KENTUCKY. 



463 



age value of 60 per cent, of our school-houses 

 $78, and with not less than 180,000 children 

 who do not attend any school, it is time for us 

 to awaken to the magnitude of the question 

 and to make an effort for a change. Let all 

 whose hearts are warmed with a love of the 

 little ones come to the conference and assist in 

 creating a public sentiment that will secure 

 what we want." 



The convention met at the appointed time 

 and remained in session two days. It was nu- 

 merously attended by representative men, irre- 

 spective of race, of party, and of vocation, 

 from many parts of the State. ^Resolutions 

 were adopted and an address to the people of 

 the State was issued. Federal aid was ap- 

 proved of, and it was recommended that State 

 taxation be supplemented by local taxation. 



A twofold obstacle was recognized. u That 

 difficulty appears first in the lack of adequate 

 means to maintain or to employ competent 



Total population of Kentucky 



Total population who can not read, ten years of age 



and over 



Percentage of total population who can not read... 



Total white population 



Total white population who can not write, ten years 



of age and over 



Percentage of total white population who can not 



write 



Total colored population ....'. 



Total colored population who can not write, ten 



years of age and over 



Percentage of total colored population who can not 



write . . . 



1,648,600 



268,186 



15-66 



1,377,179 



214,497 



15-58 

 271,511 



49-81 



Railroads. The Railroad Commissioners re- 

 port that on the first day of December, 1883, 

 there were in operation in the State 1,936.99 

 miles of railway, which, however, do not pene- 

 trate one third of the counties in the Common- 

 wealth. Several roads are in process of con- 

 struction, while others have been projected for 

 the near future. The Henderson bridge is in 

 course of construction, but will not be com- 

 pleted before the spring of 1885. It appears 



SOUTHERN EXPOSITION BUILDING, LOUISVILLE, KT. 



phers, and to construct suitable houses in 

 rhich to gather and teach the children ; and 

 Jcond, though not least, the lethargy of the 

 30ple, as evinced by the fact that in 1881 there 

 were 265,891 white children of pupil age in 

 the State whose parents and guardians would 

 not, or did not, send them to the common 

 schools ; and, furthermore, that 34 counties of 

 ie State reported, through their commission- 

 ers, as being stubbornly opposed to local taxa- 

 tion for educational purposes." 

 A committee was appointed to report needed 

 lendments to the common-school law to an 

 ourned meeting to be held in Louisville. 

 The report was made on the 20th of September. 

 It recommended amendments designed to re- 

 luce the school age from six to twenty years to 

 six to sixteen years, to lengthen the school 

 i, increase the wages of teachers, and raise 

 ie per capita by local taxation and other 

 leans from $1.40 to $3. The following figures 

 >m the United States census of 1880, widely 

 iblished in the State, have been a potent ele- 

 ment in arousing public attention to the neces- 

 'ity of improving the educational facilities of 

 ' Commonwealth : 



from the report that the business of the various 

 railroads in the State is increasing, and their 

 general condition improving. Steel rails are 

 being substituted for iron, and many facilities 

 for travel and traffic furnished which have not 

 existed heretofore. The Chesapeake and Ohio 

 and Southwestern has reduced its local pas- 

 senger fares to three cents a mile, making that 

 the uniform rate with all the principal lines 

 throughout the State. The commissioners as- 

 sessed the railroad property at $35,000,000. 



Geological Snrrey. On this subject the Gov- 

 ernor says : 



No expenditure of money has ever been made by 

 our State government which has been more -prolific of 

 good results than that which has been devoted to our 

 Geological Survey. Previous to its inauguration com- 

 paratively little was known of our varied and almost 

 illimitable resources, and consequently the vast tide 

 of capital as well as intelligent labor, seeking new fields 

 of employment, had drifted past us, and thousands of 

 the most enterprising of our own people had been 

 lured to other States supposed to have been more lib- 

 erally endowed by nature with the various elements 

 of material prosperity . But, although prosecuted un- 

 der great disadvantages, it has demonstrated that our 

 resources of every description are enormous ; that our 

 soils are adapted to the profitable growth of the widest 



