424 



KENTUCKY. 



Railroads. The Railroad Commission com- 

 pleted its work of fixing assessments in Decem- 

 ber. The total assessment of railroad property 

 in the State is $55,005,765 last year's assessment 

 $52,316,038 making an increase of nearly $3,- 

 000,000 on the last year, or $21,000,000 more 

 than the railroads themselves fixed the value on 

 their property. 



There have been built during the past year 

 59-47- miles of road, though these are mostly ex- 

 tensions, no road in the State building road to a 

 greater extent than 16 miles. Several old pieces 

 of road have been abandoned, which leaves the 

 actual total mileage increase at 36. 



A contract was given in December for build- 

 ing 60 miles of railway in eastern Kentucky, 

 connecting the coal fields of Pike County with 

 the Big Sandy river at Whitehall. 



The Court of Appeals rendered a decision in 

 October in what is known as the Railroad case. 

 The act of 1884 exempted newly constructed 

 roads for five years from the beginning of the 

 construction. The act of 1886, the Hewitt reve- 

 nue bill, is held by the court as repealing the act 

 of 1884 and withdrawing the exemption, not, 

 however, to affect the roads that were actually 

 begun before Sept. 14, 1886. The lower court 

 held that the exemption continued, and was not 

 repealed by the Hewitt bill. The result will give 

 the State probably $100,000. 



Another decision by the Court of Appeals af- 

 fecting railroads was that a regulation of a rail- 

 road company requiring a passenger entering a 

 train without a ticket to pay 25 cents extra fare, 

 this sum to be refunded upon the presentation to 

 any ticket agent on the road of a " rebate check " 

 furnished by the conductor, was not unreasonable, 

 and that where a passenger, with knowledge of 

 the rule, and with knowledge of the fact that 

 there was no ticket office at the station for which 

 he was destined, failed before starting on his 

 journey to buy a round-trip ticket, which he 

 knew he could procure, he could not complain 

 that upon his return he was ejected from the 

 train on his refusal to pay the 25 cents extra. 



State Institutions. The number of patients 

 in the lunatic asylums at the end of the year was 

 2.337625 in the Western, 942 in the Central, 

 and 770 in the Eastern. The institutions are full. 



At the end of the year 1,103 convicts were con- 

 fined in the Frankfort Penitentiary, and 504 at 

 Eddyville. 



A long controversy has been going on in ref- 

 erence to the accounts between the State and the 

 Mason & Foard Company, which for some time 

 had the lease of the labor of convicts at the 

 Frankfort prison. A report made by the sink- 

 ing fund commissioners in February made 

 claim to $38,193.85 as due the State from the 

 company ; but a minority report of the Governor 

 and the Secretary of State claimed an indebted- 

 ness of $94,000. On the other hand, the com- 

 pany claimed that the State was indebted to it. 

 The minority report of the commissioners im- 

 plied mismanagement on the part of a former 

 administration. 



The contract expired April 1, though the com- 

 pany had the option of renewing it. This they 

 gave up, and bids were advertised for for leasing 

 ihe labor of the prison as a whole, but none were 

 received. Then the Legislature authorized the 



lease of the convict labor by the day at so much 

 per head, and bids were again asked. None were 

 entered except from the same company, which 

 made 2 bids 1 for 500 men at an average of 37 

 cents a day, the State to furnish the fuel, and the 

 other for the same number at 35 cents, the com- 

 pany furnishing the fuel. Difficulties arose in 

 the attempt to settle the terms of the contract, 

 and it was not made. The commissioners, in 

 August, decided to conduct a chair factory in the 

 prison on the State's account. Nov. 1 convicts 

 to the number of 150 were set at work, and the 

 Governor's message stated that at the beginning 

 of 1894 about 600 were employed, a contract 

 having been made to dispose of the output to the 

 extent of $18,000 a month. 



The case of accounts between the State and the 

 Mason-Foard Company was taken into the courts. 

 The commissioner to whom the case was referred 

 for proof and auditing of the accounts, reported 

 that the State owed the lessees $12,234. The 

 matter still remains to be settled. 



Education. An important opinion in refer- 

 ence to the use of the school fund was given by 

 the Attorney-General this year, in answer to the 

 Auditor, who wished to know whether a bill for 

 stationery furnished the Department of Public 

 Instruction could legally be paid out of the fund 

 set apart for the maintenance of public schools. 

 The Attorney-General gave as his opinion that 

 the common-school fund could not be so used, it 

 evidently having been the intention of the 

 framers of the law to place that fund beyond the 

 reach of any attempt to turn it aside from the 

 purpose for which it was originally designed. 



It appears that there is also ambiguity in the 

 new Constitution on the subjectof the manner of 

 voting for school trustees, and of those entitled 

 to vote. 



Local Option. Great excitement was caused 

 in Breathit County, June 4, by the blowing up 

 with dynamite of the " Hustler " office by un- 

 known persons. The "Hustler" is a weekly 

 paper, edited by the Rev. J. J. Dickey, and its 

 influence resulted in the recent passage of a local- 

 option law. 



A local-option election was held at Bowling 

 Green, July 1, and resulted in a victory for the 

 temperance people by a majority of 28. An all- 

 day prayer meeting, women at the polls, and the 

 ringing of church bells added to the excitement. 



At Paducah the opponents of local option filed 

 a petition, July 1, with the county judge, signed 

 by about 800 voters, praying that he order an 

 election to decide whether spirituous, malt, and 

 vinous liquors shall be sold in that city. This 

 action of the liquor men was to forestall the 

 local-option people, as, if the city election was 

 held, no other election could be held involving 

 the same question for three years. 



Whisky. As great interest centers in the 

 stocks of whisky in Kentucky, the following 

 table has been prepared to show what the stocks 

 were in the State at the end of each month from 

 June 30. 1892, to June 30, 1893, in gallons : 



June 30, 1892 82,851,182 I Jan. 31, 1898 82,391,775 



July 31 81,700,561 [ Feb. 28 86.2'-'l,7i3 



Aug. 31 79.349,296 " 



Sept. 30 77,556,471 



Oct. 31 .... 



76,315.697 



March 31 90,171.96* 



April 80 92.164.249 



May 31 94,711,088 



Nov. 30 76,314,153 June 80 98,8W,* 



Dec. 81 78,915,503 i 



