Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/745

Rh

1915. Its access to the Gulf of Mexico is through the Houston Ship Channel, formed, for the most part, by the widening and deepening of Buffalo bayou. At the beginning of 1921 the controlling depth of the channel was 25 ft. and the width at bottom varied from no to 260 feet. The distance from the municipal docks to the Gulf is 54 miles. Unofficial but reasonably dependable figures for 1920 fixed the value of imports through Galveston, including the subsidiary ports of the district, at $30,964,285, and the exports at 627,498,478, making Galveston second to New York as an exporting port, a position which it had held for some years. These figures did not include coastwise traffic. During the year 1,233 vessels cleared for foreign ports, of which 849 were American, 222 British, 29 Norwegian, 26 Italian and 18 Mexican. The bulk of their cargoes was made up of 2,126,717 bales of cotton and 44,726,000 bus. of wheat. Through the cooperation of Galveston county and the Federal Government the Galveston sea-wall was extended and completed in 1920 to a length of 6-3 miles. The total cost of the wall (see 11.430) was $4,725,000. The concrete causeway connecting the island with the mainland, 10,642 ft. long, was nearing completion in 1921. The cost was to be $3,750,000, and was to be borne by the county and the railways entering the city. The county and city of Galveston were permitted by state Acts of 1901 and 1903 to apply their state taxes for 17 years to storm defence improvements. In 1917 the privilege was extended for 10 years; and subsequently the same authority was granted to several other maritime counties.

Finance. The value of all property assessed for state taxation on Aug. 31 1919 was $3,012,819,287. The ratio of assessed value to real value varied from 66f% in some cities to 25% in some rural districts. Total receipts of the state treasury for the year were $28,410,724, and total expenditures $27,200,978. On Dec. 29 1920 there were 1,031 state banks, with capital, surplus and undivided profits of $71,768,997. They had individual deposits subject to check of $226,282,045, and time and savings deposits of 835,380,482. On Nov. 15 1920 there were 561 national banks with capital, surplus and undivided profits of $124,633,000; deposits subject to check of $447,898,000; and time and savings deposits of $69,374,000. Of the state banks 176 were members of the Federal Reserve system at the beginning of 1921.

Education. For 1920 the school pop. (7 to 18 years of age) was 1,271,157; and the number of teachers employed in the public schools was 30,158, of whom 3,515 were negroes. The public schools are maintained by the income from the permanent school fund, by state and local taxes, and by legislative appropriations. The per- manent fund consists of lands and interest-bearing notes derived originally from the sale of public lands. In Aug. 1920 it was slightly less than $74,000,000. State taxes for school maintenance are a poll- tax, one-fourth the proceeds of the occupation taxes, and an ad valorem tax of 35 cents per $100. The practice of making legislative appropriations to supplement the available school fund began in 1915 with $1,000,000 to aid rural schools. The practice continued, and for the biennium 191921 $6,000,000 came from this source for general maintenance. A constitutional amendment adopted in Nov. 1920 removed the limit of 50 cents per $100 which rural districts and unincorporated towns might appropriate for schools. The total available state fund for the year ending Aug. 1921 was $18,564,- 507, to which should be added nearly $13,000,000 from local taxes. A compulsory attendance law became effective in 1918, requiring, with specified exceptions, the attendance of children between 8 and 14 for at least 100 days each year. The following year a free text- book law went into effect. A law of April 3 1918 requires all public-school work to be conducted in the English language, but does not preclude the teaching of foreign languages.

Administration. The attorney-general, comptroller, treasurer, and secretary of state head constitutional departments, and all are elective except the last, who is appointed by the governor. The more important statutory departments, in the order of their establish- ment, are those of the adjutant-general, superintendent of public instruction, state health officer, life insurance and banking com- missioner, commissioner of agriculture, Railroad Commission, Live-stock Sanitary Commission, Fire Insurance Commission, the Industrial Accidents Board, the Board of Water Engineers, the Highway Commission, and the Board of Control. All are appointive directly or indirectly by the governor (with approval of the Senate), except the superintendent of public instruction, the commissioner of agriculture, and the Railroad Commission. Their terms vary from two to six years. The Industrial Accidents Board was created in 19'3, primarily to administer the Employers' Liability Act. It consists of three members, one of whom must be a wage-earner, one an employer in some industry covered by the Act, and the third _a practising attorney. The Board of Water Engineers was created in 1913 to regulate the use of public water for irrigation and all other purposes. The Highway Commission, established in 1917, consists of three members, and is charged with the administration of all highway laws, including that for the registration of motor vehicles. At the close of 1920 there had been completed under its supervision 976 m. of approved highways, costing $5,326,000, of which $ 1 ,308,000 was from Federal and 904,000 from state aid. The remainder was paid by the local counties. At the same time contracts were in progress for the construction of 2,039 m. of road at an estimated cost

of $23,277,000, of which $8,650,000 was to come from Federal and $1,437,000 from state aid. Federal and state quotas are apportioned in a certain ratio to local expenditure. The Commission reported the registration during 1920 of 427,693 automobiles and trucks and 4,290 other motor vehicles. The state Board of Control, created in 1920, represents an effort to consolidate administration and to coordinate the state budget. It is composed of three members, holding office for six years, one retiring every two years. Its budgets are subject to review and amendment by the Legislature. Departments created during the decade 191020, but showing signs of instability, are those of markets and warehouses (including weights and measures) and an Industrial Welfare Commission, created in 1917 and 1919 respec- tively. The dwindling jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission, suffering from the encroachments of the Interstate Commerce Commission, was somewhat compensated by an Act of March 1919 placing pipe-lines and drilling regulations under its supervision, and another of June 1920 giving it authority over natural-gas production. The Commission reported in Dec. 1918 15,866 m. of railroad in operation, an increase of 1,922 m. since 1910.

History. After about 1880 prohibition was perhaps the most bitterly contested issue in state politics. A constitutional amend- ment providing for state-wide prohibition was voted down in 1887 and again in 1911; but was carried in 1919. In the mean- time prohibition by local option had made great progress, so that by 1918 more than three-fourths of the area of the state, including the cities of Dallas, Waco and Austin, was dry. The Legislature in March 1918 ratified the Federal amendment, and in April put into effect the "zone" law, prohibiting the sale of liquors within 10 m. of a military, naval, or shipbuilding estab- lishment. In June 1918 statutory state-wide prohibition was established, and doubts of the constitutionality of the Act -were ended by the amendment of the next year. The Dean law (July 1919) is one of the most drastic of enforcement Acts. A law of March 26 1918 permitted women to vote in party primaries and nominating conventions; but a constitutional amendment, submitted the next year, to enfranchise women in regular elections, failed. The Legislature nevertheless ratified the Federal Woman Suffrage amendment in July 1919. The effect of the World War is seen in a law of April 2 1918, con- fining the franchise in primary elections to citizens of the United States; and in another of March 23 1918, amended a year later, providing that assistance should be given at the polls only in the English language and to persons physically unable to write or to those past 60 years of age and unable to read. Aliens could not be debarred from voting in final elections without amend- ment of the constitution, but preponderance of the Democratic party makes the primary election, in effect, definitive.

The total registration in Texas under the Selective Service Act was 990,522. From the best figures available in July 1921, there were 13,191 voluntary enlistments in the regular army, and 18,573 m the National Guard (transferred to Federal Service in the summer of 1917), and 127,531 inductions (not including officers) under the draft law; while 13,599 men ar >d 6 women served in the regular navy and 4,505 men and 107 women in the naval reserve. The total number in both services, not including all officers, was 177,512. The total losses (officers and men) were 2,722, of whom 1,164 were killed in action, 456 died of wounds, 942 of disease, and 160 from other causes. The wounded num- bered 7,331. Figures for the Texan subscription to the First Liberty Loan were not separately available. The eleventh Federal Reserve district, in which the state is included, sub- scribed $48,948,350. The Texan subscription to the four follow- ing loans was $363,273,350. When the Armistice was signed the Emergency Fleet Corp. had wooden ships under construction at Beaumont, Orange and Rockport, and in the Houston Ship Channel. Contracts had been let for 97 hulls and for 18 barges, of which were completed 52 hulls with tonnage of 196,400; and 4 barges aggregating 9,000 tons. ,

The governors of Texas after 1910 were Oscar Branch Col- quitt (Dem.) 1911-5; James E. Ferguson (Dem.) igi5-Sept. 1917; William P. Hobby (Dem.) 1917-21, and Pat M. Neff (Dem.) 1921-. Mr. Ferguson was removed from office by im- peachment and was succeeded, ex officio, by Lt.-Gov. Hobby, who was subsequently elected for one term, 1919-21.

(E. C. BA.)-