Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/701

 KENTUCKY

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KENTUCKY

stock of $17,078,500, an aggregate surplus of 86,283,- 739.56, and individual deposits amounting to $53,- 487,487.16. The total resources of the national banks of Kentucky aggregate .$114,1.58,595.84. There are 406 state banks and trust companies with an aggre- gate capital of $19,642,770, an aggregate surplus of 85,304,746, and deposits aggregating .$66,947,965.84.

Mining. — The chief mineral products of Kentucky- are coal (the mo.st important of all), petroleum, nat- ural gas, fluorspar, clay products, and limestone. The total mineral output for 1907 amounted in value to $19,294,341.

Agriculture. — Of the total area of Kentucky in 1900, farm lands occupied 85.9 per cent, and of this 62.5 per cent was improved. The average size of the farms has steadily decreased. In 1909 the average was 93.7 acres, which is less than half what it was fifty years previous. More than 67 per cent of the farms are operated by owners of the land. Inflian corn (maize) is the principal crop, exceeding in average and value that of all the other leading crops combined. In 190S the total area planted in Indian corn was 3,366,000 acres; in wheat, 758,000 acres; in oats, 173,000 acres; in hay, 500,000 acres; in tobacco, 240,000 acres. The total value of all principal crops in 1908 was $92,- 566,600. Kentucky produces nearly all the hemp grown in the United States: but the demand for this product has so far decreased that in 1900 only 14,107 acres were planted in the state. More tobacco is grown in Kentucky than in any other state in the Union, the product being twice as much as that of North Carolina, which is next in rank. The Kentucky crop usually equals one-third of the total production of the United States.

Grazing. — On account of the climate, the large pro- duction of grain, and the excellence of the pasturage, stock-raising is very extensively carried on. The total value of hve stock in 1909 was $95,100,000— horses, $37,905,000; mules, .$21,942,000; horned cattle, $25,- 312,000; other live stock, $9,941,000. The Blue-Grass Region is the home of the Kentucky thoroughbred, the best known and most highly valued horse in .\merica. No other part of the country devotes so much atten- tion to the raising of horses of fine Vjreed, and nowhere else in America are so many fanns devoted exclusively to this business. The centre of the industry is in Fayette County, though many valuable breeding farms are in the adjoining counties.

Manufactures. — Kentucky is an agricultural state. Its manufactures depend largely upon the products of its farms. Corn- and grist-mills are its principal manu- facturing enterprises. Other enterprises closely allied with the products of the soil are the manufacture of tobacco, distilled and malt liquors, lumber and timber products. A comparison of industrial conditions in 1900 and in 1905 shows an increase in the latter year of 75.4 per cent in capital invested, 26.5 in wages paid, and 20.6 in value of output. Although Kentucky is the leading tobacco-growing state in the country, there has been a decrease in the manufacture of this product in the state, so that Kentucky, formerly the second state of the Union in the value of its output of manufactured chewing and smoking tobacco and snuff, is now third, with a total output of $13,117,000 for the year 1905.

Transpiirtation. — The Ohio River affords a means of transportation along the full length of the state's northern boundary, and the Mississippi River on the west. The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers are navigable for steamboats across the entire width of the state, and the Kentucky and Green Rivers are navi- gable for more than one himdred miles of their course. In 1900 there were .3093 miles of railroad, and 3574 miles in 1908. The total valuation of railroad prop- erty for purposes of taxation in 1908 was $63,753,699; the gross receipts for the same year were $40,464,504, and the net earnings $11 ,641 ,956.

Education. — The Kentucky State University, a public institution owned by the state, is located at Lexington in Fayette County. Each county is en- titled annually to send one student to the university for each 3000 white pupils in its public schools, and one for each fraction of 3000 over 1.500, based on the last official census preceding the appointment. Each county is entitled to at least one appointment. Stu- dents, except those entered solely in the departments of law and medicine, are entitled to free tuition, room rent, fuel, light, and all other advantages of the uni- versity. This institution was formerly the Agricul- tural and Mechan- ical College of Kentucky, and was established in 1865. By an Act of the Legislature, in 1908, the name was changed and it became the State LTniversity. The total number of students in all departments in 1909 was 772, and there were 61 pro- fessors and assist- ants. There are twonormalschools for the training of white teachers, one at Richmond, in Madison County, and the other at

Bowling Green, in

Warren County. ^^:^^^^„

There is also a jhe 6rst cathedi

normal school for

coloured students at Frankfort (the state capital), in

Frankhn County. All of these institutions are

maintained by public taxation.

Each county in the state, excluding cities and towns having separate school systems, and graded school districts whose tax levy is not less than 20 cents, con- stitutes a school district. Each district is divided into educational di\'isions. There may be four, six, or eight of these divisions, as deemed expedient. Edu- cational divisions are required to contain as nearly as possible an equal number of pupils. Each of these educational divisions is in turn divided into school districts, and each school district elects one trustee. The trustees from the school districts constitute a division board, and organize as such for the purpose of caring for the schools in their respective educational divisions. The chairmen of the division boards con- stitute the county board of education, and this county board has general supervision over all educational matters in the county; is authorized to establish, and when established has charge of the county high schools; estimates the needs and requirements of the schools and certifies to the county governing body the amount of money necessary to be raised for school purposes in the county. The county is required to levy a tax on the general school district not exceeding 20 cents on every SlOO of the assessed value of prop- erty in the district, to meet the requirements of the County Board of Education. All cities of the first, second, third, and fourth classes — i. e. all cities having a population in excess of 3000 — maintain separate school systems in accordance with the provisions of their respective charters.

The state at large levies a general tax over the en- tire state, and this fund is used in the payment of salaries of teachers. The local sub-divisions provide school buildings and pay all other expenses incidental to the maintenance of the schools. The total number