Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/577

 FINANCE — PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY 52'>

Finance. — For the year 1920 the receipt* and disbursements amounted to the following sums : —

Dollar*

Balance Jan. 1, 1919 1,825,899

Receipts in 1920 8,83:

Total 10,661,244

Disbursements in 1920 8,390,294

Balance Jan. 1, 1921 2,270,950

On January 1, 1921, the public debt of the State consisted of refunding bonds to the amount of 601,567 dollars at three per cent, interest, all of which were held by State educational funds. The assessed value of real

Sroperty for 1920 is 253,785,338 doliare ; for personal property, 104,664,992 ollars ; railroad and telegraph property, 51.138,608 dollar- ; making a total for 1920 of 409,588,938 dollars.

Production and Industry.— Florida ifl largely a peninsula stretching from north to south, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The surface is generally level. No elevation exceeds 301 feet above the level of the sea. The climate i^ semi-tropical, but liable at times to severe frost which destroys the fruit crops. Agriculture is pursued generally in all parts of the State. In 1918 there were 133,347 farms, with a total acreage of 4,878,314, of which 1,886,277 acres were improved. Total value of all farm property in 1918, 141,262,776 dollars. The chief products are pirn-apples and oranges, the former fruit being grown almost nowhere else in the United States. Other crops are tobacco, 4,620,000 pounds in 1920 ; rice, 72,000 bushels in 1920 ; besides maize, oats, peas, and peanuts. In 1920 the cotton area was 101,000 acres, and the yield 18,000 bales, valued at 1,530,000 dollars. On January 1, 1921, the State had 58,000 horses, 40,000 mules, 89,000 sheep, 1,493,000 pigs, 156,000 milch cows, and 917,000 other. attle The wool clip in 1919 yielded 460,000 lbs. Forests of valuable timber cover three-fourths of the State, and large quantities of pitch-pine are exported as well as oak timber for ship-building. Tar, turpentine, and rosin are prepared in increasing quantities. The total forest area on June 30, 1919, was 308,268 acres.

The chief mineral product is phosphate rock ; Fullers' earth, lime, and mineral waters are also produced.

Florida, with its long coast line, has extensive fisheries, which, though not fully developed, are more important than those of any other Gulf State. The chief fishery products are shad, red snappers, mullet, ttirtles, and sponges, of which Florida has almost a monopoly. Pensacola is said to be the most important fresh fish market on the Gulf. From this port tar, resin, and turpentine, are exported to the value of over 500,000/. sterling annually, and also cotton (1,806,000/.), tobacco, and phosphate produced in other States.

The manufacturing industries or Florida in the year 1917 had 5,493 establishments, with a capital invested of 65,061,746 dollars ; the average number of wage-earners was 69,955 ; the amount paid in wages was 40,075,037 dollars.

The tobacco industries are prosperous, and Key West and Tampa com - pata with Cuba in the manufacture of fine cigars. In 1917 the output of