KENTUCKY. 



421 



KENTUCKY. The session of the Legisla- 

 ture was a notable one on account of the 

 measures which were taken to extricate the 

 State from financial difficulties, and to arrest 

 and remedy numerous administrative abuses. 

 The Legislature acted upon every one of the 

 recommendations contained in the Governor's 

 message. The most important measures were 

 the addition of five cents on the one hundred 

 dollars in the tax levy, making the general 

 revenue tax four and a half mills, as formerly ; 

 stringent laws for the assessment and collec- 

 tion of the taxes, and for the detection of 

 fraudulent witness claims and others, and the 

 reduction of fees ; the substitution of the war- 

 den system for the lessee system in the Peni- 

 tentiary, and provisions for enlarging the ac- 

 commodations and reforming the management; 

 the submission of the proposition of calling a 

 Constitutional Convention to the vote of the 

 people ; the creation of a commission for the 

 regulation of railroads; the reduction of ap- 

 propriations, and provisions for the better man- 

 agement of the State charitable institutions; 

 the endowment of the Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical College; the transfer of the State's 

 improvements in the Kentucky River to the 

 General Government, and provisions for the 

 acquisition of property by the Government for 

 river improvement and for the protection of 

 the Government works ; certain amendments 

 in the civil code, and the redistricting of t!ie 

 State into judicial circuits, and the abolition of 

 a number of lesser courts. 



The Legislature began-its session on Decem- 

 ber 31st, and adjourned on the 6th of May, 

 sitting 127 days, a longer session than that of 

 any previous Legislature. Lieutenant-Govern- 

 or James E. Cantrill presided over the Sen- 

 ate, and J. M. Bigger was elected Speaker of the 

 Houss. In addition to the important general 

 laws which were enacted, a large number of 

 local and private acts were also passed. Many 

 of the members sat in the Legislature for the 

 first time in the lower house, and the regular- 

 ity of the proceedings was broken several 

 times by stormy scenes, and excited, unparlia- 

 mentary language. The session of the Senate 

 was not marked by any similar unpleasantness, 

 and the debates of this body were uniformly 

 good-natured and courteous. 



The act to take the sense of the people upon 

 calling a convention to revise the Constitution 

 of the State, provides that the vote on this 

 question shall be polled at the next ensuing 

 election of representatives; that the proposi- 

 tion shall be duly advertised, and polls opened 

 by the sheriffs and other election officers, who 

 shall propound the question, "Do you vote for 

 calling a convention or not? " to every elector 

 entitled to vote for Representatives, and record 

 the answers and make returns of those voting 

 in favor of a convention to the Secretary of 

 State. 



Among the revenue and taxation acts was 

 one permitting the owners of property sold 



for taxes due in or before 1878, and bought in 

 by the State, to redeem it by paying the pur- 

 chase money and interest at thirty per cent, 

 per annum. This act was afterward amended 

 by making the rate of interest six per cent, 

 per annum, and subsequently to the effect that 

 the lands are redeemable upon payment of 

 back taxes and interest. An act to prevent the 

 payment of fraudulent claims against the Com- 

 monwealth, provided that the order of a court 

 allowing a bill or credit against the State 

 snould be regarded as prima facie evidence of 

 the correctness of the claim, but should not be 

 treated as a judgment. In case the Auditor 

 suspects the fraudulence or illegality of such 

 claims, he may, with the advice of the Attor- 

 ney-General, contest their payment in the Cir- 

 cuit Court of Franklin County, which is given 

 jurisdiction of all suits against the Treasury. 

 The Attorney-General was authorized to sue 

 for the recovery of moneys suspected to have 

 been paid out of the Treasury heretofore upon 

 fraudulent or irregular claims. Another act 

 authorized the Attorney-General to investigate 

 the condition and value of judgments obtained 

 by the State upon which executions have been 

 issued, and the return of no property found 

 made by the officers. An act to prevent the 

 payment of fraudulent claims out of the Treas- 

 ury makes it a felony for a justice of the peace, 

 sheriff, constable, or other peace officer, to pre- 

 sent a false claim for services connected with 

 the arrest, trial, or transportation of prisoners. 

 The Auditor was authorized to appoint agents 

 to attend to revenue matters in the counties, 

 who shall see that persons who have failed to 

 return their taxable property shall be sum- 

 moned into court to give in their lists, that 

 sheriffs and collectors who have collected de- 

 linquent taxes and not accounted for them shall 

 be prosecuted, and to investigate the accounts 

 of officers, and see if there have been any over- 

 charges or defalcations. Another act makes 

 it punishable for a magistrate to issue warrants 

 for arrest in felony cases without filing in his 

 office an affidavit specifying the charge and 

 showing reasonable grounds for suspecting the 

 person arrested. These acts were the result 

 of the discovery of extensive and systematic 

 frauds practiced by county officials upon the 

 Treasury, especially in the eastern part of the 

 State. 



The sheriffs or collectors of the State or 

 county taxes are required to return the tax 

 receipts of insolvent and delinquent taxpay- 

 ers, and are barred from collecting the taxes 

 returned as delinquent unless they are re- 

 listed. The time for the collection of fees 

 and taxes, except such as were already out- 

 lawed, was extended two years. The law 

 regarding the service of tax-notices was 

 amended so as to require the sheriff to ten- 

 der a receipt specifying the assessment and 

 tax due from any person upon demand, and 

 to notify personally or leave a written no- 

 tice at the house of every tax-payer, resi- 



