Texas Almanac, 1945-1946 Page: 72
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TEXAS ALMANAC.-1945-1946
same period increased in annual value
of products from $272,895,635 to $999,-
995,796, which was a gain of more than
100 per cent indicated in actual volume
after deduction is made for the inflation
of values. The annual value of minerals
produced had increased from $18,383,451
min 1910 to $371,250,979 in 1920. The
number of farms had increased only from
417,770 to 436,033, due largely to the war
conditions and demand for men imme-
diately preceding the census of 1920.
However, improved acreage had in-
creased from 27,360,636 to 31,227,503.
The administration of Pat M. Neff
(Jan. 18, 1921, to Jan. 20, 1925) was
characterized by return to normal after-
war conditions, and a series of achieve-
ments such as the making of an educa-
tional survey, the prison survey, the cre-
ation of a prison advisory council, and
an industrial welfare commission. He
originated the state park movement and
appointed the first State Park Board.
He instituted the reclamation and con-
servation program pertaining to the
floodwaters and overflowing lands, in-
cluding a state-wide topographic survey
and the organization of a state advisory
council of engineers. He issued the first
official state program of the Texas Cen-
tennial celebration for the holding of the
Texas Centennial of 1936.
His administration was characterized
by declaring martial law for the sup-
pressing of crime and for the handling of
the railroad strike situation. He estab-
lished an honor farm in connection with
the Texas penitentiary. The Texas
Technological College at Lubbock, and
State Teachers College at Kingsville,
were established, and $1,350,000 worth of
land adjoining the University of Texas
campus was added to it during his ad-
ministration.
Neff's first campaign was a stirring
affair, with Joseph Weldon Bailey, Rob.-
ert E. Thomason and Ben F. Looney as
opponents. Bailey, who had come out
of retirement to private life after his
resignation from the United States Sen-
ate in 1913, led Neff by a margin of
2,522 votes in the first primary. Howev-
er, the election law had been amended
during the preceding administration re-
quiring a second primary between the
two leading contestants in the first pri-
mary in instances where no clear ma-
jority was obtained in the first race. Neff
defeated Bailey in the second pri-
mary, 264,075 to 184,702. In the primary
preceding his second term, Neff defeated
Fred S. Rogers, 318,000 to 195,941. In the
first of Neff's two terms, Texas was de-
pressed economically by the sudden but
short-lived deflation that followed the
close of the World War.
The first administration of Mrs. Mi ri-
am A. Ferguson (Jan. 20, 1925, to Jan.
17, 1927), first woman to hold the gov-
ernorship of Texas, came primarily as a
result of the struggle that arose during
the Neff administration over the Ku
Klux Klan. This secret organization,
which carried the name of the old post-Civil War order, but with which it had
no connection and little similarity of
purpose, gained strength rapidly in Tex-
as during 1922 and 1923. In the prima-
ries of 1924, the Klan supported Felix D.
Robertson in a nine-sided contest, in-
cluding Mrs. Ferguson, Lynch Davidson
and T. W. Davidson. Mrs. Ferguson
made the race for her husband, former
Governor, who had been barred from
holding office by the impeachment pro-
ceedings of 1917. Robertson led Mrs.
Ferguson in the first primary, but the
combined vote of the two leading
candidates was less than half the total
vote polled. Furthermore. the other
leading candidates were opposed avow-
edly to both Ferguson policies and Klan
rule. After winning in the second pri-
mary, Mrs. Ferguson met stiff opposi-
tion in the general election by George C.
Butte, former University of Texas pro-
fessor, who ran on the Republican ticket
and drew large support from bolting
Democrats. However, Mrs. Ferguson
won, 422,558 to 294,970. Mrs. Fergu-
son's first term was characterized by
economical administration, but there
was a return to the liberal policy of
pardons for convicts which had charac-
terized James E. Ferguson's administra-
tion, and it met popular opposition.
During the administration of Dan
Moody (Jan. 17, 1927, to Jan. 20, 1931)
there was increased effort at law en-
forcement, especially the prohibition law,
violation of which was now becoming a
very serious problem in Texas and else-
where. Moody, as Attorney General dur-
ing Mrs. Ferguson's administration, had
caught the popular imagination by his
prompt steps to enforce the law and his
unfaltering opposition to the Ku Klux
Klan. In the primaries of 1926 he failed
by a narrow margin to gain a majority
over Mrs. Ferguson, Lynch Davidson
and several other candidates in the first
primary, and defeated Mrs. Ferguson by
a vote of 495,723 to 270,595 in the sec-
ond primary. Moody reversed the Fer-
guson policy of liberal grants of par-
dons to convicts, favored education and
lent his energies through his appoint-
ments to the Highway Commission to a
constructive highway program for the
state.
The administration of Ross S. Ster-
ling (Jan. 20, 1931, to Jan. 17, 1933)
followed that of Moody. Sterling had
served as chairman of the State High-
way Commission under Moody, achiev-
ing remarkable results in bringing Tex-
as "out of the mud." The State Highw y
Commission of Texas had been estab-
lished in 1917 and, intermittently, had
done effective work. However, it may
be justly said that it was under the
chairmanship of Sterling in the admin-
istration of Moody that a really effec-
tive and consistent highway program
was established. Sterling maintained the
effective highway program during his
administration as Governor by follow-
ing Moody's policy of nonpolitical ap-
pointments to the commission. Ster-
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Texas Almanac, 1945-1946, book, 1945; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117166/m1/74/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.