Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/1017

Rh (1912); rural credit schemes (1916, 1918); increased pay for legis- lators (1910, 1914, 1920) ; pensions for police and school teachers in cities (1910). The uniform failure, until 1920, of the proposed amendments stimulated a demand for a new constitution. Although endorsed by both parties since 1916, the proposal was not submitted by the Assembly, largely because of partizan opposition to the basis of representation in the convention. A constitutional amendment, proposed by the initiative, was adopted by popular vote in 1920, including a compromise on apportionment, and providing that the question of holding a constitutional convention should be sub- mitted to the voters at least every 20 years and for such a submission at a special election in 1921. Missouri ratified the Sixteenth Amend- ment to the Federal Constitution (income tax) in 1909, the Seven- teenth (direct election of U.S. Senators) in 1911, the Eighteenth (prohibition) and Nineteenth (woman suffrage) in 1919. An Amend- ment to the constitution of the state adopted in 1920 gave cities of over 100,000 the right to draw up their own charters. Fifteen of the proposed constitutional amendments were submitted through the initiative, including prohibition (twice), the single tax (twice) and woman suffrage. Only one of the 15 was adopted, that provid- ing for a new method of summoning a Constitutional Convention (1920). Six Acts of the Legislature have been submitted to a popular vote through the referendum; four were rejected in 1914, including the minimum train crew Act. The " bone dry " prohibition Act was upheld in 1920, but workmen's compensation was defeated.

The more important new administrative boards and bureaus were the Food and Drug Commissioner, 1909 (abolished 1921) ; the Public Service Commission, 1913; the State Highway Department, 1917; and the Tax Commission, 1917 (abolished 1921). The Public Service Commission 1913 with real powers of regulation marked a departure from the earlier Missouri practice of leaving the regulation of public utilities to local city boards. Consolidation of departments and commissions, urged by Gov. Hadley, began in 1917, when the penitentiary and other reformatory institutions were placed under a single prison board, and by 1921 had made substantial progress. Seven general departments were created : the Department of Finance, including the old Departments of Banking, Building and Loan Associations and Soldiers' Settlement; Commissioner of Public Welfare, including various departments in charge of inspections; the Board of Eleemosynary Institutions; Department of Labour; Department of Agriculture; and the Department of Budget, to take over the supervisory and budget-recommending powers of the Tax Commission and serve also as a purchasing department.

Missouri remained conservative in labour legislation; a minimum train crew law was defeated in 1914, and a workmen's compensation law in 1920, both by the referendum. A new compensation law, elective on the part of the employer, was passed in 1921. A fairly comprehensive but very moderate Act was passed in 1913 to provide for the health and safety of employees, including limitation of hours for women. The compulsory school attendance law of 1919 inciden- tally limited child labour. The greater part of a children's code, recommended by two commissions, was put in the statute book.

Revenue. The revenue, inelastic through constitutional limitations, proved increasingly inadequate after 1910, until the unpaid current obligations in 1917 totalled $1,800,000, in spite of many vetoes of appropriations. Attempts to secure relief for special purposes such as schools and good roads by constitutional amendments had all failed. The Assembly in 1917 passed new indirect taxes, a state income tax, a corporation franchise tax, a direct inheritance tax (superseding the collateral inheritance tax), a secured debts tax, " soft " drinks stamps and wholesale liquor dealers' licence, which yielded altogether nearly $2,400,000 in 1917-9. It also established the Tax Commission which in 1918 and 1919 urged a 100% assess- ment for the direct property tax to secure uniformity of taxation and increase of revenue. The state Board of Equalization raised the total assessed valuation about 20% in 1919 and proposed a further sub- stantial increase in 1921. The assessed valuation of real and per- sonal property increased from $1,658,587,414 in 1916 to $2,471,746,- 046 in 1920. The total revenue of the state was $7,151,125 in 1910 and $17,666,137 in 1918. The per capita cost of state government was still low, $4.51 in 1919; the direct property tax levy was only $0.54 on the $1,000 of actual cash value in 1916, and $0.88 in 1919. The outstanding state debt Jan. I 1921 consisted of $4,398,839 certificates of indebtedness in the school and seminary funds, and $1,500,000 capital refunding bonds, a total of $5,898,839. The net indebtedness of the counties in 1913 was $6,580,450 and of in- corporated places $46,999,383.

Charitable and Penal Institutions. An industrial home for negro girls was authorized in 1909 and opened at Tipton in 1916. The Training School for Boys at Boonville was in 1915 transformed into the Reformatory for Boys. In 1917 the administration of the penitentiary was reorganized, contract convict labour abolished and conditions improved.

Education. Missouri appropriates one-third of the general revenue to the support of the public schools, amounting to $1,618,341 in 1910 and to $3,423,849 in 1920. To this must be added $187,040, the interest on the state's common school fund of $3,159,000. The estimated total expenditure for public schools from state and local sources rose in the decade 1910-20 from $13,905,188 to $28,048,051. The permanent county and municipal funds of the counties, derived from the proceeds of the sales of stray animals and from escheats and fines, and from permanent township funds, derived from the sale of lands granted by the Federal Government, increased from $9,825,991 to $11,561,583. The average daily attendance of the public schools rose from 490,374 to 531,221. Although the public schools continued to lack sufficient revenue, there was much constructive legislation, especially as to the rural schools. The state funds were apportioned on the basis of the number of teachers and attendance instead of enrolment (1911) and additional aid was given to rural schools (1909, 1911, 1915) and to high schools (1913) in the poorer districts. The size of the local school district for purposes of administration and taxation was increased through authorizing the appointment of county superintendents (1909), encouraging the consolidation of schools (1913, 1917) and especially by the county unit Act of 1921, which, in all counties that do not include a first-class high school, made the county the unit for administration and taxation. The re- requirements for teachers' certificates were raised in 1911 and 1921 and provision made for the training of teachers in the high school (1913). An effective compulsory attendance law was passed in 1919. Under the Federal Smith-Hughes Act, Missouri received in 1920 $103,808 from the Federal Government for vocational education and for the training of teachers. The enrolment in the state university at Columbia and Rolla increased from 3,083 (165 at the School of Mines at Rolla) in 1911 to 5,800 (466 at Rolla) in 1920. For the biennial period 1911-2 the university received from interest on the state Seminary Fund, state appropriations, income on endowment, and from the Federal Government a total of $1,555,712 ; for the biennium 1919-20, the corresponding total was $2,483,808. The Exten- sion Division was organized in 1913; the School of Commerce in 1914, expanded in 1916 to the School of Commerce and Business Administration. There was notable development in extension work in agriculture and home economics under the recent Federal aid laws. In 1911 the university was placed on the approved list of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

History. Governor Hadley was a leading supporter of Roose- velt for the Republican nomination in 191 2, though supporting Taft in the election. Wilson that year received 330,746 votes, Taft 207,821, Roosevelt 124,371. In. 1916 Wilson defeated Hughes by 28,693, but the Democratic candidate for governor defeated the Republican by only 2,263. I n JQJS, however, Folk, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator, ran 35,283 behind Spencer, Republican, while the Republican candidate for state Superintendent of Education won over the Democratic by 1,109. The disorganization in the local Democratic party was increased by the opposition of Senator Reed to the League of Nations and, with the general national reaction, resulted in 1920 in the election of a Republican state administration and a Republican majority in both Houses of the Assembly (for the first time since 1870) and in a presidential majority for Harding over Cox of 152,363.

In the World War Missouri furnished (to Oct. 31 1918) 140,257 men; of these 92,843 were inducted under the Selective Service Act. Her losses were 1,270 killed in action; 1,531 dead from wounds, disease and accident; a total of 2,801. Missouri's subscription and quota for the First Liberty Loan were respec- tively $51,863,388 and $65,562,800; for the Second $80,810,400 and $122,226,600; for the Third $79, 599, 700 and $110,828,300; for the Fourth $163,884,700 and $172,832,700; and for the Fifth, or Victory Loan $119,118,050 and $121,627,550. Mis- souri was one of the first states to establish (April 24 1917) a State Council of Defense which, through a very efficient system of county councils, greatly increased the production of food-stuffs, increasing the wheat acreage over 20% in 1917, and by an even greater percentage in 1918, and investigated the few cases there were of disloyalty or disaffection.

Recent governors have been Herbert S. Hadley (Rep.), 1909-13; Eliot W. Major (Dem.), 1913-7; Frederic D. Gardner (Dem.), 1917-21; Arthur M. Hyde (Rep.), 1921-. (J. Vl.) MISTRAL, FRÉDÉRIC (1830-1914), Provengal poet (see 18.616), in 1906 published a Provencal translation of Genesis, and Olivades, a collection of Provencal poems, in 1912. His memoirs appeared, under the title Mes Origines, in 1906. He died at Maillarre, near Marseilles, March 26 1914.

See P. Brousse, Frederic Mistral (1903) ; E. Lefevre, Bibliographie mistralienne (1903) ; H. J. Bocken, Frederic Mistral (1910) ; J. Brochet, Frederic Mistral (1910); J. Charles Roux, Le Jubile de Fr. Mistral (1912); E. Ripert, La Versification de Frederic Mistral (1917); P.; Lasserre, Frederic Mistral (1918); J. Vincent, Frederic Mistral: sa vie et son influence (1918).