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KENTUCKY. 



The great deficiency is the lack of local' aid to 

 the schools. The schools, as a rule, are taught 

 as long as the school fund will pay for, and no 

 longer. 



Geological Surrey. The Senate committee 

 on the geological survey found that of $30,000 

 appropriated by the last Legislature, $29,952.20 

 had been expended, leaving unexpended $137.80, 

 to which is to be added $910, making $1,047.80. 

 The field work of the State in the eastern and 

 western mineral fields, where it was richest from 

 a mineral point of view, is mostly completed, ex- 

 cepting a few counties. The committee did not 

 believe the advantage to be derived from the 

 work to the State to justify any great extension 

 of the survey, and recommended that $12,000 be 

 appropriated for the completion of the work in 

 eastern and western fields, authorizing the Gov- 

 ernor to appoint a director for two years to carry 

 out the provisions of the report, and making him 

 curator of the bureau. 



The entire amount expended from March, 

 1873, to May, 1890, is $268,300, including an an- 

 nual appropriation of $5,000 from 1882-'87 for 

 a bureau of immigration conducted in connec- 

 tion with the geological survey. 



Railroads. At the close of a session of sev- 

 eral weeks, held in Frankfort, the Railroad Com- 

 mission published a report, Dec. 2, of which the 

 following are some of the items : 



ASSESSMENT, 1892. 



Total valuation by the commissioners $52,316,088 



Total valuation, as made to the commissioners 

 by the railroads 81,814,855 



Increase $20,501,183 



Average valuation per mile of all railroads, 

 $17,316.44. 



Assessment, 1892 $52,816,088 



Assessment, 1891 50,048,741 



Increase $2,267,297 



The mileage reported by the commission in 

 1891 was 3,020, and in 1890 3,000. No new roads 

 were made in 1892 previous to July 1, when the 

 reports were made to the commission, except 

 one that replaced a track since abandoned. Since 

 July 1 lines have been extended to the amount 

 of about 30 miles, and 40 miles more are in pro- 

 cess of construction. 



Whisky. Reports of the Commissioner of 

 Internal Revenue show that Kentucky is still 

 the second State in the Union in production of 

 whisky and payment of internal revenue tax. 

 The amount of this tax paid by Kentucky dur- 

 ing the last fiscal year was $21,813,851, which is 

 about one seventh of all internal revenues paid 

 in the United States. The Sixth District paid 

 about half of this. 



The total number of stills seized and destroyed 

 in the State during the year was 44, of which 42 

 were in the Eighth District. Manufacturers and 

 dealers are anxiously discussing the question of 

 restricting each distiller to the use of his firm 

 name in the manufacture of whisky. One dis- 

 tillery is said to be run under 73 distinct names, 

 another 45, another 39. 



Intermount. A company has been formed 

 to found and build a new town at the Cumber- 

 land Gap, and has bought several thousand acres 

 of rich mineral and timber land. A large hotel 



and sanitarium of 800 rooms is to be built, and 

 to be called the Four Seasons House. The new 

 town is designed to be a resort for invalids. 



New Bridge over the Ohio. It is probable 

 that a sixth bridge will soon be built over the 

 Ohio at Covington. After the necessary char- 

 ters were secured from Ohio and Kentucky, some 

 difficulties were met in the attempt to secure a 

 permit from the Secretary of War. Opposition 

 was made on the ground that it would be a great 

 obstruction to navigation. The Secretary of 

 War accordingly appointed a committee of ex- 

 pert engineers to examine and report on the 

 proposition. The commission reported favora- 

 bly to the plan proposed by the projectors with 

 the change of placing the pier on the Kentucky 

 side 100 feet farther south, making the southern 

 span nearly 900 feet long and the building of 

 the new bridge 12 feet higher than either of the 

 two nearest bridges already completed. As this 

 would greatly increase the cost of the structure, 

 those interested drew up a bill, which was pre- 

 sented to Congress, authorizing the construction 

 of the new bridge at the same height above low- 

 water mark as the old suspension bridge. The 

 bill passed in the face of vehement opposition, 

 and it is expected that the work will be vigor- 

 ously carried on. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature con- 

 vened in December, 1891, and adjourned on Aug. 

 16. The Governor then called an extra session, 

 which began on Aug. 25 and ended Nov. 1. Sev- 

 eral important bills, upon which much of the 

 time of the session had been spent, were vetoed 

 by the Governor, and the extra session was called 

 for reconsideration of the subjects of those bills, 

 as well as some others which the executive had 

 approved. The subjects were : 



Eevenue and taxation; corporations; suffrage and 

 elections; World's Columbian Exposition; attorneys 

 at law, Attorney General, attorneys for the Common- 

 wealth, and attorneys for counties ; redistricting the 

 State into circuit-court districts ; classification of 

 cities ; fiscal courts. 



In the proclamation calling the Legislature to 

 this extra session the Governor gave his reason 

 for including in the list as given above some 

 bills that he had approved. He said : 



It has been suggested that probably some of them 

 are of doubtful constitutionality by reason of the 

 methods of their adoption by the Legislature. If 

 there be such valid objections to any of these bills, I 

 must say that they were approved by me under the 

 belief that the General Assembly had in their adop- 

 tion followed the plain requirements of the Constitu- 

 tion. I was astonished when I heard that in the 

 passage of some bills containing an emergency clause 

 or an appropriation the Constitution had not been 

 complied with in giving to such measures, on their 

 final passage, the votes of a majority of all elected to 

 each House of the General Assembly. When I found 

 this had not been done in some instances, I at once 

 consulted the journals of each House relating to every 

 bill thereafter' submitted to me in each case. Where 

 the required vote had not been cast for it I returned 

 it with my objections. The General Assembly may 

 now change the date for the assessment of property 

 this year, and pass a revenue and taxation bill under 

 which every individual and corporation be required 

 to pay proper taxation for the year 1892. There ia 

 ample time for this to be done : and if any of the bills 

 enumerated require re-enactment, that may be speed- 

 ily done, if it shall he the pleasure of your honorable 

 body so to do. 



