408 



KENTUCKY. 



counties, as interest on county bonds, is $22,- 

 918.85; balance to meet expenses of the office 

 and possible corrections in the census, $18,137.70. 

 The larger resources of the school fund are as 

 follow: To the credit of the school fund for the 

 year ending June 30, 1899, $265,232.09; sheriffs' 

 revenue, $1,140,047.46; licenses, $143,443; annual 

 interest on old and new school bonds, $138,755.80; 

 tax on railroads, $101,000; tax on railroad fran- 

 chises, $21,000; tax on banks, $90,000; distilled 

 spirits, $18,900. The school term in the rural 

 districts is hardly five months of the twelve. 



Charities and Corrections. The expenses of 

 the Eastern Asylum for the fiscal year ending 

 Sept. 30, 1899, exceeded its income by $2,682.30. 

 This deficit was caused by expending consider- 

 able money for repairs of buildings. The report 

 of the treasurer of the Western Asylum, covering 

 the period from Oct. 1, 1898, to Sept. 30, 1899, 

 showed that thai?-' institution lived within its in- 

 come, and had to its credit $8,860.19. Its expense 

 account embraced about $11,000, which sum was 

 used for buildings and repairs. The expenses of 

 the Central Asylum have been kept within the 

 per capita allowance, and a surplus of about $10,- 

 000 remains. 



The buildings of the Feeble-minded Institute 

 were destroyed by fire during the last adminis- 

 tration, but the money realized on the insurance 

 policies was sufficient to construct new ones supe- 

 rior to those burned. Until the present year there 

 has been no separate State institution for juvenile 

 offenders. But the Legislature of 1896 appropri- 

 ated $100,000 for building houses of reform for 

 this class. A site was bought near Lexington, 

 and, though the buildings can not be finished till 

 further appropriation is made, they were dedi- 

 cated in November, and prisoners have been re- 

 ceived. 



The expenditures for the Frankfort Peniten- 

 tiary for the sixteen months ending Nov. 30 ex- 

 ceeded its income by $87,773, and those of the 

 Eddyville Penitentiary for the same period ex- 

 ceeded its income by $57,076. The three prison 

 commissioners receive under the present law sala- 

 ries of $2,000 each. 



Railroads. The report of the Railroad Com- 

 mission, filed Dec. 1, shows that the railroads 

 have had an exceedingly prosperous year. Two 

 short narrow-gauge roads were built the Red 

 River Valley, 9 miles, and the Indian Run Rail- 

 road, 4 miles. The Licking Valley Railroad was 

 extended 6 miles, making the total mileage in 

 the State 3,065. The total valuation of railroad 

 property is $43,403,918, an increase of $368,305 

 over the last assessment. Reports to the board 

 show that 109 persons were killed on the rail- 

 roads this year, against 125 the previous year. 



Insurance. In January 86 insurance com- 

 panies doing business in the State were fined 

 $250 each for alleged conspiracy to combine and 

 control and fix insurance rates. 



Several large companies have withdrawn from 

 the State on account of prosecutions in various 

 counties. 



A suit apparently involving a new issue was on 

 trial this year, and seems not to have been finally 

 decided. Richard Tate fled from Frankfort in 

 1888, after robbing the State treasury. As seven 

 years' absence is presumption of death, heirs of 

 the defaulting Treasurer called on the insurance 

 companies to pay the policies he carried. Several 

 of them paid, but the Mutual Benefit Life, of 

 Newark, N. J., refused to do so. It lost in the 

 lower court, and appealed to the Court of Ap- 

 peals. The company is making its fight on the 

 ground that seven years' absence does not war- 



rant presumption of death in the case of a man 

 who is a fugitive from justice. 



Decisions. The laws affecting the taxation of 

 banks were the subject of decisions in the United 

 States Supreme Court in April. The question at 

 issue was the right to levy taxes upon the valu- 

 ation of franchises or the property of the bank 

 which had been certified by the State board ap- 

 pointed to perform this service. This board was 

 created by an act of the Legislature in 1892, and 

 this legislation was in conflict with the act of 

 1886. known as the Hewitt act, providing for the 

 taxation of bank stock at the rate of 75 cents 

 on each share of $100, in full for all State, coun- 

 ty, and municipal taxes. The State banks claimed 

 the Hewitt act to be in the nature of a contract, 

 and also attacked the newer law on various 

 grounds. The opinion rendered sustains the act 

 of 1892, thus affirming the opinion of the Ken- 

 tucky Court of Appeals. 



The case of the national bank the Owensbora 

 National Bank vs. the City of Owensboro in- 

 volved other points, and in this case the Ken- 

 tucky Court of Appeals was reversed. The State 

 court had held the law applicable to national 

 as well as State banks, but its holding was upset 

 in this case because of the violation of the Fed- 

 eral statute requiring that the tax upon national 

 banks shall be levied upon the shares of stock 

 in the name of the stockholders. 



In a suit to test the constitutionality of the 

 Goebel election law, the majority of the Court 

 of Appeals decided in favor of it, while Judges 

 Guffy, Du Relle, and Burnam dissented. 



In April the law under which vagrants were 

 sold on the block for a term of years was declared 

 unconstitutional. 



In the State Fiscal Court, April 25, the " con- 

 vict-parole law," passed in 1884, was pronounced 

 unconstitutional. 



Laundries in Louisville resisted the license tax, 

 and were sustained by a local court, but the 

 Court of Appeals reversed the decision. The 

 same court held, in January, that private cor- 

 porations are subject to the franchise tax. There 

 are nearly 6,000 private corporations in the State 

 which will be compelled to make annual reports 

 and pay a franchise tax. 



Lawlessness. For the past year and a half 

 Clay County has been disturbed by feuds that 

 have broken out in deadly encounters. In quar- 

 rels of the White and Baker factions 7 men were 

 killed. In July, 1899, a fight between the Phil- 

 pots and the Griffins allies respectively of the 

 Bakers and the Whites resulted in the death 

 of 5 men and the wounding of others. The Gov- 

 ernor issued a statement, Aug. 2, in which, after 

 explaining the course of the trials in local courts 

 and the uselessness of sending militia, he said: 

 " The whole fault in Clay County is a vitiated 

 public sentiirent and a failure of the civil au- 

 thorities to do their duty. The laws are insuf- 

 ficient to enable the Governor to apply a remedy. 

 Such feuds have been in progress more or less , 

 for years, and no governor of the State has ever 

 been able to quell them. They have terminated 

 only when their force was spent by one side or the 

 other being killed or moving out of the county." 



Under date of Sept. 8 it was reported from 

 London : " News reaches here from Clay County, 

 near the line of Leslie County, that Henry Mar- 

 cum was ambushed and murdered yesterday, and 

 James Roberts suffered the same fate to-day. In. 

 Perry County, farther back in the mountains, 

 there has been a renewal of the French-Erersole 

 feud, resulting in the killing of Phil McComb, a 

 member of the former family." 



