Pennsylvania

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Pennsylvania

principal orchard Fruits are apples, peaches
and pears. From the colonial period until the
present time Pennsylvania has been among
the leading States in manufactures, and now
is second only to New York, Pennsylvania
is favored by its unique geographical posi-
tion, being the only State touching the At-
lantic seaboard and the Great Lakes, and
having direct connection by river navigation
with the great Southwest. Some of the ma-
terials used in manufacture, such as petro-
leum, natural gas, bituminous coal, anthracite
coal, iron ore, limestone, clay, glass sand, tim-
ber and tobacco are produced in large quan-
tities. Pennsylvania has always ranked first
among the States in the production of iron
and steel. The first blast furnace began op-
erations in 1790 in Fayette co. Following
the opening of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal in
1855, Lake Superior iron ore was used in in-
creasing quantities. The great centers now are
Allegheny co. (Pittsburgh, Homestead, Brad-
dock, McKeesport) and in Newcastle, Beth-
lehem and Johnstown. The combined iron
and steel industries, including steel works and
rolling mills, blast furnaces, and the manu-
facture of tin plate, rank far ahead of all
other industries in the State. Second in im-
portance is the textile group of industries,
including the manufacture of woolen, worsted,
cotton, silk and rayon goods, knit goods,
carpets and rugs, cordage and twine.

Allied to the iron and steel industries are
the products of foundries and machine shops
—a classification covering products of great
diversity. Other industries of Pennsylvania
include electrical machinery, apparatus, and
supplies; petroleum refining; steam railroad
car construction and repairs, printing and pub-
lishing; including newspapers and periodic-
cals; book and job; music; bread and other
bakery products, wholesale meat packing,
coke, not including gashouse coke, cigars and
cigarettes; motor vehicles, bodies and parts;
clay products. Philadelphia is the largest and
most important city in the State. The lead-
ing industries in the Philadelphia area are
petroleum refining, knit goods, electrical ma-
chinery, printing and publishing, foundry and
machine shop products. Pittsburgh, called
'The City of Steel,' is the second city in the
State in value of manufactured products. The
leading industries are those which use ore and
metal as the principal materials. Johnstown,
AHentown, Reading and Erie are also im-
portant. Philadelphia is the principal port of
entry for foreign commerce, Pittsburgh is an

interior port. Erie is prominent in internal
commerce, especially in the shipment of iron
ore, soft coal and grain. According to the
Federal Census for 1940, the population of
Pennsylvania was 9,900,180. Of this total,
foreign-born whites numbered 1,250,000. The
urban population, in towns and cities of at
least 2,500 inhabitants, comprises 66.5 per
cent, of the total.

Pennsylvania has a State Council of Edu-
cation which regulates the chartering of col-
leges, and has general administrative control
oi the public school system; a State Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction, appointed by
the governor and senate for four years, hav-
ing general supervision of public schools; a
county superintendent in each county chosen
by the school directors in each district who
are elected for four years. Institutions
for higher education in the State include:
University of Pennsylvania at Philadel-
phia, Bryn Mawr College, for women at
Bryn Mawr; University of Pittsburgh at
Pittsburgh; Lehigh University at Bethlehem;
Lafayette College at Easton; Washington and
Jefferson College at Washington; Muhlen-
burg College at AHentown; Temple Univer-
sity at Philadelphia; Lebanon Valley Col-
lege at Annville; Carnegie Institute at Pitts-
burgh; Drexel Institute at Philadephia; Du-
quesne University, at Pittsburgh; Geneva
College, at Beaver Falls; Irving College, at
Mechanicsburg; Juanita College, at Hunting-
don; Ursinus College, at Collegcvillc; Al-
>right College, at Myerstown; Wilson Col-
lege, at Chambersburg; Villa Nova College
(R. C.), at Villa Nova; Dickinson College,
at Carlisle; Gettysburg College at Gettys-
burg; Havcrford College, at Haverford;
Grove City College; Franklin and Marshall
College at Lancaster; Bucknell University, at
Lewisburg; Allegheny College, at Meadville;
Susquehanna University, at Sclingsgrove;
Westminster College, at New Wilmington;
Swarthmore College, at Swarthmore; Penn-
sylvania College for Women at Pittsburgh;
and the publicly controlled Pennsylvania
State College, at State College, and Pennsyl-
vania State Forest School, at Mont Alto. Gir-
ard College, a school for orphan boys at
Philadelphia, is one of the most richly en-
dowed institutions in the United States,

The charitable and penal institutions of
Pennsylvania are under the control of the
Department of Public Welfare created in
1921, and consisting of four bureaus directed
by the Secretary of Public Welfare. There