1942: Tennessee

Area and Population.

One of the earlier states to be admitted to the Union (1796) after the Original Thirteen, Tennessee is in the group known as the South Central States. On its western boundary is the Mississippi River, on the east the Great Smoky Mountains and North Carolina.

The area of the state is 42,022 sq. mi., including 340,800 acres of surface waters. Of the several large artificial lakes created by dams constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, Federal power and flood-control project, the largest are Chickamauga and Watts Bar dams on the Tennessee river, Norris Dam, on the Clinch river, and Cherokee Dam on the Holston river.

Racial groups in the state, besides the native-born whites, are led in numbers by the Negroes, of whom there are 508,736, or 17.4 per cent of the total population of 2,915,841. The total of whites of foreign descent is only 41,080, and of foreign-born whites 11,468. Leading nationalities among the foreign-born are, in order, British, Italians, Russians, Germans, Poles, and Greeks.

Nashville, in the north-central part of the state, is the capital, population 167,415. Other large cities are Memphis, 291,312; Chattanooga, 128,138; and Knoxville, 112,002.

Education.

Expenditures for elementary and high schools in Tennessee, for the 1941-1942 term, totaled $30,059,387.04, with $20,225,032.93 for elementary education and $9,834,354.11 for high schools. Total enrollment in elementary schools was 528,465 and in high schools 124,514. There were 15,216 elementary teachers receiving an average monthly salary of approximately $85, and 5,428 high school teachers paid an average of $115 monthly. Of the total of 5,373 elementary schools, 2,425 were one-teacher schools. The state has 581 high schools.

Industry.

Tennessee industries, normally employing 400,000 workers in the production of textiles, lumber, paper, chemicals, petroleum and coal, rubber, leather, minerals, stone, clay and glass products, iron and steel, machinery, food and kindred products, and tobacco, were converted in many instances to war production. Industrial payrolls, normally around $500,000,000 annually, approximately doubled that figure for 1942. The War Production Board announced that contracts totaling $740,897,000 were awarded in Tennessee up to June, 1942, for war equipment ranging from military uniforms to heavy ordnance. Within a few months' time four Chattanooga plants, and two or more elsewhere in the state, were awarded the Army-Navy 'E' for outstanding contributions to the war program. One of the Chattanooga plants received also the Maritime Commission's 'M.'

Agriculture.

Income in agriculture rose to approximately $200,000,000 in 1942, with returns about equally divided between crops and livestock. Cotton, tobacco, and grains are the leading cash crops, in the order named. The heaviest farm income comes from dairy products, Tennessee being the leading state in the Union in registrations of pure-bred Jersey cattle. Production of beef and pork also accounts for a large part of the agricultural income. Farmers, stepping up production goals in line with the increased demand for military, foreign, and domestic needs, were worried at the year's end about the scarcity of farm labor which threatened to curtail plantings in 1943.

Finance.

Tennessee's bonded debt at the beginning of the 1941-42 biennium was slightly more than $108,000,000, having been reduced by $3,000,000 in the previous biennium. Legislative appropriations for the current biennium are $43,583,908. The total assets of 227 state banks and 32 branch banks on June 30, 1942, amounted to $245,801,997, an increase in six months of $6,700,256.

Politics.

Prentice Cooper, Democrat, of Shelbyville was elected in 1942 to his third term as Governor. In a state heavily Democratic the incumbent had little difficulty in winning after renomination in the August primary.

State Officers.

Governor, Prentice Cooper; Secretary of State, Joe C. Carr; Treasurer, John W. Harton; Comptroller, Robert Lowe; Attorney General, Roy Beeler; Commissioner of Education, B. O. Duggan.

United States Senators:

Kenneth McKellar, Tom Stewart.