Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/500

KENTUCKY. bills; but a majority vote of all the members elected to each House overrides his veto. A Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Register of Land Office, Commissioner of Agriculture, Labor, and Statistics, Secretary of the State, Attorney-General, and Superintendent of Public Instruction are elected at the same time and for the same term as the Governor, and are ineligible for reëlection.

There are from five to seven judges of the Court of Appeals elected from districts for a term of eight years. The clerk of the Court of Appeals is elected for four years. There is a circuit court in each county, which must hold at least three terms a year. The State is divided into districts, in each of which a circuit-court judge is elected for a term of six years. There are also quarterly and county courts in each county. Police courts may be established in each city or town. Counties are divided into from three to eight districts, in each of which one justice of the peace is elected. Counties have fiscal courts which consist of the judge of the County Court, together with justices of the peace; or a county may have three commissioners, who are elected from the county at large, who, together with the judge of the County Court, shall constitute the fiscal court.

In each county a judge of the County Court, clerk, attorney, sheriff, jailer, coroner, surveyor, and assessor, and in each justice's district one justice of the peace and one constable, are elected for terms of four years. The sheriff is not eligible to reëlection for the succeeding term. The Legislature may provide for other county and district officers. Counties cannot be created nor reduced in size below an area of 400 square miles, nor can any boundary line be changed so as to pass within 10 miles of the county-seat. A proposal to change a county-seat must be approved by two-thirds of those voting upon the question at a popular election.

The public debt of the State before the Civil War amounted to $5,698,356. The expenses of the war added $2,212,000. But the State was careful to begin redeeming the debt, and the total obligations in 1865 amounted only to $5,254,346. The redemption went on so fast that in 1870 it was $1,424,394, and in 1875 only $184,394. By 1880 it was almost canceled: but in that year another debt of $500,000 was created, due to the insufficiency of current receipts to meet the necessary disbursements. This debt was increased by the defalcations of State funds by Treasurer Tate, discovered in 1888. From 1880 to 1900, a large deficit was a constant feature of the State finances, due to the increase of expenses, which was not warranted by a corresponding increase of the value of State property. These deficits had to be funded, and the State debt grew to $3,500,000 in 1895. The financial difficulties are aggravated by the division of income into funds, of which the general expenditure's fund is the most inadequate. In 1902 the receipts of the State Treasury were $4,447,474, but the general expenditures fund received only $1,404,465, while the sum paid out of this fund was $2,862,830, leaving for one year a deficit of $1,458,364. The present financial condition is more the result of unwise financial methods than of actual lack of resources, and the credit of the State has not been impaired.

In 1900 the total number of males

of militia age was 428,622. In 1899 the organized militia numbered 1769 men and officers.

The following summary indicates the growth of population: 1790, 73,077; 1810, 406,511; 1830, 687,917; 1850, 982,405; 1860, 1,155,684; 1870, 1,321,011; 1880, 1,648,690; 1890, 1,858,635; 1900, 2,147,174. For the three decades ending with 1840 Kentucky held sixth rank, but this position has since been lowered to twelfth (1900). The greatest absolute gain was made between 1870 and 1880. During the last decade of the century the per cent. of gain was 15.5, as compared with 20.7 for the United States. As in the other Southern States, the foreign-born population is small, being but 50,249 in 1900. In the same year the negro population was 284,706, a number which was exceeded in ten other States. The negroes are increasing less rapidly than are the whites. This may be due to the migrations of the negroes into other States. A large number of counties, particularly those in the mountainous eastern part of the State, have very few representatives of the black race. Kentucky has one large centre of population which helps to make the per cent. of the urban population high as compared with most other Southern States. In 1900 twenty cities, each containing a population of over 4000, had 19.7 of the total population.

The following are the figures for the largest cities in 1900: Louisville, 204,731; Covington, 42,938; Newport, 28,301; Lexington, 26,369; and Paducah, 19,446. Frankfort is the capital.

The two religious denominations which are strongest in the other Southern States predominate also in Kentucky—namely, the Baptists and the Methodists, the former having the larger number of members. The Disciples of Christ are also very strongly represented in the State. The most important of the other denominations are the Catholics and Presbyterians.

In 1900 there was 16.5 per cent. (colored, 40.1) of the population ten years of age and over who were illiterate, as against 21.6 in 1890. In 1900-01 there were 234,256 whites and 31,178 colored pupils enrolled in the schools, 60.7 per cent. of the former and 56 per cent. of the latter being in average attendance. Kentucky, in common with other Southern States, has to contend with difficulties arising out of a rural population, and the presence in many parts of the State of a large negro population. Furthermore, the State did not receive land grants for educational purposes. Consequently, it has no large educational endowment fund, and thus suffers in comparison with some of the younger commonwealths. Administrative difficulties have further handicapped educational progress. The plan of having a large number of unpaid school trustees—there are about 24,000—has proved a failure. Owing to a decision of the Court of Appeals limiting the freedom in the matter of levying a tax in school districts, there has been for a number of years a standstill in the building of schoolhouses. There is, however, a very efficient system of county superintendence, and the cities, which are separate and distinct from the counties in administration, as a rule have very efficient graded schools, and most of them have high schools.

The length of the school term is also often quite adequate in the cities, but the short terms in the rural districts bring the school year for the