USA > Kentucky > History of Kentucky, Volume II > Part 63
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in such places as he may deem proper and advisable, in the United States and in foreign countries, pamphlets and other publications descriptive of the resources and advantages of this state, and such other facts and information having a tendency to attract and promote immigration, and otherwise use his discretion in the furtherance of immigration and the bringing of skilled labor and capital into the state." The work was soon started with numerous bulletins and descriptive pamphlets from the "Geological Survey and Bureau of Immigration" flowing from the state. They were directed mostly to northern European countries and printed, of course, in the proper language to suit the country. Germans and Swiss were particularly solicited; bulletins were also addressed "To the Farm- ers of Great Britain and Ireland."
As Kentucky was only one of the many regions of the United States that suddenly awoke after the Civil war to the desire and needs of for- eign immigrants, and as the state was somewhat out of the beaten path traveled by former immigrants, considerable rivalry was developed. The new Northwest was drawing the greatest number, both on account of its inherent attractiveness and because of the campaign it was waging. To combat this movement and offset the "slanders" that had been circu- lated against the state, there was issued a pamphlet entitled "Information for Immigrants. The Climate, Soils, Timbers, &c., of Kentucky, con- trasted with those of the Northwest." Herein it was argued that the Northwest was a snare for the unsuspecting immigrant, that it was devoid of timber, that the rainfall was almost non-existent, that high freight rates had to be paid to get to market, and that the growing crops were a prey to clouds of devastating locusts. A few immigrants were brought to Kentucky, but not enough to play any important part in the development of the state. The most important single group were the Swiss who settled in Laurel County and attracted much attention for a time. Fail- ure was generally laid to the niggardly policy of the state in merely appropriating $700 a year to be used by the state geologists for the pur- pose, instead of setting up a separate bureau.47 Outside of the large cities, Kentucky has never been an attraction to immigrants, and the number has in recent years actually declined. From 1900 to 1910 the number decreased from 50,133 to 40,053. The negro population also has decreased during the same period, Kentucky being the only South- ern state in which this has occurred.48 Within the last few years the state as well as the other states of the South have lost many of its negroes through their migrations to the North. The loss of this popu- lation has been an economic problem for the state, just as their presence makes a social problem. Louisville atempted to settle the latter in her race segregation policy in 1914, but the United States Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.49
Unaided by foreign immigration, the state rapidly went forward in those industries in which it had long stood preeminent, and set about developing others. The distillation of whiskey rose from 403,000 gal- lons in 1868 to 30,386,000 by 1882, and had gone far beyond this when the prohibition movement laid hands upon it.50 The whiskey industry battled long and lost; the tobacco business has not been without its problems. It has been the ill-fortune of the state that two of its great- est industries should be classed as luxuries and therefore subjected to
47 A collection of the various pamphlets issued may be found in the Library of Congress. Also see Charles Dudley Warner, "Comments on Kentucky" in Harper's Magazine, Vol. 78 (January, 1889), pp. 255-271 ; American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1881, P. 470; 1889, p. 487 ; and The South in the Building of the Nation (Richmond, 1909), 304-332 in which a sketch of the state's development since the Civil war is given. 48 New International Year Book, 1912, p. 355.
49 Ibid., 1917, P. 393.
50 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1882, p. 452.
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high internal revenues taxes and should also run counter to the reform- ing zeal of a new generation, which has already destroyed one and is making headway against the latter. In 1878 the Legislature protested against the high revenue taxes on tobacco. It declared that the state raised 28 per cent of all the tobacco grown in the whole country, and it "seems strange that the farmers of the United States should suffer a government which they in part control to so deliberately tax them and their labor, in order to raise millions of dollars every year from their hard-earned labor, to be bestowed upon high-salaried officers, standing armies, useless navies, pet national banks, and bond-holders." 51 But the economic depression, with the attendant low price for tobacco, has been a greater source of trouble recently than any other cause.
All Kentuckians who cared to examine or to consider the evidence had known for a long time that the state was immensely wealthy in its undeveloped resources. The work of two geological surveys in ante- bellum times had amply proved this. The lethargy of war and politics was finally cast off in 1873, when the third geological survey was ordered. in which the geologist was "to discover and examine all beds or deposits of ore, coal, flora, and such other mineral substances as may be useful or valuable, and to analyze the same, and to perform such other duties as may be necessary to make a full and complete geological, mineralog- ical and chemical survey of the state." 52 An eminent Kentuckian, Nathaniel S. Shaler, was appointed to make the survey. He carried forward the work with skill and searching examination and paved the way for the great development of the state's resources to come later. Shortly after Shaler had resigned, Governor Knott said: "No expenditure of money has ever been made by our state government which has been more prolific of good results than that which has been devoted to our Geological Survey. Previous to its inauguration comparatively little was known of our varied and almost illimitable resources, and conse- quently the vast tide of capital, as well as intelligent labor, seeking new fields of employment, had drifted past us, and thousands of the most enterprising of our own people had been lured to other states supposed to have been more liberally endowed by nature with the various elements of material prosperity. But, although prosecuted under great disadvan- tages, it had demonstrated that our resources of every description are enormous; that our soils are adapted to the profitable growth of the widest range of agricultural products known to the temperate zone; that one-half of our primitive forests abounding in the greatest variety of valuable timbers is still untouched; that our state abounds in the richest iron-ores to be found in the world; and that our coal area is more ex- tensive than that of the great State of Pennsylvania, or of Great Britain and Ireland combined, underlying nearly 13,000 square miles." 53 The amount spent on geological surveys from 1873 to 1890 was $268,300.
From Shaler down to the present, with one interruption, the geological work of discovering and mapping the state's resources has gone on with increasing profit and success. Shaler was followed by J. R. Proctor in 1880, who continued until 1892, when the work lapsed for a dozen years. In 1904 a reorganization came under C. J. Norwood; in 1912 J. B. Hoeing took over the work ; and in 1919 W. R. Jillson became state geologist.
The development of coal and oil in the state within recent years has borne out all the most roseate prophesies regarding its wealth of natural resources. The small amounts of coal that had been floated out of the eastern mountains since the days of James Wilkinson had by 1870
51 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1878, p. 471.
52 Ibid., 1873, P. 401.
53 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1883, pp. 463, 464.
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increased to the respectable amount of 169,120 tons. But the real growth began with the Shaler survey. During this period the amount increased over 600 per cent, with almost 3,000 hands employed, and the product valued at $737,960. Four years later, in 1884, seventy mines were being operated, producing 1,550,000 tons of coal and affording $1,500,000 in wages to the workmen. In 1888 the output had increased to 2,342,058 tons, and from now on the increase was large and steady. In 1908 the United States Geological Survey estimated the original coal supply of the state to be 124,028,000 000 tons, of which only 122,400,000 tons had been mincd. In 1913 almost 11,500,000 tons were produced, and three years later the amount had more than doubled, with 25.330,000 tons being mined. The increase of output has been greater than in any other state in the Union. The mines in the eastern part of the state have re- cently forged ahead of the mines in the western part of the state.54 Petroleum was also known in the state from early times, but the real boom times began in the early 'gos, when a Pittsburg company began to lease land in the southern part of the state. Prices for land suddenly advanced from $2 to $100 the acre. The most spectacular developments have come within very recent years. In 1915, 437,274 barrels were pro- duced : the next year 1,202,569 barrels were taken from the earth. This amazing increase was 175 per cent in quantity and 423 per cent in value. By 1918 the state was being systematically honeycombed with wells. A campaign for oil was started that promised to leave no county un- touched in the search 35 Various other developments of lesser impor- tance have been carried on. As early as 1879 the principal rivers were being stocked with fish, and at present the conservation of the state's timber supply is attracting attention and concern.5fi
The remarkable progress made within recent years could never have come without the pushing forward of trunk lines of railways with nu- merous feeders. The Louisville and Nashville has run a line, southward from Cincinnati through the eastern mountains to Knoxville; the Cin- cinnati Southern was run somewhat to the westward, while still farther to the eastward the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio entered the state from Virginia and tapped the Chesapeake and Ohio at Elkhorn City, which carried the line down the Big Sandy to Catlettsburg and Ashland; and the Chesapeake and Ohio has also run lines from West Virginia down the Ohio to Newport and westward to Lexington and Louisville. Various other railway developments have been carried out in the west- ern part of the state. In 1887 there were 2,341 miles of railway in the state : in 1918 it had increased to 4,069.57
But this development was not without its problems for the state. as well as for the railway companies. A certain amount of hostility was always held toward the railways as being powerful and grasping corpo- rations, willing to sap the strength of the state to increase their own rev- cnies. By 1880 the state had discovered that the railways needed watch- ing, at least, so a Railroad Commission of three was set up to see that the railways obeyed the laws. Two years later stringent and compre- hensive laws respecting rates and various railway abuses were enacted and the Railroad Commission given new powers and duties. Various laws concerning railroads have been passed since this, among the most recent of which being the law enacted in 1918 setting forth rules for
54 American Annual Cyclapacdia, 1880, p. 425; 1885, p. 516; 1889, p. 486; New International Year Book, 1908, p. 393; 1913, pp. 385, 386; 1914, P. 399; 1916, p. 364. 55 American Annual Cyclapaedia, 893, p. 425; New International Year Baak, 1917,
p. 393.
56 Ibid., 1916, p. 364; American Cyclopaedia, 1879, p. 540.
57 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1887, p. 410; New International Year Book, 1918, p. 350.
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carrying into effect the Federal Employers' Liability Act.58 While rail- roads were in the good graces of the state, and especially before the companies had constructed them, certain tax exemptions were made. But in 1886 the exemption was repealed, at least by implication, and a few years later the railroads were sued for back taxes and were forced to pay $100,000 to the state. Certain counties, especially during the contagion for constructing railways directly following the Civil war, voted large bond issues, and later defaulted in their payment. Suits arose and long-drawn-out ligitations followed. In 1868 Muhlenburg County issued $400,000 in bonds to the Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad, twenty-six miles of which road was to run through this county. The county later attempted to repudiate these bonds, but was prevented by actions that ran throughout the state courts and to the Supreme Court of the United States. An injunction to restrain the collection of county taxes for the debt, that now amounted to over $1,000,000, was denied. Union County likewise issued bonds to aid a railway, to be delivered when the line should be finished. The county was inveigled to hand over the bonds before completion of. the road, whereupon work on the line was stopped and the bonds sold by the railway company for 73 cents on the dollar, The county refused to pay more than the rate of sale by the company.59
With the coming of the railroads, river navigation largely fell into disuse. In 1880 the state turned over to the National Government the Kentucky River with the understanding that the locks be restored and repaired and that slack-water navigation be extended into the mountains. Congress soon assumed control over the other rivers and large amounts of Federal money have been spent on the Kentucky, Big Sandy, Cumber- land, and other rivers of the state.60
The rising industrialism in the state set apart large numbers of people into a laboring class, who owned not their tools of production and who saw their economic welfare circumscribed by the narrow limits of wages paid them. Labor consciousness produced labor organizations and their methods at times brought additional problems for the state to deal with. The railroad strike in 1877, extending over much of the Middle West, reached Kentucky. The mayor of Louisville issued a proclamation against violence, and the governor of the state called upon the people to remain quiet and obey the laws. Most Kentuckians had a wholesome sympathy for the working man and his unions and looked with favor upon his efforts to obtain higher wages and better living conditions When the Homestead strike near Pittsburg was put down in 1892 by rather ruthless methods, the Kentucky Legislature passed resolutions of sympathy for the strikers. However, a warning was raised at this time that since the causes of the strike were not fully known and since Ken- tucky was not directly concerned, the law-makers should best keep silent. As the coal mines came to be more fully developed in the state, labor troubles in these quarters have become rather frequent. Strikes accom- panied with riots and bloodshed have marked their course at times.61
Interesting views of the industrial progress of the state and of the South have been given in various conventions and expositions. In 1883 an industrial convention was held in Louisville, extending over a period of 100 days, which was attended by almost 750,000 people. The exposi- tion in Atlanta in 1881 graphically showed the recovery of the South
58 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1880, p. 422; 1882, pp. 449-451; New Inter- national Year Book, 1918, p. 350.
59 American Annual Cyclopaedia. 1893, pp. 424. 425; 1894, P. 394.
60 Ibid., 1880, p. 424; Verhoeff. The Kentucky River Navigation, 33, 34.
61 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1877, P. 421 ; 1892, p. 373; 1901, P. 703; New In- ternational Year Book. 1907. P. 441 ; C. R. Lingley, Since the Civil War (New York, 1921), pp. 133, 265, 315, 320.
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from the devastations of the war. The Kentucky Legislature, by invita- tion, attended in a body.62
Boundary questions, which had been so prolific a source of dispute in ante-bellum times, were not yet all disposed of at the beginning of this recent period. In earlier times the troubles had been with Tennessee and Virginia concerning land boundaries; now they were with states to the north and west and arose over river lines. Through the adjudication of suits arising over the ownership of certain islands in the Ohio and Mis- sissippi rivers, the United States Supreme Court laid down the rules con- cerning such cases. The ownership of Wolfe Island, in the Mississippi River, was established in 1870. This island, containing about 15,000 acres, had from early times been considered a part of Kentucky; its population voted in Kentucky and paid their taxes there. But between 1820 and 1870 the channel of the river, which had previously been on the Missouri side, gradually shifted, with the aid of dredging operations. to the Kentucky side. As the old treaties among England, France and Spain had set the middle of the channel as the boundary, Missouri now claimed the island as her territory. Besides arguing prior ownership, Kentucky also showed that originally the island was a part of the eastern bank, as was proved by its elevation and vegetation. The Supreme Court awarded it to Kentucky on the grounds that the shifting of the river did not carry with it a boundary once established.63 The other important dispute during this period concerned Green River Island, in the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana. As this bit of land had long been a refuge for outlaws on account of its disputed ownership, Kentucky and Indiana in 1875 attempted to settle the question. Failing in this, the case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Due to the shifting of the river, the island was at this time actually joined by land to the Indiana side, and largely through this argument did Indiana now claim it. The court had already held that the boundary of Kentucky extended to the low-water mark on the north shore, in its interpretation of the Virginia act ceding the Northwest Territory to Congress.64 The old rule that the shifting of a river did not carry a boundary with it was applied and Kentucky was awarded the island.65
Politics has continued to play a large part in the lives of the people ; Kentuckians by nature are political beings in as full a measure as any people of the Union. They delight in their political campaigns and, though the ante-bellum barbecues and other campaign methods have been discarded, the heat with which the fight has been carried on gives excite- ment enough. The democrats emerged from the Civil war and the period directly thereafter as the dominant party by a large margin. Despite the negro vote, Leslie had been elected in 1871 by a comfortable ma- jority. The democrats' strength throughout the state was shown again in 1874, when T. C. Jones was elected clerk of the Court of Appeals by a majority of 60,000 votes, and all of the congressmen except one were captured. The preceding year the democratic strength in the Legis- lature was shown in the election of Willis B. Machen to the United States Senate by a vote of 104 to 18. The people of the state had not yet reached the point where they could discuss questions wholly on their own merits, uninfluenced by the memories of the Civil war and its problems, and as long as this was true the individual problems of the state itself were likely to be largely forgotten. It was directly to the
62 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1883, p. 464; Acts of Kentucky, 1882, I, 142. 63 11 Wallace 395. See also Journal of American History, V, 283-285.
64 See Hadley's Lessee vs. Anthony, 5 Wheaton, 374. For the Virginia act of cession and the deed of cession, see Benjamin P. Poore, Federal and State Constitu- tions, Colonial Charters, and other Organic Laws of the United States, 427, 428.
65 State of Indiana vs. State of Kentucky, 136 U. S. Reports, 479. Also see American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1875, p. 418; 1890, p. 474.
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advantage of the democrats to "wave the bloody shirt" and remind the Kentuckians of what their state had been forced to suffer under Fed- eral control, just as this same wartime capital was used by the repub- licans in the nation to maintain their power. The republicans in the state, knowing that their wartime heritage was a distinct liability, sought to divert attention from it by calling for an excellent program of state activ- ities, such as aid to the schools, promotion of immigration and the de- velopment of the state generally. In 1873 the democrats bitterly attacked Congress for its usurpations in its treatment of the South, and of Louisi- ana especially at this time. And when it came to a constructive program for the state, the democrats were little behind the professed good inten- tions of the republicans, but they laid themselves open to republican attacks for never carrying out the program. In 1873 the democrats came out for the development of industries, promotion of foreign immigra- tion, and other forward-looking policies. They issued this invitation at this time: "Resolved, That the Democracy of Kentucky, forgetting all past political differences, and looking to the best interests of the whole country, cordially invite all who are opposed to corruption and consolida- tion to cooperate with them." 66
The gubernatorial election of 1875 was preceded by a hard-fought campaign. The democrats nominated J. B. McCreary and adopted a platform calling for the general development of the resources of the state, but at the same time did not forego the advantages of war re- minders. The Federal Government again was condemned for interfering in the affairs of the state, "and we hold that any unconstitutional inter- ference by the General Government with the local affairs of any. state to any extent or under any pretense whatever should be at once repudi- ated and condemed by all classes of every section of the Union." The republicans nominated their strongest leader, John M. Harlan, on a platform calling for the educational and economic upbuilding of the state and the encouragement of immigration, and condemning the democrats for not suppressing the Ku Klux Klan, for passing special legislation
of various kinds and for tolerating monopolies. McCreary was elected, but Harlan polled a powerful republican vote. The popular vote stood, McCreary, 126,976; Harlan, 90,795. McCreary, in his inaugural ad- dress, forgetting the past, made a forward-looking promise for the future. "I wish to see," he said, "the records of secession, coercion and recon- struction filed away forever, and the people of the whole country ear- nestly advocating peace and reconciliation, and all looking to the Consti- tution as the guarantee of our liberties and the safeguard of every cit- izen." 67
But the state has never been able to get away from the feeling that the great amount of daring leadership and romance of the Civil war was with the Confederate element and, while honoring alike the heroes of both sides, it has loved to recall particularly those who lost. In 1878 the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for the erection of a statue in Lex- ington to Gen. J. C. Breckinridge, which should stand "as a mark of our respect to the memory of the deceased hero." 68 When Gen. S. B. Buck- ner, whom the state had made governor in 1887, died, the Legislature placed upon its records this appreciation of him as a man: "He was tall and strong, courtly and soldierly in bearing, genial but frank and firm. He was highly educated, and well informed in civil and military affairs; he wrote and spoke with precision, elegance and force. His sense of duty was the constant guide to his actions. In his long, honorable, illus-
66 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1873, P. 403; also see Ibid., p. 401 ; 1874, p. 441. 67 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1875, pp. 416, 417.
68 American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1878, p. 470. This statue was erected in Lex- ington.
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trious life, he shed luster not only on himself, but on the whole Com- monwealth. Distinguished in war and in peace, he is a good exemplar for the imitation of the youth of the land. He has been one of the most distinguished men ever born in the state. He has helped to ennoble and enrich our heritage. His services were great, his escutcheon stainless ; his fame is gratifying to all high-minded men." 69
In 1879 Luke P. Blackburn was elected governor by the democrats in opposition to Walter Evans, the republican. Three years later a war echo came in the election of a clerk of the Court of Appeals. T. J. Henry, who had been an officer in the Confederate army, was nominated by the democrats, to the dislike of certain members of the party, who nom- inated R. T. Jacob, who had been a Union officer but had opposed negro enlistments and had been arrested. The republicans, seeing a chance to win an election, supported Jacob. But the Rock of Gibraltar could not be storme@; Henry was elected by a vote of 115,000 to 75,000 for Jacob. The gubernatorial campaign of 1883 saw J. Procter Knott candidate for the democrats, and Thomas Z. Morrow the republican nominee. Knott's great popularity, engendered by both his wit and ability, was too much for the republicans. He carried the democracy through by an in- creased majority, while Morrow's vote fell off slightly from Harlan's four years before. The election in 1887 was quite different. The democrats now nominated Simon B. Buckner, the inspector-gen- eral of the State Guards in 1861 who had played so important a part in the days of neutrality, and who had later fought valiantly on the Confederate side. The republicans brought forward one of the ablest republicans the state has ever produced, William O. Bradley. They were growing tired of defeat ; they would now make their boldest efforts. They declared that "a change is necessary in our state affairs which would curtail offices, reduce expenses and enable the people of Kentucky to overhaul and examine the books, which for nearly twenty years have been virtually sealed against them." Bradley polled an unprecedented vote, receiving 126,473. Buckner also polled a record vote for the demo- crats. 143,270, but the gap between had grown much smaller.70
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