424 



KENTUCKY. 



This leaves a surplus in the resources of the 

 Sinking Fund of $1,114,903.46. There is a con- 

 siderable sum still due from the United States 

 to the State of Kentucky for money advanced 

 for military expenses during the war. Of this, 

 $175,884.57 were collected during the year, 

 and $1,173,761.86 remain to he paid. 



The revenue of the State during the last 

 fiscal year was : 



Amount received from sheriffs from October 



11, 1869, to October 10, 1870 $707,301 41 



Amount received from corporations 217,300 70 



Total $924,602 11 



Balance in Treasury on October 10, 1669 72,148 82 



$996,750 93 



The expenditures amounted to $1,082,639.92, 

 leaving a deficit on the 10th of October, 1870, 

 of $85,888.99. This deficit was caused by ex- 

 traordinary appropriations made by the last 

 Legislature without any provision to meet 

 them except the ordinary revenue. Most of 

 the present indebtedness of the State was 

 created by this habit of making extraordinary 

 appropriations without any provision for their 

 payment. A deficit is thus produced in the 

 Treasury, and bonds have been issued from 

 time to time to supply it. The general revenue 

 system of the State, too, is sadly in need of 

 reform. On this subject the Governor says: 



Our revenue system calls loudly for revision and 

 reform. Its present defects are glaring and patent. 

 The constitutional requirement of uniform and equal 

 assessment of taxable property is almost wholly dis- 

 regarded. A proper and equal assessment of prop- 

 erty throughout the Commonwealth would double 

 its value. It is assessed at one-sixth or one-tenth 



of its value in some sections of the State, while in 

 others it is returned at three-fourths or four-fifths. 

 Some assessors adopt a specie, others a currency 

 standard. Flagrant injustice to the tax-payer, and a 

 diminished amount of revenue, are the natural re- 

 sults of existing inequality in assessments. Great 

 irregularity exists, also, in the collection and pay- 

 ment of the revenue. 



In his last message to the Legislature he 

 recommends " an enactment creating a board, 

 to consist of the Auditor, Treasurer, and At- 

 torney-General, who shall prepare and report 

 to the next General Assembly a codification 

 and revision of all the revenue laws of the 

 Commonwealth, with power to frame a system 

 which shall equalize assessments, increase the 

 revenue, and regulate its prompt collection." 



The number of convicts in the Penitentiary 

 on January 1, 1871, was 680. Of these, 645 

 are males, and 35 females. The number re- 

 ceived during the past year was 319. The 

 number discharged on time during the year 

 was 192. The number of deaths during the 

 year was 20. Of the whole number of con- 

 victs, 366 are white, and 314 are colored. The 

 Penitentiary is already overcrowded, and the 

 number of convicts is rapidly increasing. 

 Larger accommodations will soon be impera- 

 tively demanded, and there is a conviction, to 

 use the language of the Governor, " of the ab- 

 solute necessity for a thorough change and 

 reformation of the existing prison system." A 

 House of Eeform is in process of construction, 

 and will be ready for use on the 1st of July, 

 1871. It will cost about .$43,000, and will ac- 

 commodate from 75 to 100 boys. 



