Texas

The chief executive and administrative officers are a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of State, comptroller of public ac counts, treasurer, commissioner of the general land office, attor ney-general, railroad commissioners (three), commissioner of agriculture, and superintendent of public education. All are elected by the voters except the secretary of State who, con trary to the custom in most States, is appointed by the governor.

All

serve for two-year terms except the railroad commissioners who serve for six years. The governor's powers are rather more extensive than those of the average State executive. The actual administration of the details of government is performed by many officials, boards and commissions mostly appointed by the gov ernor so as to be under executive control.

The State judiciary consists of a supreme court, a court of criminal appeals, i i courts of civil appeals in i i districts and over oo district courts. These are State courts, all provided for by rev enue from the State's general fund. The 11 civil appellate courts, the court of criminal appeals and the supreme court all consist of three justices each, elected for six-year terms. In addition the supreme court has an assisting commission of appeals consisting of two sections of three judges each, and the court of criminal appeals has an assisting commission of two members. These com missions are temporary bodies. The district courts each have one judge elected for four years. Minor criminal and civil cases are tried by a justice of the peace or in the county court.

Finance.

In 1922, according to the estimate of the Federal Census Bureau, the total wealth of Texas was $9,850,000,000. In 1929 a conservative estimate was $12,785,000,000. The 1933 esti mate was only $10,250,000,000. The principal developments be tween 1922-29 which increased the total wealth were the great increase in the output of petroleum, increased manufacturing, an increase in power transmission lines, new reclamation and irriga tion projects, and an increase in property values, especially in the cities. The decline in the State's wealth during 1929-33 was at tributable to effects of, the world economic depression. Net in come reported in Federal income tax returns for Texas between 1922 and 1932 reached a peak of $638,109,285 in 1924. It was in in 1929, $333,673,467 in 1931 and $279,533,040 in 1932.

The assessed valuation of property in the State amounted to $4,241,682,000 in 1931, compared with $3,382,110,000 in 1922.

State receipts from taxation for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1931 were $74,909,000. Of this $24,309,000 was a general prop erty tax. A poll tax from each person from the ages of 21 to 6o amounted to $2,207,000 for the year ending Aug. 21, 1931. Licences and permits, including the motor fuel tax, yielded $45, 792,000. The inheritance tax produced $910,000.

In addition the State receives annually many millions of dollars from sources other than taxes, the exact amount for the year ending Aug. 31, 1931 being $35,830,000. These are fees collected by the various departments, interest on the various permanent funds, revenue from the State prison, special assessments, etc. A substantial amount also comes from the U. S. Government for highway purposes. The grand total of receipts of the State Gov ernment for the year ending Aug. 31, 1931, was $110,739,000, or $18.79 per caput., compared with $159,822,657 for the fiscal year Total disbursements for 1930-31 amounted to $106,623,000, as against a total of $149,995,688 in 1933-34. Of the 1930-31 dis bursements, $71,441,000 represented the expenditure for opera tion, maintenance and interest and $35,182,000 represented capi tal expenditures. The gross State debt minus sinking fund assets was but $10,317,000 on Aug. 31, 1931, a small total for so large a State, amounting to an average of but $1.75 per caput. Most of it was owned and held by the permanent funds of the public schools and State institutions for which it was incurred. However, the combined gross debt of the State and its subdivisions aggre gated $748,390,932, or $125.93 per caput. There were on June 30, 957 banks with resources and liabilities of On Dec. 31, 1933, the national banks numbered 445, with re sources and liabilities of $900,810,000.

Education.

The school population of Texas-6 to 17 years inclusive—was 1,560,438 for the year 1933-34. Education in the public schools is free for all children above six years of age. Between the ages of 7 and 16 attendance at some school, either public or private, is compulsory. There were in attendance in public schools during 1933-34 1,311,662 pupils, of whom 1,098,318 were white and coloured. There were 858,431 white and 187,839 coloured pupils in the elementary schools and 239,887 white and 25,505 coloured pupils in high schools. The illiteracy rate among persons over io years of age was 6.8 per i000 in 1930 and 8.3 in 1920.