462 



KENTUCKY. 



June 30, 1882, and from July 1, 1882, to June 

 30, 1883, was as follows : 



Balance in the Treasury Oct. 10, 1881 $51,118 28 



Receipts, including bank loan of $200,000 1,251,199 97 



Total receipts and balance, as above $1,302,318 25 



Disbursements deducted 1,254,253 28 



Left a balance of. . 



$48,064 97 



Borrowed from bank, as above $200,000 00 



Balance in the Treasury deducted 48,064 97 



Shows deficit for the year $1 51,935 03 



Due banks prior to Oct. 10, 1881 300,000 00 



Total deficit June 30, 1882 $451,935 03 



Balance in the Treasury June 30, 1882 $48,064 97 



Receipts 1,622,328 80 



Total receipts and balance on hand $1,670,393 27 



Disbursements deducted 1,661,763 94 



Balance June 30, 1883 $8,624 33 



Due banks June 30, 1883 $500,000 00 



Less balance in Treasury 8,624 33 



Actual deficit $491,375 67 



There has been no change in the condition 

 of the sinking fund since the last session of 

 the General Assembly. The bonded debt of 

 the State, as then, consists of 174 6-per-cent. 

 military bonds, amounting to $174,000, be- 

 sides $6,394 in old railroad scrip, and bonds of 

 1835 and 1841, which have been so long over- 

 due, and unheard of for so many years, that 

 they are supposed to have been long since lost 

 or destroyed, and will probably never be pre- 

 sented for redemption. The resources of the 

 sinking fund are also substantially as at that 

 time. Cash in the Treasury, June 30, 1883, 

 $174,000.30; 406 shares of stock in the Bank 

 of Louisville, quoted at the close of the fiscal 

 year at $31,262, and stock in turnpikes esti- 

 mated at $500,000, amounting in all to $705,- 

 266.30. In regard to the financial situation 

 the Governor says : 



The difficulty has been, and is still to be found, to 

 a great extent, 'in our grossly defective system of as- 

 sessment, rendered still more inefficient by the neg- 

 ligent and unsatisfactory manner in which it is admin- 

 istered. The mere fact that the entire valuation of all 

 descriptions of taxable property within the Common- 

 wealth for the last fiscal year amounted to but little 

 over $374,500,000, is sufficient to satisfy any intelli- 

 gent mind at all conversant with the subject that there 

 must have been the grossest disparity between its 

 market and the assessed value. Our real property 

 alone is worth double that sum. Inequalities and 

 undervaluation in assessment are, however, by no 

 means the only_ evils in our revenue system. Much 

 of our revenue is annually lost through exonerations, 

 delinquent lists, and sales of land for taxes, though 

 the latter evils have been lessening from year to year, 

 and may possibly reach their minimum under a rigid 

 enforcement of our present statutes. Besides this, 

 1 * ~ 3rty have from time to time been 



exempted from taxation by private acts of the Legis- 

 lature, which should be restored to the tax-list. There 

 are also various lottery companies plying their busi- 

 ness in our State, and claiming to exercise their priv- 

 ileges under the sanction of our laws, who yet pay not 

 a doit into the Treasury. If they have a legal exist- 

 ence, they should be taxed ; if they have "not, they 



The Penitentiary. The condition of the con- 

 victs within the prison-walls has been greatly 

 improved within the past three years. Those 

 in the hands of contractors are not so well off. 

 The total number is over 1,000, while there are 

 cell accommodations for only 744. The Gov- 

 ernor recommends the erection of a branch 

 penitentiary in the western part of the State, 

 with a capacity of 700 or 750 cells. 



State Charities. The State charitable institu- 

 tions are the Eastern, Central, and Western 

 Lunatic Asylums, the Institution for the Edu- 

 cation and Training of Feeble-Minded Chil- 

 dren, the Institution for the Education of the 

 Blind, and the Institution for the Education of 

 Deaf-Mutes. 



The whole number of insane patients treat- 

 ed during the year was 2,143. The percentage 

 of cures upon the admissions during the year 

 was as follows : in the Eastern Asylum, 34'09 ; 

 in the Central, 60'03 ; in the Western, 46'61. 



The number of blind pupils during the year 

 was 78. The average attendance of deaf-mute 

 pupils was 140. 



It appears that of the 1,049 idiots maintained 

 last year by the Commonwealth, at a cost of 

 $65,471, over 54 per cent, were in four judicial 

 circuits. "While the cause," says the Gov- 

 ernor, " of this singular and startling difference 

 in the development of idiocy in different local- 

 ities in the same Commonwealth may be a 

 matter of curious speculation, it may be well 

 for practical legislators to inquire whether it 

 has resulted, to any extent, from the importa- 

 tion of such unfortunate beings with the view 

 of having them pensioned upon the bounty of 

 the State." 



Education. The school census, white and col- 

 ored, and the corresponding apportionments 

 out of the school fund for the payment of 

 teachers and commissioners, for the year end- 

 ing June 30, 1884, were as follow : 



Whole number of white-pupil children 500,824 



Whole number of colored-pupil children 92,470 



Total... 



593.294 



Apportioned to white children. $1.40 per capita. $701,153 60 

 Apportioned to colored children, $1.40 per 

 capita 129,458 00 



Total .- $830,611 60 



Amount apportioned to commissioners 42,089 1 1 



Grand total... .. $872,089 71 



During the session of 1881~'82 the number 

 of matriculates in the State College was 320, 

 and in that of 1882-'83, 316. Instruction is 

 given under twelve professors and two assist- 

 ant professors. 



In March a call was issued for a conference 

 or convention of the friends of popular educa- 

 tion in Kentucky, to be held in Frankfort on 

 the 5th of April, " for the purpose of consider- 

 ing the situation and organizing a quicker 

 movement against illiteracy. With a quarter 

 of a million of people in the Commonwealth 

 who can not even read, with the average pay 

 of teachers only $22 per month, with the aver- 



