KENTUCKY. 



471 



izcd to investigate and report to this body any mea- 

 sure which they may deem necessary to protect tho 

 lives of the citizens of this Commonwealth against 

 this disease. 



The following resolution relative to the re- 

 duction of the tobacco tax was adopted : 



Whereas, It satisfactorily appears that in round 

 numbers the annual tobacco crop in the United 

 States is about 560,000,000 pounds, of which the 

 State of Kentucky produces about 156,000,000 pounds, 

 or 28 per cent, of the entire crop, that is, between 

 one fourth and one third of the whole production, 

 and therefore between one fourth and one third of 

 the entire tax collected on tobacco comes from the 

 product of Kentucky soil; and whereas it appears 

 that the revenue tax for the year 1877 amounted 

 to the sum of $11,106,546; and whereas it seems 

 strange that the farmers of the United States should 

 suffer a government which they in part control to so 

 despotically tax them and their labor, in order to 

 raise millions of dollars every year from their hard- 

 earned labor, to be bestowed upon high-salaried offi- 

 cers, standing armies, useless navies, pet national 

 banks, and bondholders : now, therefore, be it 



Resolved by the General Assembly of the Common- 

 wealth of Kentucky, That our Senators in Congress 

 be instructed, and our Representatives requested, to 

 use all the means within their power to have the tax 

 on tobacco reduced at least fifty per cent. ; and that 

 his Excellency the Governor of this Commonwealth 

 cause to be transmitted to each of said Senators and 

 Representatives copies of this preamble and reso- 

 lution. 



The following resolution relative to the con- 

 struction of the Texas and Pacific Bail way was 

 adopted : 



Whereas, The power of the General Government to 

 promote the construction of great national lines of 

 communication between the two oceans has long 

 ceased to be a question of political division ; and 

 whereas experience has demonstrated the necessity 

 of another transcontinental railroad, both for the 

 commercial and social convenience of the people, 

 and as a check to the monopoly incident to a single 

 road ; and whereas, further, the official reports show 

 that of the $104,705,163.43 expended by the General 

 Government between 1789 and 1873 for railroads, 

 wagon-roads, and canals, the sixteen Southern and 

 border States received only $6,981,982.90, while the 

 Northern and Western States and Territories have 

 received $97,025,761.70, exclusive of land grants: 



Resolved, by the General Assembly of the Common- 

 wealth of Kentucky, That our Senators in Congress 

 be instructed, and our Representatives requested, to 

 use all proper msans to secure the passage of such 

 bill or bills by Congress as will promote and secure 

 the construction of the Texas and Pacific Railway as 

 a competing line to the Union and Central Pacific, 

 and as a corresponding artery for Southern trade 

 and travel. 



The following resolution in regard to the re- 

 peal of the resumption act and other financial 

 matters was also adopted : 



Recognizing the truth and power of the time-hon- 

 ored maxim that " eternal vigilance is the price of 

 liberty " ; and whereas the highest and greatest 

 duty of the Representative is to play the part of sen- 

 tinel and give warning to the confiding and unsus- 

 pecting good people of this Commonwealth of any 

 and all attempts, either covert or open, to undermine 

 the principles of our institutions, and to subvert and 

 trample upon the rights of the citizen ; and whereas 

 it is apparent to this General Assembly that the Fed- 

 eral legislation, for the last several years, has been 

 in the interest of the money power of the country, 

 to the destruction of the honest industry of the peo- 



ple, as evidenced by tho paralysis of trade and com- 

 merce, the destruction of confidence among the peo- 

 ple financially, the closed doors of the machine and 

 manufacturing establishments throughout the coun- 

 try ; the distress and hunger incident to this deplora- 

 ble condition of affairs makes it proper that we, the 

 Representatives of the people of this Commonwealth, 

 should make known to the Federal Government our 

 views touching the great questions which are now 

 grinding the life-blood out of a brave constituency : 

 therefore, be it 



Resolved by the General Assembly of the Common- 

 wealth of Kentucky 1. That we demand the immedi- 

 ate and unconditional repeal of the resumption act. 



2. That we are in favor of making silver the equal 

 of gold, so far as paying private and public dues. 



3. That we are in favor of paying the bonds of this 

 country according to the provision of the law under 

 which they were issued, believing that, if the cur- 

 rency of the country is good enough to pay the pen- 

 sion of the widow and orphan of the dead soldier, it 

 is good enough to pay the bondholders or any other 

 claim against the Federal Government. That while 

 we oppose repudiation, and are for the honest dis- 

 charge of our bonded debt, according to the provi- 

 sion of the law under and by which the bonds were 

 issued, we denounce as unjust to the people all laws, 

 the effect of which is to make any bonds payable in 

 coin which, by the act under which they were issued, 

 were payable in the currency of the country. 



4. That the Governor of this Commonwealth is 

 hereby requested to send certified copies of these 

 resolutions to each of the members in the Federal 

 Congress ; and that our Senators and Representa- 

 tives in the Congress of the United States are re- 

 quested to use all honorable means to procure the 

 passage of an act in conformity with the foregoing 

 resolutions. 



The value of taxable property in the State 

 belonging to white persons, and the amount of 

 taxes on the same for 1877 arid 1878, were 



Total value of property, 1 877 $383,012,786 



To ; al value of property, 1878 354,019,676 



Decrease $28,993,060 



Tax, 1877 $1^050 9! 



Tax, 1S78 1,416,078 70 



Decrease $115,972 24 



The value of the same belonging to blacks, 

 and the amount of taxes for the same time, 

 were as follows : 



Total value of property, 1 S77 $3,541 ,869 



Total value of property, 1873 3,306,337 



Decrease. 



$235,032 



Tax,lS77 $15,93616 



Tax, 1S7S 14,878 51 



Decrease $1,057 65 



It will thus be seen that the decrease in the 

 assessed value of property in 1878 was $29,- 

 228,092, while the decrease in taxes to be re- 

 alized was $117,029.89. 



The number of prisoners in the Kentucky 

 penitentiary at the close of the year was 990, 

 which is steadily and slowly increasing. The 

 health of the convicts has been excellent, and 

 there have been no deaths from fevers, and no 

 unusual change in the prison affairs. 



The State Board of Equalization of the value 

 of railroad property, organized under an act 

 of the Legislature above mentioned, made their 

 first report as follows : 



