1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Virginia

VIRGINIA (see ).&mdash;The pop. in 1920 was 2,309,187; an increase since 1910 of 247,575, or 12%, as against an increase for the decade 1900-10 of 207,428, or 11.2%. Negroes numbered 690,017, as compared with 671,096 in 1910. The urban pop. (in places having more than 2,500 inhabitants) was in 1920 29.2% and in 1910 23.1% of the whole.

{{EB1911 Fine Print|The great increase in Newport News, Norfolk and Portsmouth was largely due to industries related to the World War.

Agriculture.&mdash;In 1920 Virginia ranked as twenty-third state in value of agricultural products, $187,038,000 as compared with {100,531,000 in 1908. The production of the staple crops was:&mdash;}}

History.&mdash;In 1912 the work of children under 12 years of age in coal mines was prohibited and the 10-hour day for children in factories was extended to workshops and mercantile establishments, with the exception of packing and fruit industries between July 1 and Nov. 1, mercantile establishments in towns of less than 2,000 pop., and Saturday work in mercantile establishments. In 1918 the mimimum age for employment was raised to 16 years. In 1914 the commitment of insane criminals to asylums by judicial investigation and order before trial for the crime committed was provided for, and in 1916 the State Board of Charities and Correction was required to register all the feeble-minded in the state, to take measures for their commitment to asylums, and to instruct parents in the care of feeble-minded children; it was also authorized to supervise private institutions for the feeble-minded. Two institutions for the feeble-minded are supported by the state, one for white patients near Lynchburg and one for negroes near Petersburg. In 1916 the office of public defender for cities of 50,000 or more pop., with the duty of defending the poor in lawsuits, and state compensation was authorized for attorneys appointed by courts to that duty. In 1918 a Mothers' Pension law was enacted which allowed city and county governments to make payments to widows with children under 16 years of age. In the same year the principle of the uniform Family Desertion Acts was adopted, and an Industrial Commission was provided to administer a workmen's compensation system.

Three sanatoria for the treatment of tuberculosis have been established, the Catawba Sanatorium in Roanoke county (1909), Blue Ridge Sanatorium near Charlottesville (1920), and Piedmont Sanatorium for negro patients near Burkville (1918). In 1918 a state orthopaedic hospital was established at Richmond. In 1914 the Virginia Home and Industrial School for Girls, a

private institution, became the property of the state, and since then three other reformatories have been taken over. In 1919 the State Prison Board was reorganized and reforms in prison management were adopted, notably better medical care of prisoners, investigation of their mental condition, provision for recreation, and elementary and industrial education. In 1914 a State Forestry Commission was established. In 1916 the State Board of Health was given control over all water supplies which might endanger public health. A state art commission was constituted in the same year.

In the World War Virginia supplied 81,140 men to the army, navy and marine corps and subscribed $263,948,400 to the Liberty and Victory loans.

In every state and national election between 1910 and 1920 the Democratic party had a majority. In 1909 William Hodges Mann (Dem.) was elected governor, his term being from 1910-4; he was succeeded by Henry Carter Stuart (Dem. 1914-8, and in 1917 Westmoreland Davis (Dem.) was elected, his term of service beginning in 1918. (W. K. B.)