KKNTUCKY. 



revenue bill was introduced early in the 

 session. It Ma- reported to tin- House by the 

 ry Commission, .Inn. 7, and was under 

 consideration iy the Committee on Revenue and 

 Taxation, and in Committee of the Whole until 

 May ',' I, \vlieii it passed by a vote of 07 to 0. It 

 nl to the Senate, where it was reported 

 3, by the Committee on Revenue and Taxa- 

 tion \\itiiabout 100 amendments. The greater 

 f these were adopted by the Senate, and 

 the bill as thus amended was passed and re- 

 turned to i lie House. The House concurred in 

 I' the amendments, and reported back to 

 the Senate. A conference committee reported 

 in favor of the important part of the Senate 

 amendments. 



The cause of the long contention, over the bill 

 was its [tearing upon the taxation of railroads 

 and other corporations. The bill in its original 

 form, as it pa->cd the House, exempted railroads, 

 tire, life, and accident insurapce companies, and 

 foreign building and loan associations from pay- 

 ing a tax upon their franchise as other corpora- 

 tions were required to pay. The Senate adopted 

 an amendment compelling these to pay a tax on 

 their franchise the same as other corporations. 

 It is said that this change made by the Senate 

 would increase the taxes of one railroad more 

 than $300,000 annually. The bill as it passed 

 the House changed the law for the valuation of 

 railroads, which was that they shall be valued 

 for taxation at what they are worth as carriers 

 of freight and passengers, while the bill pro- 

 vided that they should be valued for taxation at 

 the price they would bring at a voluntary sale. 

 The Senate amendment struck out this provision 

 of the bill, and readopted the existing method. 

 The Conference Committee recommended the 

 adoption of the amendments of the Senate, and 

 the bill was sent to the Governor, who vetoed it. 

 The friends of the bill in the Legislature issued 

 an address to the people, setting forth the his- 

 tory of the bill and their answers to the Gov- 

 ernor's objections. 



The bill as introduced at the extra session dif- 

 fered in some important particulars from the 

 original bill. By it all money was to be paid 

 into the State treasury, not to the Auditor. Be- 

 sides a tax on their tangible property, all banks, 

 telephone, gas, water, and electric-light and 

 other corporations shall also pay a tax on what 

 has been termed their franchise. This tax is to 

 be paid on the value of the franchise, based on 

 the net earnings. 



In the case of railroads the net earnings are 

 ascertained. Assuming that $12 to $16. as the 

 >rs may choose to determine, represent 

 $100 of capital stock, the division of the amount 

 of net earnings in the State by the sum repre- 

 senting $100 of capital stock gives the number 

 of shares proportioned to the miles of road 

 within the State. This quotient multiplied by 

 $ li o. the value of each share, gives the capital 

 stock fairly assumed to be employed in the State. 

 The Kailmad Commissioners' asseaunent is taken 

 as the value of the road's real property in tin- 

 State, and the difference between tne assumed 

 capital stock and the assessment gives the fran- 

 eliise upon which the regular tax rate is levied. 



The separate-coach bill, providing for the 

 carrying of white and colored passengers in sepa- 



r.-iie roaches, caused a great deal of excitement 

 and called out many remonstrances from i : 

 ored people ; but it was finally passed, with an 

 amendment designed to Mean tM same kind of 

 coaches for both white and colored passengers. 

 A proposed amendment to make the provisions 

 of the bill apply to street cars was rejected. 

 Among the important bills passed was one abol- 

 ishing the olliee of public printer, and providing 

 that the public printing is t<, IK- let by contract 

 to the lowest responsible bidder. 



The Legal Classification bill divided the cities 

 and towns of the Commonwealth into six classes, 

 of which the first includes Louisville only; the 

 second, Lexington, Covington, and Newport ; 

 and the third, Paducah, Owensboro, Henderson, 

 Frankfort, and Bowling Green. 



A bill was passed amending section 036 of the 

 Civil Code, and allowing the wife to testify in 

 eases of suit on account when she alone can be 

 apprised of the facts in the case or the correct- 

 ness of the account; also an antilottery bill, and 

 one creating the office of Insitector of Mines. An 

 important bill was one regulating the sale of to- 

 bacco. 



A joint resolution was passed and approved 

 by the Governor creating a committee to solicit 

 sites for a new Capitol, and make recommenda- 

 tion thereon after investigating the amount of 

 indebtedness, the rate of taxation, and whether 

 or not the competing cities will be able to make 

 good such bid as they may offer. 



Both Houses passed a resolution extending 

 sympathy to the strikers at Homestead, and de- 

 nouncing the use of Pinkertons. The resolution 

 caused considerable discussion in the House, a 

 minority holding that the State had no official 

 knowledge of the causes that led up to the un- 

 fortunate condition of affairs at Homestead, and 

 could not intermeddle with the affairs of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



On the occasion of the centenary of Kentucky's 

 admission to the Union, June l,an oil painting of 

 Independence Hall, and some others, were pre- 

 sented to the State by the Philadelphia bar. 

 They were sent by a committee of 40 members, 

 and received at Lexington. 



The New Constitution. The validity of this 

 instrument was called in question on the ground 

 that it is not the same one adopted by vote of the 

 people in 1891. The convention met in Septem- 

 ber, 1890, and having in April, 1891, completed 

 a draft of a constitution, it by ordinance sub- 

 mitted it to a popular vote, and then adjourned 

 until September. During the recess the work 

 was approved by a majority of nearly 140,000, 

 the total vote cast being 9SSJUO. When the 

 convention reassembled the delegates made nu- 

 merous changes in the instrument, some of which 

 are claimed to be material, while others were but 

 a change of language or the correction of gram- 

 matical errors, and as thus amended it was prom- 

 ulgated by the convention on Sept. 28, 1891, as 

 the Constitution of the State. 



Suit was brought by 2 citizens of Louisville 

 against, the Public Printer ami the Secretary of 

 State, to enjoin the one from printing at the pub- 

 lic expense the instrument so promulgated, and 

 the other from preserving it in the State archives 

 as the Constitution of the State, and also asking 

 that it be adjudged not to be such, but spurious 



