Page:EB1911 - Volume 15.djvu/773

Rh idiots and insane persons, all male citizens of the United States, who are at least 21 years of age, and have lived in the state one year, in the county six months, and in the voting precinct sixty days next preceding the election, are entitled to vote. The legislature provides by law for registration in cities of the first, second, third and fourth classes—the minimum population for a city of the fourth class being 3000. Corporations are forbidden to contribute money for campaign purposes on penalty of forfeiting their charters, or, if not chartered in the state, their right to carry on business in the state. The executive is composed of a governor, a lieutenant-governor, a treasurer, an auditor of public accounts, a register of the land office, a commissioner of agriculture, labour, and statistics, a secretary of state, an attorney-general and a superintendent of public instruction. All are chosen by popular vote for four years and are ineligible for immediate re-election, and each must be at least 30 years of age and must have been a resident citizen of the state for two years next preceding his election. If a vacancy occurs in the office of governor during the first two years a new election is held; if it occurs during the last two years the lieutenant-governor serves out the term. Lieutenant-governor Beckham, elected in 1900 to fill out the unexpired term of Governor Goebel (assassinated in 1900), was re-elected in 1903, the leading lawyers of the state holding that the constitutional inhibition on successive terms did not apply in such a case.

The governor is commander-in-chief of the militia when it is not called into the service of the United States; he may remit fines and forfeitures, commute sentences, and grant reprieves and pardons, except in cases of impeachment; and he calls extraordinary sessions of the legislature. His control of patronage, however, is not extensive and his veto power is very weak. He may veto any measure, including items in appropriation bills, but the legislature can repass such a measure by a simple majority of the total membership in each house. Among the various state administrative boards are the board of equalization of five members, the board of health of nine members, a board of control of state institutions with four members (bipartisan), and the railroad commission, the prison commission, the state election commission and the sinking fund commission of three members each. Legislative power is vested in a General Assembly, which consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Senators are elected for four years, one-half retiring every two years; representatives are elected for two years. The minimum age for a representative is 24 years, for a senator 30 years. There are thirty-eight senators and one hundred representatives. The Senate sits as a court for the trial of impeachment cases. A majority of either house constitutes a quorum, but as regards ordinary bills, on the third reading, not only must they receive a majority of the quorum, but that majority must be at least two-fifths of the total membership of the house. For the enactment of appropriation bills and bills creating a debt a majority of the total membership in each house is required. All revenue measures must originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may introduce amendments. There are many detailed restrictions on local and special legislation. The constitution provides for local option elections on the liquor question in counties, cities, towns and precincts; in 1907, out of 119 counties 87 had voted for prohibition.

The judiciary consists of a court of appeals, circuit courts, quarterly courts, county courts, justice of the peace courts, police courts and fiscal courts. The court of appeals is composed of from five to seven judges (seven in 1909), elected, one from each appellate district, for a term of eight years. The senior judge presides as chief justice and in case two or more have served the same length of time one of them is chosen by lot. The governor may for any reasonable cause remove judges on the address of two-thirds of each house of the legislature. The counties are grouped into judicial circuits, those containing a population of more than 150,000 constituting separate districts; each district has a judge and a commonwealth’s attorney. The county officials are the judge, clerk, attorney, sheriff, jailor, coroner, surveyor and assessor, elected for four years. Each county contains from three to eight justice of the peace districts. The financial board of the county is composed of the county judge and the justices of the peace, or of the county judge and three commissioners elected on a general ticket.

The municipalities are divided into six classes according to population, a classification which permits considerable special local legislation in spite of the constitutional inhibition. Marriages between whites and persons of negro descent are prohibited by law, and a marriage of insane persons is legally void. Among causes for absolute divorce are adultery, desertion for one year, habitual drunkenness for one year, cruelty, ungovernable temper, physical incapacity at time of marriage, and the joining by either party of any religious sect which regards marriage as unlawful. A homestead law declares exempt from execution an unmortgaged dwelling-house (with appurtenances) not to exceed $1000 in value, and certain property, such as tools of one’s trade, libraries (to the value of $500) of ministers and lawyers, and provisions for one year for each member of a family. Child labour is regulated by an act passed by the General Assembly in 1908; this act prohibits the employment of children less than 14 years of age in any gainful occupation during the session of school or in stores, factories, mines, offices, hotels or messenger service during vacations, and prohibits the employment of children between 14 and 16 unless they have employment certificates issued by a superintendent of schools or some other properly authorized person, showing the child’s ability to read and write English, giving information as to the child’s age (based upon a birth certificate if possible), and identifying the child by giving height and weight and colour of eyes and hair. These certificates must be kept on file and lists of children employed must be posted by employers; labour inspectors receive monthly lists from local school boards of children receiving certificates; and children under 16 are not to work more than 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week, or between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Charitable and Penal Institutions.—The charitable and penal institutions are managed by separate boards of trustees appointed by the governor. There are a deaf and dumb institution at Danville (1823), an institution for the blind at Louisville (1842), and an institution for the education of feeble-minded children at Frankfort (1860). The Eastern Lunatic Asylum at Lexington, established in 1815 as a private institution, came under the control of the state in 1824. The Central Lunatic Asylum at Anchorage, founded in 1869 as a house of refuge for young criminals, became an asylum in 1873. The Western Lunatic Asylum at Hopkinsville was founded in 1848. The main penitentiary at Frankfort was completed in 1799 and a branch was established at Eddyville in 1891. Under an act of 1898 two houses of reform for juvenile offenders, one for boys, the other for girls, were established near Lexington.

Education.—The early history of the schools of Kentucky shows that the rural school conditions have been very unsatisfactory. A system of five trustees, with a sixty-day term of school, was replaced by a three trustee system, first with a one-hundred-day term of school, and subsequently with a one-hundred-and-twenty-day term of school annually. The state fund has not been supplemented locally for the payment of teachers, who have consequently been underpaid. The rural teachers, however, have been paid from the state fund, so that the poorer districts receive aid from the richer districts of the commonwealth. The rural schools are supervised by a superintendent in each county. Throughout the state white and negro children are taught in separate schools. The state makes provision for revenue for school purposes as follows: (1) the interest on the Bond of the Commonwealth for $1,327,000.00; (2) dividends on 798 shares of the capital stock of the Bank of Kentucky—representing a par value of $79,800.00; (3) the interest at 6% on the Bond of the Commonwealth for $381,986.08, which is a perpetual obligation in favour of the several counties; (4) the interest at 6% on $606,641.03, which was received from the United States; (5) the annual tax of 26 cents on each $100 of value of all real and personal estate and corporate franchises directed to be assessed for taxation; (6) a certain portion of fines, forfeitures and licences realized by the state; and (7) a portion of the dog taxes of each county. The present school system of Kentucky may be summarized under three heads: the rural schools, the graded schools, and the high schools (which are further classified as city and county high schools). The 1908 session of the General Assembly passed an act providing: that each county of the state be the unit for taxation; that the county tax be mandatory; that there be a local subdistrict tax; and that each county be divided into four, six or eight educational divisions, that one trustee be elected for each subdistrict, that the trustees of the subdistricts form division Boards of Education, and that the chairmen of these various division boards form a County Board of Education together with the county superintendent, who is ex officio chairman. This system of taxation and supervision is a great advance in the administration of public schools. Any subdistrict, town or city of the fifth or sixth class may provide for a graded school by voting for an ad valorem and poll tax which is limited as to amount. There were in 1909 135 districts which had complied with this act, and were known as Graded Common School districts. By special charters the General Assembly has also established 25 special graded schools. Statutes provide that all children between the ages of 7 and 14 years living in such districts must attend school annually for at least eight consecutive weeks. In each city of the first, second and third class there must be, and of the fourth class there may be, maintained under control of a city Board of Education a system of public schools, in which all children between the ages of 6 and 20 residing in the city may be taught at public expense. There were in 1909 62 city public high schools whose graduates are admitted to the State University without examination. A truancy act (1908) provides that every child between the ages of 7 and 14 years living in a city of the first, second, third or fourth class must attend school regularly for the full term of said school. It was provided by statute that before June 1910,