KENTUCKY. 



461 



ers' Alliance met in January, and put forth 

 resolutions declaring that the farmers were 

 oppressed by the railroads and other corpora- 

 tions ; calling for the passage of a law fixing 

 a schedule of freight and passenger rates ; and 

 denouncing the railroad- commissioner system. 



Temperance. The Kansas State Temperance 

 Union met in January, and adopted resolutions 

 declaring that the State had no moral or legal 

 right to license any wrong, but should enact 

 only such laws as will promote what is right 

 and prohibit what is wrong ; that the prohibi- 

 tion of the sale of intoxicating liquors as a 

 beverage is a great moral question, and is right 

 in principle and in practice ; and that there 

 should be no attempt by the Legislature to 

 strike prohibition from the Constitution by re- 

 submitting an amendment for that purpose, or 

 the repeal or emasculation of the law already 

 enacted for the enforcement of it. 



KENTUCKY. State Government. The follow- 

 ing were the State officers during the year : 

 Governor, Luke P. Blackburn, succeeded by 

 J. Proctor Knott, Democrats ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, James E. Cantrill, succeeded by 

 J. K. llindman ; Secretary of State, James 

 Blackburn, succeeded by James A. McKenzie ; 

 Treasurer, James W. Tate; Auditor, Fayette 

 Hewitt; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 J. D. Pickett ; Attorney-General, P. W. Har- 

 din ; Register of Land- Office, Ralph Sheldon, 

 succeeded by J. G. Cecil ; Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, Charles E. Bowman, succeeded 

 by John Davis ; Insurance Commissioner, L. 

 0. Norman. Judiciary, Court of Appeals: 

 Chief-Justice, T. F. Hargis ; Associate Jus- 

 tices, Thomas H. Hines, William S. Pry or, and 

 I Joseph H. Lewis. 

 Party Conventions. The Democratic State 

 Convention met in Louisville on the 16th of 

 May. The following ticket was nominated : 



(For Governor, J. Proctor Knott; for Lieutenant- 

 Governor, J. E. Hindman ; for Attorney -General, 

 P. W. Hardin ; for Auditor, Fayette Hewitt ; for 

 Treasurer, James W. Tate ; for Superintendent of 

 Public Instruction, Joseph Desha Pickett ; for Regis- 

 ter of the Land-Office, J: G. Cecil. 





The platform declared for revenue reform, 

 revision of the State Constitution, and encour- 

 agement of immigration. 



The Republican State Convention met in 

 Lexington on the 23d of May, and nominated 

 the following ticket : 



For Governor, Thomas Z. Morrow, of Pulaski coun- 

 ty ; Lieutenant-Governor, Speed S. Fry, of Boyle 

 county; Attorney-General, Lewis C. Garrigus (who 

 served in the Confederate army), of Logan county ; 

 Auditor, Leroy E. Hawthorne, of Campbell county ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. P. Pinker- 

 ton, of Carter county ; Register of the Land-Office, the 

 Rev. J. W. Asburv (colored), of Cynthiana county ; 

 Treasurer, Edwin Farley. 



The resolutions adopted declared for free 

 schools for all the children in the State; ad- 

 justment of the tariff; amendment of the State 

 Constitution ; encouragement of immigration ; 

 and repeal of the tobacco-tax ; arraigned the 



Democratic State government for practically 

 nullifying the criminal and penal laws, and for 

 the bad condition of the prison and charitable 

 institutions ; and commended the administra- 

 tion of President Arthur. 



Election Returns. At the election in August, 

 the Democratic ticket was successful, Knott 

 receiving 133,615 votes, and Morrow 89,181. 

 The following table gives the vote for the 

 other officers : 



At this election, 169,173 persons were re- 

 turned under the law as entitled to vote for a 

 Constitutional Convention, but only 73,704 

 votes were cast in favor of calling one. The 

 Legislature to meet in 1884 will consist of 33 

 Democrats and 5 Republicans in the Senate, 

 and 89 Democrats and 11 Republicans in the 

 House. On the 4th of September Gov. Knott 

 took the oath of office. 



General Condition. In his message to the Leg- 

 islature of 1884, Gov. Knott says: 



During the two years which have elapsed since the 

 last meeting of the General Assembly, our homes 

 have been free from the horrors of pestilence, and our 

 households gladdened by the blessings of plenty ; 

 our fields have been crowded with bountiful har- 

 vests, and our products have found ready and re- 

 munerative markets ; capital has been profitably em- 

 ployed, and labor fairly rewarded ; our resources 

 have been greatly developed, and our commerce 

 largely increased ; money has been abundant, and 

 private indebtedness among our people comparatively 

 small ; nearly 150 miles have been added to our rail- 

 ways, and the products of our mines increased over 

 250 per cent. ; while our official statistics for the last 

 fiscal year show by far the largest production of our 

 various agricultural staples since 1877, and in some 

 of them an increase upon the yield of even that ex- 

 ceptionally prolific year. 



Notwithstanding these gratifying evidences of an 

 extraordinary popular prosperity, however, there has 

 been but little change, and certainly no improvement, 

 in the condition of our State finances during the pe- 

 riod to which I have referred. 



Finances. At the close of the fiscal year 

 ending Oct. 10, 1881, there was in the Treas- 

 ury, to the credit of the revenue proper, and 

 available for the ordinary expenditures of the 

 State government, a balance of $51,118.28; 

 but, as the loan of $300,000, which had been 

 negotiated under the provisions of the act of 

 1880, in order to meet a previous deficiency, 

 had not been paid, there was really a deficit at 

 that time of $248,881.72. 



The fiscal year having been changed by law 

 so as to begin on the first day of July, and the 

 increased expenses unavoidably incident to a 

 session of the Legislature having rendered it 

 necessary to effect an additional loan of $200,- 

 000, the condition of the fund available for 

 general expenditures from Oct. 11, 1881, to 



