1942: Texas

Area and Population.

The area of Texas, the largest state in the Union, includes 263,644 sq. mi. of land, and 3,695 sq. mi. of inland water surface, a total of 267,399 sq. mi., according to the revised measurements undertaken for the 1940 census. The population was 6,414,824 in 1940, an increase of 10.1 per cent over the population of 1930. In this respect Texas ranks sixth among the states. The urban population included 2,911,389, or 45.4 per cent; rural, 3,503,435, or 54.6 per cent. While the state is still primarily rural, the growth of urban population has been an outstanding development. The native population in 1940 numbered 6,179,296, and the foreign-born, 235,528. Of the latter 159,266 were Mexicans. The Negro population in 1940 was 924,391. Other non-white races, largely American Indians, Chinese, and Japanese, numbered only 2,888.

The principal cities of Texas, in order of rank by the census of 1940, are Houston, 384,514; Dallas, 294,734; San Antonio, 253,854; Fort Worth, 177,622; El Paso, 96,810; Austin, 87,930; Galveston, 60,862; Beaumont, 59,061; and Corpus Christi, 57,301.

Education.

The scholastic population (ages, 6 to 17) for the school year 1941-42, numbered 1,314,634 whites and 245,700 Negroes; total, 1,560,334. Enrollment during the year included 1,311,809, of whom 968,171 were in elementary grades and 343,638 in high schools. Of the total enrollment, 1,095,050 were white; 216,759 were Negroes. Schools, as classified by the State Department of Education for the year 1941-42, were as follows: elementary schools, 7,208; elementary with junior high school, 531; separate junior high schools, 144; other high schools of various types, 2,728. The total number of white teachers was 38,274; teachers for Negro schools were 6,419. The average annual salary of the white teachers was $1,170; Negroes, $732. White elementary school principals averaged $1,970; white high-school principals, $2,020. Negro elementary school principals averaged $1,384; Negro senior high school principals, $1,222.

During the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 1942, the state spent $63,340,718.92 on its public schools and its institutions of higher learning. The state contributes more than half of the public-school costs, and local support has declined in recent years.

Agriculture.

The value of all crops produced in Texas in 1942, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, was $665,239,000. The harvested acreage of cultivated crops was 26,821,000. Cotton is the principal crop, though it has declined in relative importance in recent years. Nevertheless, the value of the 1942 crop of 3,113,000 bales was worth $275,500,000. Next in value were: corn, $69,919,000; grain sorghums, $67,429,000; wheat, $50,759,000; and peanuts, $23,970,000. The grapefruit crop was worth $14,940,000.

With 137,683,372 acres in farms and ranches, only about 27,000,000 acres of which are in cultivation, there are more than 100,000,000 acres of prairie and woodland that are the basis of the state's large livestock industry. Because of the abundance of native plant life for stock feed, Texas has always been predominantly a producer of range animals. In recent years there has been developed an appreciable feeding and finishing industry, but large numbers of Texas beef cattle still go to Iowa and other corn-belt states to be fattened for market. As of Jan. 1, 1942, the total value of all Texas livestock was placed by the United States Department of Agriculture in excess of $500,000,000. There were included: 7,444,000 cattle, of which 1,473,000 were milk cattle; 10,349,000 sheep, 3,500,000 Angora goats, 2,042,000 hogs, 660,000 horses, 620,000 mules, 31,681,000 chickens, and 983,000 turkeys. Texas is the leading state in beef cattle, also in number of sheep and production of wool. It has more than four-fifths of the nation's Angora goats and produces a like proportion of mohair.

Manufacturing Industry.

The year 1942 was noteworthy in Texas because of the rapid expansion of war industries. Several hundred million dollars were spent during the eighteen months ended Dec. 31, 1942, in the construction of plants for the manufacture of aircraft, munitions, ships and chemicals. Nearly all of the state's established industry was of basic character — petroleum refining, lumber milling, flour and grist milling, cottonseed crushing, and the textile industries. In most of these, production was speeded up by wartime demands, though in the instance of petroleum refining there was a noteworthy shift from ordinary gasoline to the higher grades needed in military operations. The United States Census of Manufactures of 1940, for production during 1939 gave the following data for Texas: 5,376 plants, $1,530,220,676 value of products. It has been unofficially estimated that the value of products in 1942 was more than twice that in 1939.

Defense.

Because of its warm, semiarid climate and great prairie spaces of well-drained terrain, Texas has been selected as the site of many of the nation's most important military camps. Approximately twenty major army training fields were in operation there at the end of 1942, and Texas was reported to have had a larger number of men in military training within its bounds than any other state. The Third Army headquarters are at San Antonio. The Eighth Service Command headquarters were moved in the latter part of 1942 from San Antonio to Dallas. The army's largest aviation training ground, Randolph Field, is at San Antonio, and at the close of 1942 there were more than thirty training and other flying fields in operation in the state. The navy's principal aviation training station is at Corpus Christi.

Legislative and Political Matters.

There was no legislative session in 1942. The forty-eighth Legislature began its biennial session in January, 1943. In the 1942 election the principal interest was in the race between three former governors of the state for the United States Senate. W. Lee O'Daniel, incumbent senator who had resigned the governorship in 1941 to fill the unexpired term of the late Senator Morris Sheppard, was opposed by James V. Allred and Dan Moody. O'Daniel and Allred led in the first primary and, in accordance with Texas primary election laws, opposed each other in the runoff, O'Daniel winning.

Finance.

The total cost of the state government operations in the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 1942, was $205,741,882.21, of which $63,446,791.54 was for education, $63.340,718.92 for highways, and $51,492,350.63 for pensions and other public welfare. Total revenue receipts were $229,069,079.44. While this indicated a surplus of receipts over expenditures, most of the accrual was to highway, educational, and other special funds, and the general fund showed a deficit of more than $20,000,000 at the end of the fiscal year. The principal items of Texas state revenue for the year were: motor fuel tax, $50,059,310.13; county, federal and other aid, $40,441,921.34; gross receipts and production taxes, primarily from petroleum, $34,937,069.66; ad valorem tax on real and personal property, $18,084,537.95; and employers' contributions to unemployment insurance, $17,921,451.35.

State Officers.

Governor, Coke R. Stevenson; Lieutenant Governor, J. L. Smith; Secretary of State, William J. Lawson; Comptroller of Public Accounts, George H. Sheppard; Treasurer, Jesse James; Auditor, C. H. Cavness; Attorney General, Gerald C. Mann; Superintendent of Public Instruction, L. A. Woods.

United States Senators:

Tom Connally, W. Lee O'Daniel.