1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kentucky

KENTUCKY (see ).&mdash;The census of 1920 ranked Kentucky as 15th state with a pop. of 2,416,630; in 1910 the state was 14th with 2,289,905. The gain of 126,725, or 5.5%, was numerically the least since 1840 and per cent the least since 1790. There were 1,227,494 males and 1,189,136 females. The whites number 2,180,560, an increase since 1910 of 7.5%; the negroes 235,938, a decrease of 9.8%. Foreign-born whites numbered 30,780 or 1.3% of the total pop., as against 40,053, or 1.7% in 1910. There were also 57 Indians, 62 Chinese, 9 Japanese, and 4 others. White men 21 years of age and over numbered 584,721; white women, 560,804; total, including negroes, 1,289,496, most whom may vote under the new election laws of 1920. The density of pop. in 1920 was 60.1 to the sq. m.;, in 1910, 57. The state remained overwhelmingly rural, despite a rise of urban pop. from 24.3% in 1910 to 26.2% in 1920. Sixty-four counties widely scattered, lost pop. in the decade; while four in the eastern coal-fields gained 50% or more. In 1916 the Baptists claimed 367,731 members; Roman Catholics, 160,185; Methodists, 155,229; Disciples of Christ, 129,972; Presbyterians, 48,423; Church of Christ, 24,216; Episcopalians, 9,383. The eight cities with a pop. of over 10,000 in 1920 were:

History.&mdash;The great changes in the political and economic life of Kentucky during the decade 1910-20 were due to three factors: a programme of social legislation carried over from the previous decade; the World War; and participation in national reforms. Of secondary importance were two other factors: the exceptionally severe winter of 1917-8 which was accompanied by pandemic influenza; and the active road-building induced by the increased use of the motor-car. While disease and war tended to check the growth of population as well as to prevent construction work of all sorts, the demand for war supplies and the rise of prices distributed new wealth, created new towns in the eastern counties and permanently enriched all who could assimilate their prosperity. Toward the close of the decade the Prohibition Amendment destroyed the distilling industry, which stood first in value of output in 1914, amounting to $48,862,526; but tobacco alone at war prices in 1919 yielded the unprecedented sum of $117,730,675. Two Democratic governors were elected, J. B. McCreary (1911-5) and A. O. Stanley (1915-9). The latter, however, had a plurality of only 471 votes over E. P. Morrow, Republican, and a Republican was elected secretary of state. Governor Stanley resigned to take his seat as U.S. senator on May 19 1919, Lieut.-Gov. J. B. Black succeeding him. In Nov. 1919 Edwin P. Morrow, Republican, defeated Black by the surprising plurality of 40,176. While the state cast all her electoral votes for Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and 1916 and for Cox in 1920, she chose a Republican senator, R. P. Ernst, in. 1920. Several changes were made in the state constitution by popular referendum: in 1915, to permit classification of property for taxation and to employ convicts on public roads; in 1917, to permit telephone companies to merge; in 1919, to adopt prohibition. The 120th county—McCreary—was organized in 1912 out of parts of Pulaski, Wayne and Whitley. In Nov. 1917 the U.S. Supreme Court declared void Louisville's race-segregation ordinance.

On April 3 1910 a night rider was convicted at Marion and in the same year certain farmers and residents of Grant county were convicted of violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by conspiring to prevent the marketing of tobacco. In Aug. 1914 at Hartford, of 65 persons accused of &ldqo;regulating conduct&rdquo; by coercing their neighbours, 2 were sentenced; Jan. 11 1917 Governor Stanley persuaded a mob at Murray to disperse after threatening the judge and state's attorney for safeguarding a negro prisoner; and in the same year at Providence a miners' outbreak was quelled by guards returning from the Mexican border. On March 13 1921 a negro prisoner was lynched at Versailles, but the gaoler was removed from office. The most serious outbreak occurred Feb. 9 1920 when at Lexington a mob, attempting to enter the Fayette county court-house to seize a negro during the progress of his trial, was fired upon by state troops after repeated warnings. Seven men were killed and 22 wounded. Soldiers from Camp Taylor arrived later in the day, averting further bloodshed. The negro was convicted and sentenced a few minutes after the firing ceased.

Kentucky furnished for the World War 91,821 men in all branches of the army and navy. Of these, 3,015 died and more

than 4,000 were wounded, 300 remaining in hospitals in 1920. Camp Zachary Taylor at Louisville was one of the national cantonments for infantry, while artillerymen were trained at West Point in Jefferson county and at Camp Knox. Total subscriptions to the Liberty and Victory loans were $190,846,510.


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