The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1879-10-24
sRNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

'lat purpose.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
AT this time the State of Kentucky '
vas engaged in the huge undertaking
y perfecting system of internal i'm
Hovements, by making her rivers navi-
/ nole and by constructing or aiding in
Ae construction of turnpike roads and
] iRilroads. To do this required the
htlay of an immense sum of money.
fhich the Legislature was not back
prd TO vote, having the power to
Eedge the faith OF the State and in
plve the people in debt to an, amount
srFhat or any other purpose OF this
fngerous power the Legislature was
vsy justly deprived by the constitu-
H tn OF 1850 In few years debt
omore than seven millions of dollars
q been contracted for internal i'm
Hvements and for State banks. Even
scearly as 1850 some of these im>
pivements were shown to be worth
s, the-only beneiciaries of the State
e1a2ditures being the contractors aud
SHcials with big salaries, such as
spoW be considered exorbitant
IN this it appears that the total
ds Feid 4.f M 8 1t ICY seIpq.l 3
: IS I $50 3 Bef tie money
i kgesied IN r4ilroads and turn
Es the State received stock in the
Eeral companies. some of which is
kned BY the State now. The turn
Efpes yielded little revenue, the Ken
1 tky and Green River Navigation a
lite, and the Licking river nothing
| Be- the turnpikes have been of most
4 bsefit to the State, and none will
ljrly complain of the money that has
Gn expended upon them To pay
f these improvements kept the Gov
aors and the Legislatures of Ken.
leky busy issuing and selling bonds.
Ito the capacious nav of the Board
Ii In;ernal Improvement went Ken
bcky's proportion of the surplus reve
ne of the United States, school fund
| nd all.
This robbery, however, was not per-
lpetrated until 1910. Hon. VIM. Pres.
bon, now General, representing Louiss
siIfe in the last Constitutional Couven
ton, said, speaking of this act of spoil
alton "The State of Kentucky at
that time (1840), under the general
depreciation of property aud great fall
dres 10 the revenue, was only saved
from the bankrupcy which threaten
ed by plundering the school fund"
Itwould be interesting to trace up the
history of this fund, to show how the
State appropriated the s850,000 for
rivep and Turnpikes giving, the School
Board State bonds at par, when they
could be sold nowhere else at such a
figure, and afterward, under the pro
visions of an act approved February
10, 1915, destroyed them as evidences
of dtbt against the State, leaving to
the -S,hool Board only a list of the
property it once owned; how afterward,
at the instance Of Robert j. Breckin.
ridge, then uperintendent of Public
Instruction, the State rescued bonds to
- :. ss>.zss.s -. 2 IN.
azure, which is the present school
und 1t might be interesting also to
how how, from two and half millions
,f dollars worth of stock 10 turnplkes
a 1913, the State interest 10 these
has dwiudled to half a
million; the stock in railroads, worth
$4,000, has disappeared entirely
md the expenditure on river improve
nents of more than two millions
Yields au income to the Stete of only
rs 500 which is the annual rental
from the lease of the Kentucky river
Improvement. But the DEPRESSION
would be too great, as the inquiry is
mainly as to the disposition of Ken
tucky's share of the surplus revenue OF
the United States. As far as can be
ascertained from close search through
the records, that treasure has gone
where the woodbine twineth. The
total resources Of the sinking fund of
the State, as shown by the Auditors
last port, amount to only 1854 .S47 AZ
Deduct the outstanding Indebtedness,
S1S0,394 and what remains is not one
half of the sum for which the Secreta-
ry of the Federal Treasury holds a
certificate of obligation of Indebtedness,
legal and binding upon the State OF
Kentucky, and liable to enforcement
for collection whenever Congress shall
deem it essential to the public good TO
recall the United States deposits from
the several States. The Secretary OF
the Federal Treasury has dropped the
statement of these accounts from the
national balance sheet, upon whaI
authority is not clear. The Auditor
of Public Accounts of the State o.
Kentucky has likewise dropped it frou
the statement of the State debt. Thus
an immense treasure has disappeared
vanished into thin air, not, however
without leaving behind memerto tha
may rise up, like Banquo's ghost, t
l6iague f~.~-e State Legislatures.
Not by Chance.
Perhaps in some isolated instances
man may become wealthy through
series of circumstances very much re
sembling "luck," but, as rule, thos
who would enjoy success pust wor
hard for it. Twenty clerks in store
twenty hands in printing Office, twer
ty apprentices in ship yard, twent
young men in village-all want
get on in the world, and expect to d
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