Texas Almanac, 1941-1942 Page: 65
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HISTORY OF TEXAS
ministration. A popular issue was
raised by the return to the Ferguson
policy of liberal pardons and paroles to
state prisoners.
Mrs. Ferguson, having served her sec-
ond term, did not stand for re-election
in 1934, thus closing a twenty-year chap-
ter in Texas politics, during which
"Fergusonism" was an almost constant
issue. Mrs. Ferguson re-entered the po-
litical arena in 1940, running for Demo-
cratic nomination, but was fourth in a
contest among eight candidates. In this
period, the two Governor Fergusons,
husband and wife, participated in twelve
primary and four general elections in
races for the governorship in addition to
one race by Gov. J. E. Ferguson for
United States Senate.
Allred's Administration.
The administration of James V. Alf-
red (Jan. 15, 1935, to Jan. 17, 1939), who
in the election of 1934, led a field of six
opponents in the first primary and de-
feated Tom F. Hunter of Wichita Falls
in the second primary by 499,343 to
459,106, was largely one of effort to re-
store economic prosperity, and remedy
evils thought to have been responsible
for the depression. During his first ad-
ministration the old-age pension amend-
ment to the Constitution was adopted
and it was followed by other social se-
curity effort, including an amendment
providing for a retirement fund for
school and college teachers and em-
ployees. Other important amendments
to the Constitution under the Allred ad-
ministration were those reorganizing the
old Board of Pardons into the Board of
Pardons and Paroles, instituting work-
men's compensation for state employees
and raising the salaries of Governor,
Secretary of State, Attorney General,
Comptroller of Public Accounts, Treasur-
er and Commissioner of the General
Land Office. The raising of the salary
of the Governor from $4,000 to $12,000 a
year ended a political issue of many
years' standing. Allred won in the pri-
maries of 1936 over Tom F. Hunter, F.
W. Fischer and two other candidates in
the first primary. Near the close of his
second term he was appointed by Pres-
ident Franklin D. Roosevelt to a place on
the bench of the Federal District Court
of South Texas, but served out the re-
mainder of his term as Governor. Many
of Governor Allred's activities as Gov-
ernor were in co-operation with the na-
tional administration.
The last year of Governor Allred's
administration was enlivened by one
of the most colorful political campaigns
in the state's history by the thirteen can-
didates seeking Democratic nomination
to succeed him. The election was won
in the first primary over such well-
known political figures as Attorney Gen-
eral William McCraw, Railroad Commis-
sioner Ernest O. Thompson, former As-
sistant Postmaster General Karl A.
Crowley, and Tom F. Hunter who had
been a close contender in previous guber-
natorial contests, by W. Lee O'Daniel ofFort Worth, who was unknown in the
political field at the beginning of the
race. On a platform of the Decalogue
and the Golden Rule, industrialization of
Texas and promising old-age pensions
and the end of political rule at the State
Capitol, the Fort Worth flour salesman
with his "hillbilly band" and radio ap-
peal swept all opposition before him, win-
ning 573,166 votes out of a total of 1,-
114,885 cast in the first primary which
broke all records with this heavy poll.
Governor O'Daniel's first term will be
remembered primarily for the long leg-
islative controversy over taxation to pro-
vide old-age pensions and other social
security funds. The issue finally cen-
tered around a proposed constitutional
amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 12,
proposing a combination of natural re-
source and sales taxes. It was defeated
in Legislature primarily through the ac-
tion of fifty-six members of the Lower
House whose steadfast stand against it
got them the popular name of the "im-
mortal fifty-six." Legislature failed to
find additional tax sources, and old-age
pensions were reduced. The general rev-
enue fund, which for several years had
not been balanced, accumulated further
deficit during the first O'Daniel term.
These circumstances encouraged greater
opposition to O'Daniel in the primaries
of 1940 than is usual in Texas during a
second-term race, but Governor O'Daniel
won by a majority over his seven oppo-
nents in the first primary. (See primary
election figures elsewhere in this vol-
ume.)
Texas-Past, Present, Future.
In the preceding pages the progress of
Texas has been divided into chapters
dealing successively with the Period of
Explorations, Establishment of Spanish
Dominion, Era of Filibustering, Era of
Colonization, the Revolution, Era of the
Republic, Early Statehood, Secession and
Civil War, Reconstruction, the Period of
Expansion from Reconstruction to 1900,
and Texas in the Twentieth Century.
The first thirty-five years of the cur-
rent century were devoted primarily to
rounding out the agricultural and live-
stock development, the exploitation of
the more readily available and more eas-
ily marketable mineral resources, and
the laying of the foundations for indus-
trialization.
This era has been characterized also
by the rise of the cities, development of
foreign trade through Texas ports, great
progress in both public school and higher
education, the building of a connected
highway system, and the beginning of
the development of the artistic resources
among the people.
New Era of Industry.
Texas is ready to enter the second
phase of its industrial development. To
the present time, development of manu-
facturing has been largely dependent on
those resources that are most economi-
cally processed near point of produc-
tion. Thus Texas has seen the rise of the
lumber mills, petroleum refineries, ce-
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Texas Almanac, 1941-1942, book, 1941; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117164/m1/67/?rotate=270: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.