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.

1941: Tennessee

Area and Population.

One of the earlier states admitted to the Union (June 1, 1796), following upon the original thirteen. Tennessee now has a population of 2,915,841, ranking it 15th in the Union. Of the state's total population, the only major racial group besides native-born whites are the Negroes, who constitute about 18 per cent of the total. The principal cities are Memphis, 292,942; Nashville, the capital, 167,402; Chattanooga, 128,163; and Knoxville, 111,580.

Tennessee has an area of 42,022 sq. mi. Included in this total are 340,800 A. of surface water area in lakes and rivers. Of the several large artificial lakes created by dams constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Federal power and flood-control project, the largest are back of Pickwick Dam on the Tennessee river, Chickamauga Dam on the Tennessee, and Norris Dam on the Clinch. Other dams with large storage capacities, nearing completion by the TVA in Tennessee, are Watts Bar and Fort Loudoun dams on the Tennessee, and Cherokee Dam on the Holston river.

Education.

The state provided $9,042,665.75 for public high and elementary schools for the 1940-41 terms. Enrollment in high schools was 111,262 and in elementary schools 647,405. High-school teachers numbered 5,227, and elementary 15,942. Teachers were paid an average annual salary of $671.50. There were still 2,515 one-teacher schools in the state. The education appropriation for the next biennium was $21,910,000.

Colleges or universities maintained by the state include the University of Tennessee with branches at Knoxville and Memphis, Austin Peay Normal College at Clarksville, Tennessee Polytechnic Institute at Cookeville, State Teachers Colleges at Johnson City, Murfreesboro and Memphis, and the Agricultural and Industrial College for Negroes at Nashville. Schools for the deaf and blind and a state industrial school for underprivileged are also maintained.

In 1941 education became an issue for the 1942 political campaigns in the state, as educators asked for increased appropriations, security of tenure legislation, and retirement pensions for teachers with long service records. The General Assembly, meeting early in the year, increased appropriations slightly.

Agriculture.

Farming, one of the chief industries of Tennessee, returned a cash income, in 1940, of $141,490,000, a 6 per cent advance over the previous year, but considerably under the anticipated amount for 1941. Total income from crops — with cotton, tobacco, and grains leading in that order — was $66,566,000. Livestock marketings brought $58,717,000, and government payments $16,207,000.

Tennessee farms were enrolled in both 1940 and 1941 in the state-sponsored Home Food Supply Program, which encourages farmers to produce at least 75 per cent of the foodstuffs needed for consumption in the farm home. The only such state-sponsored program in the nation, it has attracted wide attention because of its beneficial effects upon the diet and living conditions of farm families. Late in 1941 the Rockefeller Foundation agreed to sponsor the first statewide nutrition experiment in Tennessee, with the goal of better diet and nutrition in both rural and urban homes. The program was to start in 1942.

Industry.

Nearly 400,000 Tennesseans are employed in various industries other than agriculture, and payrolls approximate $500,000,000 annually. Manufacturing plants produce textiles, lumber and finished lumber products, paper, chemicals, petroleum and coal products, rubber products, leather and leather products, stone, clay and glass products, iron and steel, machinery, food and kindred products and tobacco. These plants employ about 200,000 workers. Other leading industries are construction, transportation, communication and other public utilities, wholesale and retail trade, real estate, and the service industries.

Mineral Products.

In 1940, production of Tennessee's leading mineral, bituminous coal, amounted to 6,010,000 tons, an appreciable advance over 1939, when the amount mined had a value of $10,402,000. Phosphate rock, for which the state ranks next to Florida, outstripped in 1940 the all-time high of the previous year, with 994,361 tons worth $3,967,043. Marble, for which the state also ranks second, fell to about half of the amount for 1939, with 219,020 cu. ft. valued at $1,272,584. Cement production again added more than five and a half millions to the state's total mineral resources.

Legislative Action.

The Tennessee General Assembly, in biennial session, concluded its 1941 work in a record forty-one days. The limit for an Assembly session in the state is seventy-five days. The members enacted legislation to redistrict the state so as to provide for a tenth representative in the United States Congress, an increase of one because of the rise in population; to establish Home Guard units to replace the National Guard now in Federal service; to authorize a $500,000 bond issue for construction or purchase of a state tuberculosis hospital; to appropriate $43,583,908 for general state purposes for the next two years; and to permit retirement of judges on full salary after twenty-four years on the bench.

National Defense.

In the selective service registration for military training, Tennessee registered 360,417 young men in October, 1940. The gross quota for the state was 40,766 men, but, because Tennessee, the 'Volunteer State,' already had 26,537 men in active duty with the Army, Navy, Marines or National Guard, the net quota was 14,229. Tennessee industries, by the end of 1941, had received government contracts totaling more than $275,000,000 for the production of defense items ranging from parachute silk to heavy ordnance. One large military training center, Camp Forrest at Tullahoma, was completed early in the year and 26,000 troops began training there. The War Department had under construction a $50,000,000 ordnance plant at Milan, and another of about the same size at Chattanooga.

Finance.

Tennessee's bonded debt is now $108,106,885.95, as it was reduced by more than $3,000,000 in 1941. Operating under a strict budget system put into effect in 1937, the state completed the fiscal year with a general fund surplus of $933,243. Unemployment compensation taxes collected totaled $9,214,717, while benefits paid were $5,243,163. Legislative appropriations for the biennium were $43,583,908.

Total assets of 226 state banks and 33 branches increased more than $11,500,000, according to the June 30 report. Demands deposits were $100,996,998; time deposits $66,087,448; cash reserves $65,886,901; and bills payable and rediscounts $25,000.

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.

1940: Tennessee

Area and Population.

A southern state with an area of 42,022 sq. mi., Tennessee looks like a huge parallelogram extending from the Great Smoky Mountains, a range of the Appalachians, on the east, to the Mississippi River on the west, the parallelogram leaning sharply to the east at the north.

According to the 1940 census, the state's population was 2,915,841, an increase of 114 per cent over the 1930 figure (2,616,556). About 2,400,000 are native-born whites, and 400,000 are Negroes. The largest city in the state is Memphis, with a population of 292,942. Nashville, the capital, has 167,402; Chattanooga has 128,163; and Knoxville, 111,580.

Education.

Placing heavy emphasis upon its educational system, the state, together with the counties and cities, spent a total of $31,143,481 on education in 1939-40. During the school year a total of 5,627 elementary and 591 high schools employed 15,729 teachers in the elementary schools and 4,935 in the high schools. The number of students enrolled in elementary schools was 524,459, while 123,672 were enrolled in public high schools. The average salary paid to teachers in county elementary schools was $77.14 monthly; county high schools, $96.84 monthly. City systems paid an average salary of $92.28 monthly to elementary teachers, and $117.78 to high school teachers.

Legislation enacted in 1939 to provide free textbooks for elementary schools went into effect in grades 1, 2 and 3 in 1940. The state spent nearly $300,000 on this program.

Industry.

Tennessee has made notable advances industrially, although agriculture continues to employ a larger number of workers than do the manufacturing industries. Approximately 325,000 were employed in industry outside of agriculture. Payrolls reached approximately $40,000,000. Textile manufacturing is by far the most important manufacturing industry, employing more than 50,000 and having an annual payroll of more than $4,000,000. Coal and iron mining and quarrying employed 12,369 men and paid wages of over $1,250,000. Coal production rose from 4,472,403 tons in 1938 to 5,280,000 in 1939. Lumbering ranked next to mining in total numbers employed and wages paid. Following in importance were chemicals, food, iron and steel, leather, nonferrous metals, stone, clay and glass products, publishing, paper and allied products, machinery, auto bodies and parts, rubber products and tobacco.

Agriculture.

The fertile valleys of East Tennessee and the rich soils of the Middle Tennessee table-land and the West Tennessee lowlands make Tennessee a heavy-producing agricultural state. Planters produced during 1940 about 520,000 bales of cotton on an acreage of 736,000; and a corn yield of about 67,130,000 bushels. Burley and dark-fired tobacco growers harvested a crop of 106,004,000 pounds. Production of other major crops were approximately as follows: tame hay, 1,541,000 tons; lespedeza seed, 15,725,000 pounds; Irish potatoes, 3,311,000 bushels; sweet potatoes, 4,150,000 bushels; peanuts, 5,920,000 pounds; sorghum for sirup, 944,000 gallons.

With an all-year pasture available, dairy and beef cattle production provides a major source of income for Tennessee farmers. Sheep and hogs also are raised extensively, and the state boasts two of the world's leading mule markets — at Columbia and Memphis. The state is also a major fruit producer with many large peach, apple, and pear orchards.

Finance.

The total assessed valuation of property in Tennessee is $1,501,861,042. During the fiscal year total receipts by the state in all funds were $72,752,466. Total disbursements were $70,954,907.

Banking.

Banking institutions in Tennessee reported increased strength in 1940. The total resources of 226 State Banks with 32 branches, and 72 National Banks with 19 branches, reached $665,487,500, an increase of 10 per cent in resources over 1939. Capital accounts amounted to $72,331,000. Deposits, time and demand, increased during the year from $522,593,467 to $585,247,500.

Events of the Year.

No session of Tennessee's General Assembly was held in 1940, therefore elections provided the chief political news. Although Governor Prentice Cooper faced opposition in his campaign for re-election to a second term, he defeated George Dempster, Knoxville Democrat, in the primaries and C. Arthur Bruce, Memphis Republican, in the general election. Senator Kenneth McKellar was re-elected over the opposition of Howard Baker, Huntsville Republican. Tennessee gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt a heavy majority over the Republican Candidate, Wendell Willkie. An attempt to amend the state's 70-year-old Constitution failed when voters turned down two proposals: one to increase the Governor's term to four years, and the other to increase the pay of state legislators from $4 to $10 for each day that the General Assembly is in session.

The Tennessee Valley Authority completed Chickamauga Dam at Chattanooga during 1940, and started production of hydroelectric power there. Work was started on three new dams in the TVA system — Watts Bar Dam and Fort Loudon Dam on the Tennessee River between Knoxville and Chattanooga, and Cherokee Dam on the Holston River north of Knoxville. The whole system of power, navigation, and flood-control dams and lakes was dedicated at a Labor Day celebration in Chattanooga, with President Roosevelt as speaker. One hundred and six municipalities and cooperatives which, with the TVA, took over the principal holdings of private utilities in the state for $78,600,000, completed during 1940 their first year of operating the various systems. They reported that, after expansions and enlargements, an aggregate net income of $4,023,000 was earned and that residents were saved $9,000,000 by reduced power rates. The TVA denied claims of heavy tax-revenue losses in the six valley states, declaring that the total revenue loss is only $51,000 annually for all the governmental bodies affected.

State Officers.

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

United States Senators:

Kenneth McKellar, Tom Stewart.

1939: Tennessee

Area and Population.

Tennessee, a southern state, is not large either in area or population. East of the state line lies North Carolina, and much of its eastern boundary climbs into the mists of the Great Smoky Mountains. On the west the Mississippi river separates the state from Arkansas and Missouri. To the north are Kentucky and Virginia and across the southern boundary line are Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The state has an area of 42,022 square miles.

The last Federal census (1930) gave Tennessee a population of 2,616,556, of which 2,125,553 were native white; 13,066 foreign-born white (including 1,946 Italians, 1,803 Russians, 1,783 Germans and 1,351 English); 477,646 Negroes; 161 Indians; 105 Asiatics and 25 Mexicans.

Nashville, the capital, has a population of 153,866. Memphis, the largest city, has 253,143: Chattanooga, 119,798, and Knoxville, 195,892. The State Department of Health estimates that the population of the major cities in 1939 was at least 10 per cent higher than these 1939 Federal census figures.

Agriculture.

Tennessee places heavy emphasis on agriculture. Several counties sponsor annual festivals which are of national interest. Among these are the Cotton Carnival in Shelby, Crimson Clover Festivals in Jackson and Franklin, Tobacco Weeks in Montgomery, Robertson, Lincoln and Trousdale, Dairy Festivals in Giles and Rutherford, the National Walking Horse celebration in Bedford county, and Mule Day in Maury. The aggregate value of agricultural products in 1936 (last full year official figure) was $238,655,000. The state has 273,783 farms. Statistics as to the chief crops are given in the accompanying table.

Livestock on Tennessee farms was worth $106,536,000 in 1939. There were 1,170,000 head of cattle, 1,154,000 hogs, 162,000 horses, 291,000 mules, 402,000 sheep and 10,998,000 chickens. Total milk produced was 1,908,000,000 pounds. The state is a leading producer of fine dairy cattle.

Manufacturing.

The leading manufacturing industries include the processing of cotton, rayon and allied products, fertilizer production, and mining and allied metal processing. The average number of wage earners was 116,671 in 1939, and the aggregate value of principal manufactured products $707,986,784. Payroll totals were $86,722,000.

Mineral Products.

The output of bituminous coal, the leading item among Tennessee's mineral resources, was reduced in 1938 by about 1,000,000 tons, according to preliminary figures which showed a total of 4,373,000 tons compared with 5,212,471 valued at $10,373,000 in 1937. Shipments of cement were slightly in advance for the year with 3,390,871 bbl. valued at $5,063,628; and stone was fairly stationary at 2,599,840 tons with a value of $4,237,351. Production of phosphate rock, in which the state ranks next to Florida, the leading state, advanced to a new high record of 899,298 tons (value, $3,725,601) compared with 825,099 tons (value $3,343,108) in the preceding year. The sale of marble from Tennessee showed a substantial increase in 1938, largely due to its use in the new National Gallery of Art in Washington. The total amount sold for this and other purposes was 330,170 cu. ft. valued at $1,725,800.

Education.

There were 522,138 students enrolled in public elementary and high schools in the state during the year 1938-39. In 5,764 elementary schools there were 15,474 teachers and a total average daily attendance of 416,181. In 602 high schools, 4,619 teachers taught an average attendance of 81,600. The school population of the state is 616,524 (figure includes all between ages of 6 and 18). The average monthly salary of rural elementary teachers is $76,69; urban, $104,34. Average monthly salary of rural high-school teachers is $113,89; urban, $141.18.

The state spent $12,487,814.50 for education in 1939, including funds to state-supported colleges and universities. Counties spent an additional $11,902,303,92, making a total of $24,390,118.42 expended for education within the state. (This does not include funds spent in privately-operated institutions.)

State-operated schools include the University of Tennessee with divisions at Knoxville, Martin and Memphis; State Teachers' colleges at Johnson City, Murfreesboro and Memphis; Tennessee Polytechnic Institute at Cookeville; Austin Pea Normal College at Clarksville, and the Agricultural and Industrial College for Negroes at Nashville.

Legislative Matters.

Outstanding legislation during the biennial session of the State Legislature in 1939 included repeal of Tennessee's prohibition laws under a county option plan for whisky sales; a law to require physical examination of couples before issuance of marriage licenses (the law does not go into effect until 1941); and an appropriation of $11,000 for a campaign against tuberculosis. By the end of the year twenty-three of the state's ninety-five counties had conducted referenda on the question of whisky legalization. Eleven voted to allow liquor sales while twelve continued their dry status.

Finance.

The assessed valuation of all taxable property in Tennessee is $1,489,964,478. Total available revenue for the year ending June 30, 1939, was $28,046,066.16. Expenditures less than that amount left a surplus of $191,719.74. The total indebtedness of the state on June 30 was $118,923,175.09.

Banking.

On June 30, 1939, the reports of 228 state banks and 33 branch banks showed assets of $154,757,323.17, of which $70,752,351.56 represented loans and discounts. Liabilities included demand deposits of $75,228,002.14, time deposits of $56,503,344.52, capital stock of $12,764,753.33, surplus of $4,070,824.57, and undivided profits of $3,466,893.83.

Events during the Year.

One of the principal activities of the state during the year was the development of parks and recreation areas. There are now thirteen such areas within the state, covering more than 50,000 acres. They include parks, forests, and game preserves maintained by the state in cooperation with the Federal government.

The Tennessee Valley Authority brought its huge Chickamauga Dam on the Tennessee river at Chattanooga almost to completion during 1939 and began work on the Watts Bar Dam upstream from Chattanooga, near Rockwood. The same Federal agency, with the cooperation of municipalities and power cooperatives, purchased the properties of the Tennessee Electric Power Company, a private utility serving a number of cities and towns in East and Middle Tennessee, for $78,600,000. The major cities in the state now purchase and distribute TVA electricity.

State Officers.

The chief officers during the year 1939 were: Governor, Prentice Cooper; Secretary of State, A. B. Broadbent; Treasurer, John Harton; Comptroller, Robert Lowe; Attorney General, Roy H. Beeler; Commissioner of Education, B. O. Duggan.

United States Senators.

Kenneth McKellar, A. Tom Stewart.

1938: Tennessee

Area and Population.

Admitted to statehood June 1, 1796, Tennessee ranks 34th in size among the states, with an area of 42,022 sq. mi. In population it ranks 16th, numbering 2,616,556 according to the census of 1930; 2,893,000 on July 1, 1937, according to the latest Federal estimate. Of the 1930 population, 2,125,553 were native white, and 13,066 foreign-born white (including 1,946 Italians, 1,803 Russians, 1,783 Germans and 1,351 English). Other races represented were Negroes, 477,646; Indians, 161; Asiatics, 105.

The largest cities are Memphis, 253,143 (1930); Nashville, the capital, 153,866; Chattanooga, 119,798; Knoxville, 105,802.

Mineral Products.

The chief mineral products of Tennessee are coal, stone, cement, and phosphate rock. In 1937, these were produced in the following amounts: coal, about 5,292,000 tons; stone, about 2,720,750 tons; cement, 3,013,817 bbl.; and phosphate rock, 942,158 tons (including some apatite from Virginia). Coal furnishes the largest single item in the total value of Tennessee's minerals. In 1936 this total was $32,305,745.

Manufacturing.

The 1935 United States Census of Manufacturers (published in 1937) stated that Tennessee had a total of 1,998 industrial establishments with 116,671 employees who earned $86,722,102. Products had an aggregate value of $532,084,044.

Education.

In 1937 there were in the state 5,938 public elementary schools with an enrollment of 533,805 pupils and a staff of 15,520 teachers. Public high schools numbered 628, with an enrollment of 113,646 and 4,468 teachers. The average monthly salary for elementary teachers was $78.51; for high school teachers, $114.20.

Political and Other Events.

The principal event of 1938 was the Democratic primary of Aug. 4 (tantamount to election as far as the state as a whole is concerned) in which Governor Gordon Browning was defeated in his bid for renomination by Prentice Cooper, 43-year-old Shelbyville attorney. One of the important factors in the Browning defeat was the large bloc of votes delivered to Cooper by Edward H. Crump, political czar of Shelby county (Memphis). In 1936 when Browning was elected governor, he received the backing of Crump, who gave him a huge majority in Shelby County. Soon after the election, however, the two became bitter enemies. Out of office with Browning rode United States Senator George L. Berry. He was displaced by District Attorney-General Tom Stewart of Winchester. Stewart was a member of the prosecution in the famous Dayton evolution trial in 1925. The general election of Nov. 8 simply served to confirm the selections of the Democratic primary.

There was no legislation in 1938 due to the fact that it was an off year for Tennessee's biennial Legislature, which met again the first Monday in January, 1939.

In September, Chattanooga celebrated its centennial and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Civil War battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain ('the Battle Above the Clouds') and Missionary Ridge.

Banking.

On June 30, 1938, the reports of 232 state banks and 33 branch banks showed assets totaling $148,068,506.41, of which $67,488,681.29 represented loans and discounts. Liabilities were $148,068,506.41, including $70,759,621.66 demand deposits, $53,699,160.28 time deposits, $12,959,253.33 capital stock, $3,876,789.53 surplus, and $2,856,458.74 undivided profits.

State Officers.

During the year 1938 the chief officers of the state were as follows; Governor, Gordon Browning; Treasurer, Grover Keaton; Comptroller, John Britton; Secretary of State, A. B. Broadbent; Attorney General, Roy H. Beeler; Commissioner of Education, W. A. Bass.

In November Prentice Cooper was elected Governor.

United States Senators:

Kenneth McKellar, Tom Stewart (elected in November).