-ebb had been reached some ten years ago, when the financial condition was worse than at any time since the period following the Civil War. In 1941 the net state receipts totalled $71,017,032. Of this amount $50,109,194 came from taxes, and the balance from non-tax sources. Some $9,000,000 were allocated to the state by Federal grants. Automobile taxes produced 43.1 per cent of the tax receipts, tobacco 25.7 per cent, while general property taxes totalled only 11 per cent from more than a billion-dollar assessed valuation. The much-discussed poll tax contributed a mere 0.5 per cent.

The net state disbursements reached $64,695,938. Schools received approximately one-fourth of this, highways one-fifth, grants to counties one-sixth, and debt service one-tenth. The bonded debt of Alabama amounts to $69,660,000, and the regular annual bill for retirement reaches approximately $5,000,000. As a whole, the debt retirement program is well organized.

State Officers.

Governor, Chauncey Sparks; Lieutenant Governor, Handy Ellis; Secretary of State, Howell Turner; Treasurer, Walter C. Lusk; Auditor, John Brandon; Attorney General, Robert B. Harwood; Superintendent of Education, E. B. Norton.

United States Senators:

John H. Bankhead, Lister Hill.