1942: Michigan

Area and Population.

The total area of Michigan is 58,216 sq. mi., including 1,194 sq. mi. of inland water surface. A population of 5,256,106 (census of 1940) places her seventh among the states in number of inhabitants. The largest cities are Detroit (1,623,452); Grand Rapids (164,292); Flint (151,543); Saginaw (82,794); and Lansing, the capital of the state (78,753). Nonwhites comprise slightly more than 40 per cent of the state's population. Of the whites, nearly 82 per cent are native-born.

Education.

In 1942 the number of inhabitants of school age was 1,382,979. The 5,555 elementary or common schools, staffed by 19,611 teachers, had an enrollment of 582,262.8 pupils; the 763 high schools, with 12,881 teachers, enrolled 388,041.4 pupils. State expenditure for public schools was $107,189,177.15, not quite one-half of which, or an average of $1,579.26 per teacher, was spent on teachers' salaries in public and high schools.

Agriculture.

Because diversified agriculture had always been practiced in Michigan, her farmers, despite labor shifts to the various defense plants in the state, have probably adapted themselves more readily to wartime demands upon them, than members of the farming industry in most other states. Several new production records have been set — in each instance helping to meet a special wartime need. Michigan's dairy cows, numbering nearly 1,000,000, distributed over 145,000 farms, produced a new and all-time record of 5,320,000,000 lb. of milk. Navy or white pea beans, long a specialty of Michigan, reached a new record total of 6,406,000 hundred-pound bags. A corn crop of 66,980,000 bu. and an estimated 120,100,000 dozen eggs constituted two other 1942 production records. In sugar beets, another product of special wartime importance, the 1,292,000 tons produced represented the largest crop since 1920. The combined total of spring and fall pigs was estimated at 1,823,000, or 51 per cent above the ten-year average. Totals in soy beans, market lambs, potatoes, and numerous fruit crops (including 9,234,000 bu. of apples) were also impressive.

Industry.

In the manufacturing industry the most conspicuous development in 1942 was conversion of plants to wartime demands. Further, a bomber plant was completed by the Ford Company at Willow Run and came into operation during the course of the year. The large-scale shifts in population brought about by these industrial changes gave rise to difficult housing and transportation problems.

A special industry of great importance in Michigan is the tourist business, which the state's 1,600-mile shore line on the Great Lakes, her thousands of small lakes and her extensive forests, make very profitable. Travel restrictions during 1942 reduced by 25 per cent the use of state parks, most of which are in the less settled areas; hunting and fishing decreased to about the same degree. Because of these conditions considerable emphasis has been given by the Department of Conservation to plans for developing outdoor recreational areas in southeastern Michigan, where the population is most dense and where most of the war workers live. During the year, Michigan lakes and streams were stocked with 210,000,000 fish. Sale of products from the state's own forests increased by 25 per cent during 1942.

Minerals.

Michigan's mineral resources were extensively released to the demands of the war effort, including 16,000,000 tons of iron ore, 100,000,000 lb. of copper, millions of pounds of metallic magnesium, and 20,000,000 bbl. of oil.

Defense.

Michigan's Legislature meets regularly only in odd-numbered years. The year 1942, accordingly, witnessed no enactment of legislation. For the various state executive and administrative officials, however, the year was a particularly busy one because of the multiplicity of problems which war brings to a state ranking high in facilities for war production. In 1941 the Michigan Council of Defense, consisting of the Governor (as chairman) and twelve other members, was set up; the Council continued to function actively during 1942. At Fort Custer, near Battle Creek, which served chiefly as an induction center, many thousands of men received their initial military training.

Finance.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1942, income in the General Fund was $170,551,459.51; operating expenditures were $147,336,158.16. The surplus of $23,215,301.35, which by the end of the calendar year had increased to $27,000,000, contrasted sharply with the deficit of $11,709,419.83 which had existed on July 1, 1941. Chief expenditures from the General Fund were as follows: general government, $10,437,937.09; education, $62,895,739.15; public welfare service, $40,223,980.59.

In the State Highway Fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1942, receipts were $64,981,968.72, a decrease of a little over $2,000,000 from the previous year; operating expenditures at $60,924,883.34 were nearly $5,000,000 less than the previous year, despite a heavy program of road construction to meet special wartime needs.

Welfare.

During the first eleven months of 1942 a monthly average of 31,000 cases, representing approximately 95,000 persons, received direct relief from the state. The direct relief load fell 44.2 per cent, from a total of 41,215 cases in January, to 23,011 in November. Total expenditures for eleven months amounted to about $8,197,000. Old-age assistance grants, approximating $19.43 monthly per recipient, were extended to a monthly average of 92,134 persons. As employment opportunities increased during the year, there was a gradual decline in the number of recipients of aid to dependent children. From January to November, such assistance payments amounted to a total of $9,698,722, with grants averaging about $43 monthly being made to an average of 21,392 cases a month, on behalf of 47,230 children. Total assistance to the blind, averaging 1,384 cases monthly, amounted to $396,250 for eleven months. From January to November, the average monthly WPA employment fell from 32,899 workers to 11,844.

State Officers.

Governor, Harry F. Kelly; Lieutenant Governor, Eugene C. Keyes; Secretary of State, Herman H. Dignan; State Treasurer, D. Hale Brake; Auditor General, Vernon J. Brown; Attorney General, Herbert J. Rushton; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Eugene B. Elliott.

United States Senators:

Arthur H. Vandenberg, Homer Ferguson.