Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/822

 802 KENTUCKY reporter. The judges have each $5,000 a year, and the attorney general $500 and fees. The Louisville chancery court consists of a chan- cellor (salary $3,000), a clerk, and a marshal (fees). The judges of circuit are paid $3,000, and attorneys $500 and fees. The judges of the Louisville courts are paid in addition $1,000 each by the city. All judges and other officers of courts are elected by the people. Judges of the court of appeals and the circuit courts must have had eight years' experience in law to be eligible to the bench. Kentucky is rep- resented in congress by two senators and 10 representatives, and is therefore entitled to 12 votes in the electoral college. According to the federal census of 1870, the assessed value of real estate was $311,479,694, and of per- sonal $98,064,600; total assessed value of property, $409,544,294; true value of real and personal estate, $604,318,552. The total taxation not national amounted to $5,730,118, including $2,254,413 state, $1,307,833 coun- ty, and $2,167,872 town, city, &c. The total receipts into the state treasury during the fiscal year were $2,107,149, the most important sources being: direct taxes, $1,491,775 ; corpo- rations, banks, and insurance companies, $332,- 992 ; and licenses, $78,551. The total disburse- ments amounted to $1,824,892. The bonded debt of the state in 1872 was $966,394. In 1874 it was entirely free from debt except the amount due the school fund, $1,628,123 08, which is made by the constitution a permanent debt of which the interest only is to be paid. A direct tax of 45 cents on every $100 in value of real and personal property is annually collected for various purposes of state govern- ment, of which 20 cents goes to the school fund and the remainder to general purposes. Stock in banks and other moneyed corpora- tions is taxed 50 cents on each share of $100. Railroads are taxed for the benefit of the state, on a valuation of $20,000 a mile, at the rate of 45 cents on every $100. The same rate of tax is also paid by toll bridge, mining, man- ufacturing, gaslight, street railroad, and water- works corporations. Express, telegraph, and turnpike companies are also taxed. The su- perintendent of public instruction is required to set forth in his annual report the condition of the institutions for the blind, the deaf and dumb, and the feeble-minded. The asylum for the education of the blind in Louisville, opened in 1842, is intended to afford board and tuition free of charge to the blind of the state between the ages of 7 and 17 years. Not only the totally blind, but those whose eye- sight is so defective that they cannot see to read, may be received and educated at the expense of the state. Besides the ordinary branches, instruction is given in industrial pur- suits. In 1873 there were 5 teachers and 59 pupils. The institution for deaf mutes in Dan- ville, organized in 1823, is open to all persons of this class in the state, without charge for board or tuition. Pupils supported by the state are expected to remain five years. The average number of pupils in 1873 was 78, in- structors 5 ; number of pupils received since the opening of the institution was 590, of whom 344 were males and 246 females. Pro- vision is made by the state for the education t of feeble-minded persons in the institution for this class in Frankfort, which has been in existence since 1860. It is designed for the education of imbecile children, and not as an asylum for hopeless idiots. Those unable to pay may be educated free of charge. The whole number of pupils in 1874 was 104. The state penitentiary in Frankfort, in 1874, had 650 convicts. In 1873 the legislature passed an act vesting the management of each of the charitable institutions of the state, ex- cept that for the deaf and dumb, in a board of nine commissioners, who are appointed by the governor and senate, and must be residents of the county where the institution is situated. It was also provided that the asylum for the insane at Lexington should be known as the first Kentucky lunatic asylum, that at Hopkins- ville as the second Kentucky lunatic asylum, the institution for the education of feeble- minded children as the third Kentucky lunatic asylum, and the state house of reform for ju- venile delinquents at Anchorage as the fourth Kentucky lunatic asylum. The two institutions first named are to be devoted to the treatment of "lunatics afflicted with acute mania," and the other two to cases of " chronic mania or epi- lepsy." Under the new school law of 1873, the general educational interests of the state are in- trusted to a board of education, comprising the superintendent of public instruction, secretary of state, and attorney general, together with two professional teachers to be elected by them. The more immediate supervision of the schools is vested in the superintendent of public in- struction (who is elected by the people for four years, and receives an annual salary of $3,000), a commissioner of common schools in each county, and a trustee for each school district ; only teachers who have obtained certificates are employed. The annual revenue of the common school fund comprises the interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum on the state school bond of $1,327,000, the dividends on 735 shares of the stock of the bank of Ken- tucky, the annual tax of 20 cents on each $100 in value of the property of the state, and cer- tain fines and forfeitures. This income is dis- tributed each year among the counties and districts according to the number of white children between the ages of 6 and 20 years. The amount available in 1873 was nearly $1,000,000. The pro rata amount to each child during the year ending Juno 30, 1874, was $1 60, and $2 20 for the preceding year. The entire income of the school fund is devo- ted to educating white children. The legisla- ture of 1873-'4 passed an act establishing a system of common school education for color- ed children, to be under the supervision of the