The History of Kentucky

KENTUCKY IN THE NEW NATION, 1865-1909.

Conditions at the Close of the War.

The state of Kentucky, being the frontier of loyalty, was swept by Confederate and Union armies, and throughout the war was subject to formidable southern raids and the continued depredations of guerrillas. The devastation had gone far and much of the 'productive labor had been driven from the state.
From the close of the period of neutrality, Kentucky was unhesitatingly committed to the Union cause. It is true there were many Confederate homes within its borders and not a little sentiment adverse to the Union, but the great current of Kentucky life from the moment of this public declaration never failed in the most unconditional Unionism.

Only a decade and a half preceding the close of the war, the state had provided for the placing of a block of Kentucky marble in the Washington Monument to bear the inscription, "Under the auspices of Heaven and the precepts of Washington, Kentucky will be the last state to give up the Union," and she meant it with all her heart.

Unreservedly committed to the Union, Kentucky was nevertheless strongly pro-slavery in sentiment and unswerving in her devotion to the idea of local self-government. The closing years of the war were marked by a number of grievances, the first of which was the enlistment of negro troops. The proud spirit of the Kentuckian resented this as an implication that he could not do his part for the nation without calling upon the negroes. In a masterly manner Lincoln answered the objection against the enlistment of negro troops, and though he did not satisfy all minds, the matter was accepted in a tolerant spirit.

There was another cause for dissatisfaction. The negroes of loyal men were set free by the process of enlistment, not only to furnish Kentucky's quota of troops, but to fill the lists from other states. Such deprivation of property was pretty hard to bear. The third cause was found in the restrictions and demands of the commanders in charge of the National troops in the state.

In the early years of the war the Confederacy undertook to establish a provincial government within the state, which beat a hasty retreat from Frankfort within a few hours after the inauguration of its officers. This action, however, was made a basis for continued claims on Kentucky by the Confederate government. In the unsettled conditions of a border state, plundering guerrillas and partisan rangers found large opportunity to ply their nefarious work without those restrictions which would have existed wholly within Confederate or Union lines.

Losses from the war may be briefly characterized as those due to the destruction of life and property, and the loss of the slaves. Since Kentucky was used as the foraging ground of such Southern troops as were free to make raids; as the licensed and approved territory of the guerrillas; as the scene of several battles; since the stock and grain were used on the ground or carried off for supplies; since houses and barns were burned, bridges destroyed, roads torn up, there is no question that the devastation was both serious and expensive. It would take years to make good the loss of even the slaves themselves. These were valued at $107,000,000 in 1860; , $54,000.000 in 1863, decreasing to $34,000,000 in 1864.

Besides, when the war had closed, many a soldier from each of the armies returned to find his home destroyed, his business gone, and his place in the world all to be made again. Thousands of these gathered the little of their property that could be found, sold their land for what it would bring, and sought new homes in the great west. Viewed from the standpoint of the state welfare, this large emigration of some of the choicest elements of population was a serious loss.

Kentucky promptly and generously paid nearly $1,000,000 for maintaining troops for local and state defense. For supplies and expenses met in direct aid of the Federal government, Kentucky expended for the preservation of the Union during the war $3,268,224. Of this sum there had been refunded to the state by the close of 1865 the amount of $1,109,230, leaving a balance in favor of the state of $2,159,994. Deducting $713,965, the state's proportion of the direct tax laid by Act of Congress in 1861, the total balance remaining due against the United States was $1,553,353. From time to time payments were made, but the war claim was a favorite topic with the governors in their messages to the legislature, and twelve years after the war closed, Governor McCreary informs the legislature that he is using every energy to collect from the National government $397,587.27, the sum yet due. The delay was in part caused by the cumbersome machinery necessary for the consideration of the claims, and in part by the need of thorough examination, in order that no unjust claim might be allowed. Kentucky's financial conscience was never better than in the war period. Her people, trained in the long struggle with banks and with the many problems of local finance, had come at last to understand the importance of prompt and willing payment for themselves and for others.

Interpretation of the Constitution and Abolition of Slavery.

Through all the pioneer history the state had stood strongly for local self-government. The resolutions of 1798 were only an extreme statement of that principle. Holding such views it was natural that the people should chafe under the restrictions of martial law, which was necessary in the closing years of the war. The general government early recognized the peculiar spirit of the state and so far as possible sent as commanders Kentuckians who understood the people. But the citizens were slow to see that matters cannot be administered in war as in peace, so they continued to struggle and chafe against necessary military restrictions. This grew worse in the last days of the war and for months following there was continual wrangle and contention for larger civil rights.

To-day under an established system of government and with mostly fixed conditions of labor, we are likely to make too little allowance for the hardships imposed by the unsettled conditions of the war period; the breaking up of the old system of labor and the necessity of making all things new. The people recognized that slavery was dead, but comforted their hearts with the belief that it was a right granted them under the constitution, and only to be put away by their own choice. Governor Bramlette, strong for the Union and vigorous in his administration, urged the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment by the legislature as the shortest and most direct way of disposing of the subject. In the refusal of the legislature one may find another proof that Kentucky was still distinctly pro-slavery. Slavery had existed in the border states in a milder form than that found in the far South. In many cases there was a wholesome affection between the slave and the master, which the people had come to regard as a desirable end.

To many of the earnest and energetic people of the North this was a condition either not seen or not understood, and filled with suspicion and distrust of the South, they sought to establish a general means of protecting the negro in his new freedom. To this end the Freedman's Bureau was established and extended to the state. The organization excited great hostility in Kentucky. The governor urged the local authorities to resist promptly and in legal form every act of the Bureau, declaring that the institution was utterly unnecessary, and that the whole population, being now free, had under the laws security for life and property. Congress had passed an act setting free the wives and children of negro slaves who enlisted in the army from the day of enlistment. Under this act the Bureau required former masters to make full payment to these negroes for the services of their wives and children from the date of the enlistment of the husband and father. This interpretation of the law was clearly unconstitutional, as it deprived the citizens of loyal states of property without remuneration. Suits brought in the courts to recover on these grounds failed of collection but did result in serious irritation, and intensified the strained relations already in many cases existing between the former slaves and their masters. Besides, such payment was often an economic impossibility. Fields left untilled throughout the war had grown up in weeds and brambles; houses and barns had been burned; stock driven away; and the whole territory swept by the besom of destruction. There was no money with which to pay. It was all the people could do to keep body and soul together and to look out upon the world without debt waiting till peace should come. To secure relief from the demands of the military officers and the exactions of the Bureau, petitions and special messengers were sent to Washington. The more objectionable military officers were removed, but the Freedman's Bureau was sustained in the state until 1873.

Peace and Development.

A spirit of true fraternity characterized the feeling in Kentucky, and after the announcement of peace the legislature soon repealed the law of expatriation which stood against all citizens of the state who had cast their fortunes in with the Confederacy. Men came home by thousands and at once set themselves to readjusting the old systems. Neighbors and brothers from opposite sides in the war took up the life in their communities. Brave men always respect brave men, and the citizens of Kentucky had found in their opponents in both armies brave and true men. The foretime soldiers adapted themselves to the new conditions and long before the spirit of freedom and forgiveness was ascendant in other parts of the South, the barriers were down and men recently enemies became friends in old Kentucky.

A new system of labor had to be established. The colonel from the defeated army, who had never done a day's work in his life, came home and began to plow with his saddle horse and a mule. The young lieutenant, who had been in the Northern army, reared as a child of ease and comfort but now only a little more prosperous than his Confederate neighbor, guided the plow behind a team of carriage horses. Some negroes were hired and some continued to live with former masters, all building new homes or restoring the old.

The rich resources of the state were recognized at the close of the war as never before. The legislature was called upon to incorporate numerous companies for mining, manufacturing, oil prospecting and other industries. New homes were established and there was real growth. Still it was soon apparent that with the inflated prices at the close of the war, men had over-rated the money which they could command, and many a good enterprise undertaken in hope was compelled to languish for years for want of funds. Thus there arose in the state a period of apathy.

The Period of Apathy.

With many things to be done and slender resources for the doing of them, what wonder if the citizens sometimes became discouraged and accepted things as they were instead of as they should be. Many of the owners of old plantations who were involved in debt sold their holdings for a song and went to other states to make new homes. Men from the mountains and from other states came to establish themselves in the bluegrass region. Money was in great demand and for a time the meaning of "land poor" was experienced among the people as never before in the history of the state.

But when all who could had returned, it was not the old Kentucky. There was a new regime. Nothing could call to their places again the leaders of Kentucky life who slept in soldiers' graves; and many a man who did return now found his place gone, and the new condition was so hard to bear that he turned his face toward other scenes. Bluegrass farms that had teemed with life and abounded with the hospitality which made the region famous were now sold out in small parcels and a new order of rural life began. But there were other causes of delay.

At the close of the war turbulent spirits from both armies sought the border states, and Kentucky suffered most. Guerrilla bands went on their raids into every part of the commonwealth to steal, to burn, or to kill, as whim or necessity seemed to impel. At one time the pay train on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was plundered by a gang of robbers who made their escape with nearly $15,000. An organized body of men operated in Marion, Boyd and Mercer counties under the name of Regulators, broke open jails, executed criminals, and went so far as to publish their threats of punishment in the newspapers. Their violence was directed not only against real offenders in the hands of the law, but against all who provoked their resentment. They even warned the governor of the state to issue no more proclamations against them on pain of their vengeance. With the approval of the United States government, a plan was put in operation to enlist 10,000 troops to protect the state. A part of these were enrolled, but the plan did not prove satisfactory. The state was relieved from martial law and came to depend upon the militia and the local police. The courts were opened for the redress of grievances, but disorder in one form or another was prevalent until 1873.

In cases involving controversies between members of their own race, the negroes had long been recognized in the courts. But the unwholesome activity of the Freedman's Bureau caused the legislature to withhold legal sanction from the testimony of the negro during the period of the Bureau's occupancy of the state, and he was not generally admitted as a witness. At once after the removal of the Bureau, a law was passed bestowing upon him the full rights and privileges of the courts.

Immediately following the war, the Regulators mentioned in a previous paragraph began to appear as guardians of the public welfare and promoters of law and order. Great companies of freedmen gathered in the vicinity of the towns without adequate means of support, and petty thieving became general. The negroes had very hazy ideas of the rights of property, and long accustomed to regard themselves as immediately identified with some particular plantation, found it easy to go to the cribs and hen-roosts of their neighbors to help themselves. To suppress the disorders thus arising, the Regulators were organized. Later the Ku Klux arose and doubtless did much to rid the country of objectionable characters, but as with all organizations for government and correction beyond the law, the management soon fell into the hands of men who used it chiefly to gratify personal spite and to wreak long-delayed vengeance. The arm of the law was paralyzed and the preservation of order fell into the hands of ruffians who maintained a reign of terror throughout the whole region. This was suffered until public opinion arose to the point which swept these organizations aside and again placed the government in the hands of the civil authorities. But in these dark hours the state had been gaining strength and it was now ready for new and better things.

A New Awakening.

The old system of labor was gone. One makeshift and then another had been tried, but soon the leaders of the state life began to plead for immigration, and references to it found place in the messages of succeeding governors. According to the governor's message to the legislature in 1876, Kentucky had a population of only thirty-three people to the square mile. Of the 291,297 immigrants that came to the United States in that year, 34,000 went to Illinois, 30,000 to Pennsylvania, 10,000 to Ohio, 3,700 to Indiana and but 800 to Kentucky. In 1880 the Bureau of Immigration was established. The next year was marked by the coming of a Swiss colony to southeastern Kentucky, with headquarters at Bernstadt, where a prosperous settlement was established. In 1882 the secretary of the Department of Immigration went to Europe and his visit resulted in bringing a number of colonists to the state. But interest in immigration proved to be of short duration, and even to-day but a proportionally small number of foreigners are found in Kentucky, and these chiefly in the cities and towns. But Kentucky, always blessed with a fecund population, has greatly increased in numbers and sent thousands of sons and daughters to populate new states. By the census of 1890 more than 400,000 were reported as natives of Kentucky settled in nearby states.

The Negro To-day.

To-day many negroes are doing well. They have bought land and have established homes where they live in rude comfort and abundance, and not a few of them in the midst of real culture. But by far the larger number hold little property. The old days of general manual labor for the negro have very largely passed away. Thousands have crowded to the cities, where under Kentucky's generous law they are educated in their own schools, the money being collected on the total taxable property and distributed, not in accordance with the amount the negro pays, but in proportion to the population. In some of the cities there are lawyers, doctors and other professional men who are making an excellent record for themselves, but the masses of the people still have a long road to travel in order to arrive at the degree of excellence which their best friends wish for them. In the old days there was at every crossroads a blacksmith shop with negroes as workers. To-day these shops are fewer and are manned almost entirely by white workmen. In the old days the stacking of the wheat and the more skilled parts of the farm labor were done by negroes. The young negro has not followed in his father's footsteps in these attainments, and though he is an excellent waiter and often a useful man in the town, he does not aspire to efficiency in rural life. A musical census taken by the colored school superintendent of one of the cities resulted in the finding of about $40,000 worth of musical instruments in the hands of negroes, a sum that would have been sufficient to start a prosperous negro bank.

The Mountain Region.

In the early eighties the wealth of the mountains began to be recognized, and numerous companies were organized, chiefly from beyond the borders of the state, to exploit timber and minerals. Large tracts of native forests were purchased by timber companies and various syndicates bought the land outright or purchased the mineral right to thousands of acres underlaid by beds of coal. The railroads began to thread their way up the river valleys and into mountain coves, here and there piercing a ridge by a tunnel, but mainly winding in and out through the narrow valleys. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, with one great branch from Louisville to Nashville, soon determined to make connections from Cincinnati southward along the foothills of the Cumberland and through the mountains to Knoxville, and so leading on to Atlanta. The Southern Railroad, occupying an admirable location in the southern part of the state, pressed into the contested region adjacent to its lines, and many a secret midnight survey to lay out a roadway was made by the engineering corps of the two roads. There are scarcely to be found in the history of railroad building more striking and dramatic incidents than those participated in by the men who located the branch lines tributary to these two systems.

Wherever a railroad has been opened, a new period of prosperity soon declares itself. Little towns spring up, and at the junctions boom towns are sometimes started. Middlesboro, Kentucky, benefited in this way, and was planned as the great metropolis of the mountains. But its promoters looked forward to larger things than they could accomplish, and the boom burst. But gradually the little city in the mountains gathered strength and went on toward prosperity, and for the last decade has been marked by a wholesome growth which promises well for the future. Branch roads are now running into many of the mountain coves. The roads leading out from Louisville like so many fingers of a great hand are spreading the trade to the mountain region of the south and east and bringing groaning loads of coal and timber back to exchange for the manufactures and the food supplies of the great Mississippi Valley. By its energy and enterprise, Louisville has won its right to be called the gateway of the South. In 1872 a charter was granted the Queen and Crescent Railroad from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, and Cincinnati's merchants had good hope that they would capture the trade of the South. The road does indeed contribute greatly to the commercial development of the South and benefited the business of Cincinnati, but the advantage of the southern trade still lies with Louisville.

The timber products amounted in 1907 to $14,539,000. These figures represent the handlings of the larger companies, but necessarily do not include many small purchases and much of the timber devoted to domestic use. A large share of the state has been cut over by lumber companies, but here and there in regions still inaccessible by railroad or by the larger streams is found the primeval forest.

Moral and Religious Growth.

Any record of Kentucky life which has failed to take note of the churches must be sadly lacking. The leading denomination is the Baptist. It was the first on the ground in the settlement of the state and has carried on a vigorous work to the present time. The denomination has undergone many changes, and particularly in eastern Kentucky, is split up into a number of different divisions, some of them very primitive in their conceptions. The Baptists are closely followed in numbers by the Methodists, Disciples of Christ and Presbyterians, besides a number of other leading denominations. The state has throughout its history been marked by a strong devotion to religious and moral ideas with much emphasis upon church organization and sectarian beliefs.

One of the first Bible Societies in the United States was organized in Lexington in 1810. The Society carried on an extensive work and distributed many Bibles printed in Lexington.

The Y.M.C.A. was organized in a pioneer fashion in the earlier days of Association work in the United States. The many branches of the association grew to such an extent that supervision through the volunteer service of members of the state and national committee proved inadequate, so in 1889 provision was made for a state secretary, and Mr. Henry E. Rosevear for nineteen consecutive years filled the office. From a body of fifteen organizations and a membership of 1,276, the Kentucky work has grown to number fifty-three organizations with a total membership of 8,000 men. Kentucky has been a leader in county and railroad work, besides giving adequate attention to the work of the city associations and of the colleges. These were nineteen years of hard work and much accomplishment. On the retirement of Mr. Rosevear, Mr. Philo C. Dix, one of the assistant state secretaries, was chosen as his successor.

The Era of Progress.

Beginning with 1876, Kentucky has been represented at the great Fairs of the country. The exhibit at the Centennial was mainly of the minerals and natural products of the state, and was provided for by a fund of $30,000 raised chiefly by the leading women of the commonwealth. Kentucky had a very satisfactory exhibit at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, adding to the mineral and agricultural products an extensive showing of choice livestock. In 1904 the exhibit at St. Louis surpassed all previous records, and did high credit to Kentucky's rank among the agricultural states of the Union. Besides the large mineral and agricultural supplies, the extensive exhibit of grains and tobacco, Kentucky had an unusually fine display of livestock.

In 1890 steps were taken toward the preparation of a new constitution, which was finally adopted by the people in September, 1891. It provided for a distinct advance in the problems of government and was particularly happy in making an end of lotteries, which had for a long time been a burden to the state. Throughout its history, Kentucky has not been particularly favorable to private corporations, but with the organization necessary to develop the mineral resources and with the trend toward city life, there has grown up a new sense of the value of this form of organization to the development of wealth in the state, and a more favorable attitude is already apparent.

As in other states, there are doubtless a number of citizens not yet in the penitentiary who ought to be there, but Kentucky has in that institution even a larger proportion than in many states would be so sentenced. Under the state law, a culprit may be convicted of grand larceny for stealing a hog of the value of four dollars, for stealing any kind of a horse, jack or jeannette, and for taking money amounting to twenty dollars or more. In many of the states, persons convicted of these violations of the law would never reach the penitentiary, but would be sentenced to confinement in the county jails.

"It is not to be denied that there is a great deal of ordinary homicide in Kentucky. It is not a new feature of the life of the state, or of the race to which its people belong." Those who made the state in the olden days were not gentle-natured, but dowered with the vigor and the "brutal English stuff" which "has given their kindred the control of the world." It is true nevertheless that this people have set a low value upon human life, a thing always true when they live near to the soil, and sometimes true when other goods are placed relatively high. But excusing it as we may and making all due allowance for the baneful effects of the war and the period of lawlessness which followed thereafter, for the penalty of Kentucky's location as a border state-yes, even justly attributing it partly to the independence of the Kentuckian and his impatience under unjust criticism, it still remains true that this attitude of the public mind is a most serious blot on the character of the people and responsible to a greater degree than any other cause for the criticism and censure which has been bestowed upon Kentucky by her sister states. Already her more thoughtful citizens are taking strong ground against this feeling, and there is no reason why the old spirit of independence, personal bravery and high sense of honor may not be preserved to the Kentucky character while there is a growing sense of the sacredness of human life and a material increase in the safety of the people.

The feud is another painful feature of Kentucky life which has done much to place an undeserved stain upon the state as a whole. The civil power had a long struggle after the war to establish its ascendency. Judge Lilly wrote as follows: "In 1888 I failed to hold the regular fall terms of Letcher and Knott Circuit Courts and in 1889 the regular fall terms of the Perry and Knott Circuit Courts. The counties of Knott and Perry are absolutely dominated and terrorized by savage and lawless bands. All respect for justice and the peaceful and orderly administration of the law is not only set at defiance, but the most high-handed outrages are perpetrated in the presence of the Court and with the purpose and object of terrorizing and intimidating the officers of justice. At the peril of my life, frequently narrowly escaping death, I have held the Circuit Courts in these counties. Before the fall term for 1888 in these counties came on, I had knowledge of feuds existing in both the counties of Knott and Perry of the most deadly and malignant character. Hostile bands in these two counties constantly menaced each other. Deadly conflicts between the opposing factions were of almost daily occurrence. The Circuit Court drew together at the Court House the factions from all sections of the county, and collisions with unnecessary fatal and demoralizing results were inevitable."

The feeble hold of the civil power in the seven years following the war had doubtless much to do in developing among the people the spirit of redressing their own wrongs, but the feud is simply another manifestation of that spirit which required every man in the day of Queen Elizabeth to carry his side arms and to right his personal wrongs and any others with which he chose to concern himself. The feud often arises in a most trivial way from some grievance reflecting upon the honor, personal character or prowess of one of the leaders or of his trusted lieutenants. The contests have rarely resulted either in the condition of lawlessness or the number of deaths which the newspapers have delighted to attribute to them. Frequently in a feud extending over several years and involving a large share of the citizens of a county on one side or the other, the deaths would number but a few men. It is one of the remarkable characteristics of these conflicts that the lives and property of strangers who have been traveling through the country have been uniformly respected, and even local citizens who may be able to keep out of the difficulty have been safe from the vengeance of both parties and have suffered only when they came between two of the contestants engaged in an encounter. Kentucky's feuds have occurred for the most part in the mountain region, and the leader on one side or the other, established in his mountain fastness, keeps about him his retainers whom he has supported and furnished with arms. Many of the features both of the preparation and of the encounter remind one of the days of Cedric the Saxon. The hate aroused by the feud is implacable, and the feud usually continues until the adherents on one side or the other are killed off or move to some other state. One of the oldest and most serious of these was that which occurred in Breathitt county, giving to the shire the name of "Bloody Breathitt," and known as the Hargis-Marcum feud. The Hargis clan was strong and well organized and its leader, Judge James Hargis, was long an important factor in the counsels of his party in the state. This feud was marked by a number of assassinations, the last being that of Dr. B. D. Cox, a prominent opponent of Judge Hargis in state politics. The murder took place in 1903. Three times was Judge Hargis tried on the charge of complicity in the assassination of his opponents, and in the case of Dr. Cox it was decided that the trial could not be carried on impartially in Breathitt county, hence proceedings were removed to Sandy Hook, Eliot county, a hamlet in the mountains inaccessible by telegraph, telephone or railroad. At the trial, which was marked by many sensational incidents, Judge Hargis was acquitted. Some months later, while in his own store at Jackson, he was shot by the hand of his own son. The general feeling of the state is against feuds, and the progress of improvements and the ascendency of the commercial spirit will doubtless put a termination to this survival of Elizabethan days.

The Goebel Trial.

In 1898 the legislature passed a bill, known as the Goebel Law, which provided for the counting of the votes by an election board and was looked upon as a measure placing an unfair amount of power in the hands of the Democrats. Kentucky is naturally Democratic, but in the gubernatorial election of 1899 the Democrats were divided on the question of free silver and greatly handicapped by factions which existed in the party. The board of elections organized under the Goebel Law decided in favor of Governor Taylor, the Republican candidate. William S. Goebel, the Democratic candidate, gave notice that he would contest the election. Public feeling ran high. The matter was brought before the legislature, and with discussion the civil order was imperiled, and when the time came for the consideration of the contest by the legislature the public interest and attention. were -wrought to their highest pitch. On Jan. 25, 1900, a train bearing between five hundred and one thousand armed men from the southern and eastern part of the state rolled into Frankfort. This heavily armed company met in a peaceful manner and petitioned the legislature that the will of the people should be regarded in the election contest then under consideration. There was much bitterness, not a little boasting and some threats. So matters continued while the subject was under consideration until January 30, when William Goebel was shot by the bullet of an assassin from the State House. Great excitement prevailed and the state at large was dumbfounded. Governor Taylor placed a military guard around the capitol, and adjourned the legislature to meet at London in the mountains, declaring that a state of insurrection existed. The Republicans went to London, and the Democratic members of the legislature, shut out from the capitol and the Opera House by the militia, at once prepared a statement setting forth these facts and declaring Goebel and Beckham elected as governor and lieutenant-governor. This statement was signed by nineteen senators and fifty-six representatives. Mr. Goebel's death was hourly expected, but he was sworn in as governor. The Chief Justice of the state held that the action of these men was valid, and Mr. Beckham took the oath as lieutenant-governor. Governor Goebel died on February 3 and Mr. Beckham was then sworn in as governor. The Republicans refused to give up the offices. Applications for injunctions were made by both sides, and finally a committee of seven men prepared an agreement by which, if the legislature should ratify their action, the Republicans were to submit without further prejudice, with immunity from charges of treason, usurpation or any such offenses, and all parties were to unite for a free and fair election law. This agreement Governor Taylor refused to sign. The injunction suits were then consolidated into one. The Circuit Court decided that the legislature is, under the constitution, the proper tribunal for the settlement of such contests, and the decision was affirmed by the State Court of Appeals. When carried by the Republicans to the United States Supreme Court, that body decided that it had no jurisdiction in the case. Until this time there had been two acting governors, but when the decision was made known, Governor Taylor directed that the militia should be dismissed from the capitol and that its commander should surrender his office to Governor Beckham's appointee. The legislature set aside a fund of $100,000 for the apprehension and prosecution of the assassin of William Goebel. Warrants were issued for men suspected of complicity, and on March 10 the Grand Jury returned indictments against ten men for participation in the killing, and indicted as accessories before the fact five others. Among these were Governor Taylor, Charles Finley and Caleb Powers. Taylor and Finley escaped to Indianapolis, where the governor of Indiana refused to honor a requisition from the governor of Kentucky on the ground that these men could not have a fair trial in that state. The trial of Caleb Powers was begun at Georgetown, July 9, 1900. Several of the principal witnesses for the prosecution were among those who were accused as having been in the plot to murder Mr. Goebel. Three times Mr. Powers was found guilty with penalty fixed at death or imprisonment for life, and each time a new trial was granted by the Court of Appeals. At the fourth trial the jury disagreed, and Caleb Powers, along with James Howard, who had already been sentenced to the penitentiary, was finally pardoned by Governor Willson in June, 1908. It is not too much to say that from the passage of the Goebel Law in 1898, the chief issue in Kentucky politics was either this law or its author, William Goebel. Probably no man was ever loved more ardently or hated more violently than he. Every question in state politics was viewed in its relation to the Goebel Law or to Goebel. After his death, the cause had a martyr, and the Republicans, who were gaining a strong foothold in the state, were submerged in the hopeless and violent change of sentiment. It was felt that some one should be punished for the outrageous assassination of Governor Goebel. Political hate and untoward circumstances pointed toward Caleb Powers, and this man, also devotedly loved or violently hated in accordance with the viewpoint of the person concerned, though uncondemned, spent eight years in the prime of life in a Kentucky prison.

Agricultural and Mineral Products.

Almost from the first of its history as a state, Kentucky has stood first in one or more of the agricultural staples. For 1900 the leading crops were as follows : Corn, 3,300,000 acres, 93,060,000 bushels, valued at $49,322,000; wheat, 734,000 acres, 8,808,000 bushels; oats, 192,000 acres, 3,379,000 bushels; potatoes, 37,000 acres, 2,960,000 bushels; hay, 443,000 acres, 598,000 tons; tobacco, 270,000 acres, 240,278,000 pounds, valued at $24,529,000. Both the production and value of tobacco were then twice as great as that of North Carolina, the state ranking second, and more than one-third of the total for the entire country.

In 1907, the coal output of Kentucky was 9,653,647 tons, worth $10,425,000. In the year preceding, pig iron was manufactured in the state to the value of $2,077,000.

Few agencies for the development of the state have been more fruitful in their good effects than the State Development Convention, an annual meeting of certain citizens of Kentucky for promoting the general interests of the commonwealth. From year to year this enterprising organization has reported on the needs of the state, on the opportunities of various regions, and the possible steps in financial, educational and intellectual progress. The Kentuckian has looked too little beyond his own borders for the lessons of prosperity and advancement. But the leaders are alert, and a thousand agencies are now at work to promote the progress of the state. The homecoming week in 1907 was warrant enough for the pride which the Kentuckian feels in his state and people. Thousands who returned from the centres of activity and industry in other states were delighted with the progress of the home state; and thousands who remained at home were charmed with the achievements of the brothers and cousins who were sustaining themselves in other commonwealths.

In the eighties, turnpikes were laid out and built in many parts of the state. These improvements were made as a private enterprise, but the county and state took a large amount of stock to promote the building of these pikes. After a time the people grew tired of paying toll, sometimes enforced for travel over roads that were not kept in good repair. Many of the counties voted to purchase the toll roads, but the officers were slow and the people impatient, and a series of outrages against toll-gates and even against the gate keepers was now inaugurated. Public opinion seemed to condone these outrages with the thought that the pikes could be purchased at a less figure and that the local taxes would thus be less. The governor records in his message in 1896 that the state holdings in the local turnpike companies had sunk from $400,000 to $100,000 on account of the damages and dangers to toll-gate keepers. The outrages continued until all the roads were made public property.

The New Social Consciousness.

In spite of some disorder, there appeared in the early years of the Twentieth century many signs of a new social consciousness. The State Historical Society was organized and began to gather documents and material of great value. Many a garret was ransacked for old journals and for guns, knives and household utensils that had been used in the pioneer days of the commonwealth. The Daughters of the American Revolution aroused much interest throughout the state. Family trees were studied, and genealogical investigation became one of the favorite pastimes of not a few of the leading ladies of the state.

In 1896 a monument was erected at Bryan Station Spring to the memory of the women of that place, who, as the inscription records, "faced a savage host in ambush and with heroic courage and sublime self-sacrifice that will remain forever illustrious, obtained from this spring the water that made possible the successful defense of that station."

As land became more valuable, small farms were continually in demand, many a farmer tilling his own land with the help of his sons and one or two hired men. There was a steady increase in the number of small farms from 1870 to 1880, and in every decade since.

But on the larger farms, where stock-raising was practised, a regular system of tenant farming was soon inaugurated. Men of skill and determination were needed to care for the stock and particularly in training the fine horses for which Kentucky has long been famous. The finest cattle of the state have been cared for on these bluegrass farms. The rural mail goes everywhere, and the farmer, who , formerly went to the county seat once a week, may now sell his grain or stock and order supplies by telephone from his own home.

The war upon the trust by various tobacco growers' associations began in 1905, continuing through 1907. The growers of southern Kentucky were organized by the Planters' Protective Association. Other districts were organized by the American Society of Equity, such combinations of the farmers being expressly legalized by the Kentucky legislature. The fight has been most important in the Green River and Burley districts, where 80 per cent. of the tobacco product has been sold to the American Tobacco Company. This organization has been accused of unfair manipulation of the markets and unjust discrimination against growers. Through their associations the growers pooled and kept from sale part of the crop of 1905, about 32 per cent. of the crop of 1906, and about 70 per cent. of the 1907 crop, making in all about 200,000,000 pounds which is held for fifteen cents a pound. The fight has resulted in raising the price of tobacco to a marked degree, but the whole question of the raising and sale of this crop is now involved in a difficult and uncertain controversy.

Parties of men made demonstrations against independent tobacco growers who refused to join in opposing the trust and keeping up the price of tobacco. On Dec. 7, 1907, five hundred of the night riders, masked and heavily armed, entered the village of Hopkinsville and destroyed property valued at $200,000. Many shots were fired, two men injured and damage done to buildings, newspaper offices and banks. An appeal for militia was refused by Governor Beckham, who ordered a local company of Kentucky troops to report to the sheriff for duty. At once on taking his seat, Governor Willson began action to stop the raids. Troops have been sent from place to place, rewards offered for the disturbers of the peace; but all these agencies have only been partially successful. New conditions have brought about new complications. The Italian Government appealed to the Secretary of State on account of the destruction of the property of Italian citizens in Hopkinsville, valued at $15,000.

A wave of prohibition sentiment has swept over the state, and now out of 425 towns, 370 are dry; and out of 119 counties, 94 have prohibition; and out of a population of 2,320,000, 1,500,000 inhabitants are under the local option law. This change may be assigned to four causes: First, there has been a growing sentiment in the state against the use of liquor; second, the larger share of homicides have been traced directly to the use of liquor and there is a general feeling that life is much safer without whiskey than with it; third, the negroes are more orderly and industrious without liquor; and fourth, the direct and active efforts of the Anti-Saloon League have focused this sentiment and brought much local support to temperance ideas and temperance legislation.

Educational Conditions.

In her early history Kentucky emphasized the education of leaders. Her sons were trained at private schools and had large place in molding the policies of the nation and in the development of the rural life of the state. In those days the common-school was regarded as only fit for the charity student, and it was carried on for a few weeks or months every year. Kentucky's system of education has depended chiefly on state aid, and the children in many quarters have suffered. But the leaders in education for a decade have been agitating for longer terms of school and better-trained teachers and better equipment. Wonderful progress has been made. The school buildings of the state are greatly improved. Two choice normal schools, that for the eastern district located at Richmond, Ky., and that for the western district located at Bowling Green, are now offering the most up-to-date and thorough training for the teachers of the state. The legislature of 1908 voted $300,000 for buildings and equipment, which joined with that granted to the State University, makes the largest single appropriation ever made in Kentucky to education.

Under act of Congress in 1862, Kentucky was entitled to 330,000 acres of land for an agricultural and mechanical college. The gift was accepted in 1863, but was not available until two years later, when the state legislature accepted the proposition of President Bowman of Kentucky University, and the agricultural and mechanical college became a part of that institution. Thirteen years later it was detached from Kentucky University and became an independent institution at Lexington, with Professor J. K. Patterson as president. In 1880 the institution was granted full collegiate powers. Since then it has developed in all departments, being particularly strong in agricultural and mechanical lines. The institution has grown until now it has twentyfour buildings and 250 acres of land, and a faculty of fifty. In March, 1908, its standard was raised by act of legislature from college to university rank and $200,000 was voted by the legislature for new buildings and equipment. Work below the freshman class is to be discontinued, and departments of law and of medicine will be added to the institution. This youngest sister among the state universities bids fair to work out her problems and to carry her part among the vigorous educational institutions of the nation.

Kentucky has long been noted for the large number of private academies and small colleges. These have been growing and increasing in excellence from year to year. There is a tendency toward the establishment of the educational work on better and stronger foundations. The leading denominations are represented by educational institutions and their supporters are busy in providing new buildings and modern equipment.

Chief among the institutions for the application of knowledge to industrial life is the State Agricultural Experiment Station, established at Lexington in 1885, which has steadily broadened its scope until now it is concerned with all the leading topics of Kentucky agriculture and saves thousands of dollars to the farmers of the commonwealth by giving expert advice in protection against insects, plant diseases, epidemics among hogs, cattle and other farm animals. It also tests fertilizers and other manufactured articles used in rural life.

Conclusion.

So reads the record of the experiences of this noble old state since the closing of the war. The New Kentucky is an established fact. Mine owners have gone into the depths of the earth and brought out immense quantities of coal and iron. Men have gone to the mountain tops and into the mountain coves and brought out timber in abundance. Busy trains rush here and there, north, south and west, with these large products of the mills. But Kentucky is still an agricultural state. The rural attitude and the rural idea still obtain, but it is no longer the isolated life and the restricted outlook of the earlier days. Telephones are found everywhere. Rural mail delivery exists in all parts of the state where good roads are found. There is more work, more progress, more machinery and more enthusiasm everywhere. Stores have sprung up at many of the crossroads. The electric car runs from town to town, binding the people together in new commercial and social bonds. A new agriculture has come to stay, and signs of a new rural life are everywhere apparent. Kentucky is slowly growing rich, but best of all, this rare old state, with treasures of heart and brain, with its old-time hospitality, with its tendency for national politics, is also becoming national in its interests and thought.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-There is no extended history covering this period; for special topics and years consult Allen, J. L.: Blue-grass Region of Kentucky and other Kentucky Articles (New York, 1900); Breckinridge, W. C. P.: Address at the Centennial Celebration of Breckinridge County (Frankfort, 1882); Collins, R. H.: History of Kentucky (Covington, 1874); Connelly, E. M.: Story of Kentucky (Boston, 1890); Haney, W. H.: The Mountain People of Kentucky (Cincinnati, 1906); Hughes, Schaefer and Williams: That Kentucky Campaign (Cincinnati, 1900); Kinkead, E. S.: History of Kentucky (1896); Lipscomb, A. B. (ed.): Commercial History Southern States, Kentucky (Louisville, 1902); Ousley, C. C.: Kentucky and the Jamestown Exposition (1907); Powers, Caleb: My Own Story (1905); Perrin, Battle and Kniffin: History of Kentucky (Louisville and Chicago, 1887); Shaler, N. S.: Kentucky (Boston and New York, 1884); Smith, Z. F.: History of Kentucky (Louisville, 1890); Speed, Thomas: Union Cause in Kentucky (New York and London, 1907); Biographical Encyclopedia o f Kentucky's Dead and Living Men of the Nineteenth Century (Cincinnati, 1878); Century Magazine: The Kentuckian (Vol. XXXVII.); Encyclopedia Americana, article Kentucky (Vol. IX.); National Cyclopedia of American Biography, article Governors of Kentucky (Vol. XIII.); Register of State Historical Society; History of Higher Education in Kentucky (U. S. Bureau Education, 1899); United States Geological Reports; American Journal of Sociology: Eastern Kentucky, A Retarded Frontier (Vol. IV.) and Feuds of the Kentucky Mountains (Vol. VII.); Geological Journal: Anglo-Saxons of Kentucky (Vol. XVII.); Harper's Weekly: The Kentucky Insurrection (Vol. XLIV.); International Monthly: Social Condition in Kentucky (Vol. I.); McClure's: State of Kentucky vs. Caleb Powers (Vol. XXII.).

GEORGE ALLEN HUBBELL,
Professor of Sociology and Economics, Kentucky University.