KENTUCKY. 



471 



to a great extent, to the control of the Com- 

 missioners of the Sinking Fund, who are the 

 Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Attor- 

 ney-General, and Treasurer. 



There are now inside the walls of the Peni- 

 tentiary 651 men, for whom the contractors 

 pay an annual rent of $25,375, less expense of 

 State guards, etc., $17,875, leaving a net in- 

 come to the State of $7,500. It is impossi- 

 ble to state the exact number of employes 

 on railroad work, as it is constantly fluctu- 

 ating between two and three hundred. The 

 amount received is $50 per head, and the net 

 income to the State from the same may be 

 safely estimated at $10,000 per annum, making 

 total net receipts of $17,500. Under the lessee 

 system, the Penitentiary was a constant drain 

 upon the Treasury of the State. 



The following is a comparative statement of 

 the assessment of railroads in Kentucky for 

 1878-'81, showing the increase in the number 

 of miles, and also the valuation : 



There are 20, 944 volumes in the State Library. 

 The following is a summary of the taxable prop- 

 erty of the State, excepting Fayette County : 



Adding Fayette County, as returned in 1880, 

 the total valuation is $356,475,134; tax, $1,- 

 621,804.98. 



The per capita for white common schools 

 for the school year 1881-'82 is $1.40; and the 

 per capita for the colored common schools, 50 

 cents. 



There are 1,063 idiots maintained by the 

 State, exclusive of those in the Feeble-minded 

 Institute. The counties having twenty and 

 over are Bath, 22 ; Casey, 25 ; Clay, 24 ; Gray- 

 son, 20 ; Harlan, 20 ; Jackson, 21 ; Jefferson, 

 30 ; Knox, 33 ; Letcher, 20 ; Ohio, 22 ; Pulas- 

 ki, 29 ; Wayne, 30 ; Whitley, 31. The follow- 

 ing counties have none : Ballard, Carroll, Crit- 

 tenden, Fayette, Fulton, McLean, and Union ; 

 while Boyd, Larue, Menifee, and Woodford 

 have only one each. The State pays $75 for 

 the support of each of these idiots, or a total 

 for the past year of $77,805.27. 



The internal revenue derived by the United 

 States in six districts of the State is shown in 

 the following table: 



Second district $672,159 61 



Fifth district 8,409,672 12 



Sixth district 8.185,216 08 



Seventh district 1,009,843 81 



Eighth district 216,668 51 



Ninth district 145,579 63 



Total $8,719,144 21 



The work of improving the navigation of the 

 Kentucky and other rivers has been going on. 

 Congress has recently appropriated $325,000 

 for the Kentucky Eiver ; $55,000 for the Big 

 Sandy ; $37,000 for that portion of the Cum- 

 berland Kiver flowing through Kentucky; 

 $5,000 for the Tradewater, and a small sum 

 for the Licking. 



The cereal productions of the State, accord- 

 ing to the census, have been as follows : 



YEARS. INDIAN CORN. Busheli. 



1870 50,091,006 



1680 73,977,829 



Increase. 



WHEAT. 



1870 5,723,704 



I860 11,355,340 



Increase 5,626,636 



OATS. 



1870 6,620,103 



1880 4,582,968 



Decrease 2,037,135 



BARLEY. 



1S70 233.436 



1680 487,031 



Increase 248,546 



1870 1,108.933 



1880 616,245 



Decrease . 



1870. 

 1880. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



8,443 

 14,940 



Increase . 



11,497 



Kentucky is the first State in the yield of 

 tobacco, producing in 1880 171, 120,784 pounds, 

 or 36 per cent of the entire product of the 

 country. 



It is stated that there are at present 58,- 

 000,000 gallons of whisky in store in the State. 

 The yield of coal, according to the census of 

 1880, was 946,288 tons. The population of 

 the principal cities and towns was as fol- 

 lows : 



The population of the State is 1,648,690, 

 but as distributed among the several counties 

 as shown by the returns of the census of 1880, 

 and as compared with the returns of 1870, it 

 is as follows : 



