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After the election, Nov. 7, a Louisville paper said: "Following closely upon a series of wholesale murders in the State's feud district,' where a man's life is not safe, we are now shown the sickening spectacle of 15 American citizens murdered outright at the polls while attempting to exercise their right of suffrage. That number were instantly killed in election rows and riots in different parts of the State, and the news comes that a dozen more are likely to die."

On Dec. 6 a young negro, Richard Coleman, the confessed murderer of the wife of his employer, was burned at the stake in Maysville, after suffering frightful torture at the hands of a mob. The report said the husband and the brother of his victim fired the pile of wood and kept up the fire, and that none of the crowd was masked, the lynching having taken place in daylight.

The Kentucky Monument at Chickamauga. -This was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on May 3. In accepting the monument and transferring it to the Government Gov. Bradley made an address, in which he said: "This shaft is dedicated not alone to those who died on this and surrounding fields, but to the gallant survivors who, when the frowning clouds of war were dispelled by the bright sunshine of peace, returned to their homes to repair broken for tunes and are to-day numbered among the best and most distinguished sons of the Commonwealth. Kentucky has evinced no partiality in this evidence of loving remembrance. It carries with it no heartburning, no jealousy, no invidious distinction. It is not an emblem of honor to the victor and reproach to the vanquished, but an equal tribute to the worth of all."

Political. The campaign for the election of State officers this year was the bitterest probably in the history of the State, and, although the Republican candidates were declared elected on count of the returns, and were inaugurated, contests were entered, on the claim that fraud had been used, which were still unsettled far into the year 1900, after the excitement of the campaign and the subsequent struggles had culminated in the tragic death of Senator Goebel, the candidate of the Democratic party.

The Democratic convention was held in Louisville in June. The contest between the partisans of William Goebel and those opposed to his candidacy was long and determined. A permanent organization was not effected until the third or fourth day, and the nomination for Governor was not made until the sixth day. The principal candidates were William Goebel, ex-Gov. P. Wat Hardin, and William J. Stone. After many ballots had been taken Senator Goebel succeeded in securing the adoption of a resolution declaring that after the twenty-fifth ballot and each one following the candidate showing the least strength should be dropped. This resulted in the elimination of Mr. Stone's name, and on the twenty-sixth ballot, June 27, Goebel was nominated by 560, against 530 for Hardin. The completed ticket was: For Governor, William Goebel; Lieutenant Governor, J. O. W. Beckham; Secretary of State, Breck Hill; Attorney-General, R. J. Breckenridge; Treasurer, S. W. Haeger; Auditor, Gus Coulter: Commissioner of Agriculture, J. B. Nall; Superintendent of Public Instruction, H. V. McChesney.

The platform reaffirmed the principles of the party as formulated at Chicago in 1896, favored the nomination of William J. Bryan and the election of J. S. C. Blackburn to the United States Senate, and approved the Cuban war, but de

nounced the Philippine policy of the Administration. Further the resolutions said:

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'We call attention to the incompetency of the present Republican administration in Kentucky; to the abuses and scandals in the management of penitentiaries and asylums while under Republican control, and we commend the wisdom of the last General Assembly of Kentucky in the enactment of laws which secure the wise and economical administration of the penitentiaries and other public institutions of the State under Democratic control; to the increase in the rate of taxation; to the vetoing of all Democratic legislation favorable to the interests of the people and hostile to the oppressions and extortions of organized wealth. We declare that after four years of trial it is well established that the Republican administration is incapable of upholding and maintaining the laws and of preserving peace and order in the Commonwealth, and we especially condemn the present Republican Governor for surrounding the State capital with the military arm of the government in time of profound peace, thus attempting to influence and terrorize the General Assembly, pending the election of a United States Senator.

"We indorse the amendment to the State election law passed by the last Democratic General Assembly of Kentucky over the veto of a Republican Governor. We declare the amendment to be in the interest of fair and honest elections." A conference was called of the Democrats opposed to Goebel for the purpose of organizing the opposition. It met at Lexington, Aug. 2, and called a State convention, which assembled there Aug. 16. The resolutions that were adopted declare the Louisville nominees not nominees of the Democratic party; demand the enactment of a law giving force and effect to section 151 of the State Constitution, which provides for deprivation of office of any person who to secure his nomination or election has been guilty of the unlawful use of money or other things of value, or has been guilty of fraud or intimidation, bribery or corrupt practice; approve the principles and platform of the Chicago convention of 1896, and Bryan for President in 1900; denounce the Goebel election law; favor the regulation of railroads so as to prevent extortion; demand the abolishment of the Chinn book bill; and condemn President McKinley for alleged advancement of the trusts.

The party was called "The Honest-election Democratic party," and the ticket was: For Governor, John Young Brown; Lieutenant Governor, P. P. Johnston; Secretary of State, E. L. Hines; Attorney-General, Lawrence E. Tanner; Treasurer, John Droege; Commissioner of Agriculture, G. W. Vandevere; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Rev. E. C. Óverstreet; Auditor, Frank A. Pasteur.

The Republican State Convention was held in Lexington, July 12-14. Candidates for the gubernatorial nomination were Attorney-General W. S. Taylor, Auditor Samuel H. Stone, and Judge Clifton J. Pratt. The two latter withdrew, and Taylor was nominated by acclamation.

The ticket was: For Governor, William S. Taylor; Lieutenant Governor, John Marshall; Secretary of State, Caleb Powers; Attorney-General, Clifton J. Pratt; Auditor, John S. Sweeney; Treasurer, Walter R. Day: Superintendent of Instruction, John Burke; Commissioner of Agriculture, J. W. Throckmorton. Candidates for Railroad Commissioners were H. S. Irwin and John C. Wood in two of the districts. In the First District the Republicans made no nomination.

The resolutions declared: "We affirm that the existing election law in Kentucky, enacted by a Democratic General Assembly in 1898 over the objection of our Republican Governor, is viciously partisan, subversive of fairness and honesty in elections, hostile to the principles of free government, removes safeguards which have heretofore protected and guaranteed the right of suffrage, denies to our courts the power to protect voters in this State against the perpetration of fraud at elections, commits broad power to irresponsible commissioners not chosen by or accountable to the people for their acts, and imperils the sacredness, efficiency, and power of the ballot. We therefore set forth as the supreme issue before the people of this State the repeal of this revolutionary law, and the Republican party pledges itself to its repeal and to the restoration of the system under which free and fair elections have heretofore been the rule in Kentucky. We cite the election law, the Penitentiary bill, the MeChord railway bill, and many other measures introduced and attempted to be passed by the last Legislature of Kentucky as proof of the type of legislation to which the people of the State will be subjected should the Democratic party come into power under its present leadership, legislation alike hostile to political honesty and purity, and to the material prosperity and advancement of our Commonwealth."

The State administration and the conduct of United States Senator Deboe were commended, trusts were denounced, and the Republican party was congratulated on its legislation for their suppression. The national administration and its policy were approved, and further it was said:

We believe in popular education and the fostering and improvement of our public-school system, and we favor a just and equitable law by which the cost of books shall be reduced to the lowest price consistent with due regard for their merit. But we are opposed to the school-book law passed last year by the lower house of the Legislature, because under its provisions desired relief will not be secured, but a more complete monopoly will be established."

The convention of the People's party was held in Frankfort, July 27. Some effort was made toward fusion with the Democrats opposed to Goebel, but the sentiment for independent action was too strong, and an entire party ticket was nominated. John Y. Blair was named for Governor; for Lieutenant Governor, W. R. Browder; Auditor, Samuel R. Graham; Treasurer, A. H. Cardin; Secretary of State, Benjamin Keys; Superintendent of Instruction, John C. Sullivan; Commissioner of Agriculture, W. J. Hanna; Attorney-General, John T. Bashaw; Railroad Commissioners, R. H. McMullen, John H. Reed, and W. G. Patrick.

The resolutions declared in favor of Wharton Barker and Ignatius Donnelly as candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency in 1900, and said:

"We heartily sympathize with those honest Democrats and Republicans of Kentucky who refuse to submit to bossism in their several parties; especially do we approve of all efforts to rid Kentucky of the odium of the unfair and disreputable law known as the Goebel election law passed by the recent Democratic Legislature, indorsed by the Democratic convention at Louisville, and to the retention of which the Democratic party of Kentucky stands committed, now on the statute books of this Commonwealth; and we regret to see that Hon. William J. Bryan, for whom the Populists of Kentucky voted in

1896 for President of the United States, by his public indorsement of the ticket nominated at Louisville and the platform there adopted, assumes the responsibility of indorsing the criminal attempts of the corrupt element of Kentucky politics to subvert the ballot.

"We denounce the infamous Goebel election law as a revolutionary and undemocratic attempt to subvert the ballot, to enthrone in Kentucky a corrupt political ring, and to practically destroy popular government. Therefore we demand its speedy repeal and the enactment of a law which will preserve inviolate in this Commonwealth of Kentucky the right of a free, untrammeled ballot and a fair and honest count." The convention named G. W. Reeves for United States Senator.

The Prohibitionists held a convention at Louisville, Aug. 2, declaring for complete legal prohibition of the liquor traffic, demanding the repeal of the Goebel election law, denouncing the State administration, and favoring woman suffrage. Their ticket was: For Governor, O. T. Wallace; Lieutenant Governor, William H. Zeigler; Secretary of State, W. M. Likens; Attorney-General, Gen. James H. Beauchamp; Treasurer, J. R. Pile; Auditor, Rev. Samuel M. Bernard; Commissioner of Agriculture, A. W. Carpenter; Superintendent of Public Instruction, G. E. Hancock.

The Socialist-Labor party made nominations for some of the State offices, as follows: For Governor, Albert Schmutz; Treasurer, James Delaney; Auditor, R. P. Caldwell; Commissioner of Agriculture, Jasem O. Hearn.

As it was feared that the day of election would be marked by rioting, and possibly by bloodshed, so strong was party feeling and so highly wrought the excitement, the State troops were ordered to be prepared for an emergency, and were in attendance in Louisville. The result of the election was for a long time in doubt, and notice was served upon the commissioners in Jefferson County before the official count was finished, Nov. 17, as follows: For the Democratic candidates we now give notice that at the close of the count and before any certificates be issued we will move the board and all other authorities that may consider this election to declare null and void the election held in the city of Louisville on the seventh day of November, 1899.

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"1. Because of the usurpation of William O. Bradley in calling out and illegally using the militia and overawing and intimidating the voters and officers of and at said election and interfering with the progress of said election and with the duties of the officers of said election.

"2. Because S. B. Toney unlawfully usurped power in requesting said William O. Bradley to call out and use said militia for said purpose when said call was entirely unnecessary, and the civil authorities were able and willing to execute any order made by said court.

"3. Because said militia was used for the unlawful purpose aforesaid.

"4. Because said election was not a civil election, but a military election.

"5. Because the said military was unlawful in every respect and a criminal usurpation of power by said named persons, and thereby the civil power was subordinated to the military power, and an overt act of a treasonable nature against the Constitution of the State of Kentucky was committed."

With the vote of Louisville thrown out, there would have been a plurality for Goebel. It was charged also that ballots cast in some of the strongly Republican counties were on tissue

paper, and the assertion was made that the election should be declared void in those counties. On the other hand, it was declared that the returning boards had thrown out every vote for rejecting which the slightest pretext could be found, and that 25,000 anti-Goebel votes were lost by their rulings.

The official count gave the election to the Re publicans, the vote for Governor being reported: Taylor, 193,714; Goebel, 191,331; Brown, 12,140; Blair, 3,038; Wallace, 2,346; Schmutz, 510.

One member of the Board of Commissioners prepared a minority statement, in which he declared his belief that the Democratic candidates were legally elected, and that the use of tissue ballots should have rendered void the election in several counties. He denounced the use of militia on election day as reprehensible and intolerable in an Anglo-Saxon community.

The Railroad Commissioners elected were J. Fletcher Dempsey and C. C. McChord, Democrats, and John C. Wood, Republican.

The Legislature of 1900 stands: In the Senate, 26 Democrats and 12 Republicans; in the House, 59 Democrats and 41 Republicans.

The inauguration of the new State officers took place Dec. 12. Notices of contest were served. It was expected that while those for the two higher offices would come before the Legislature, those for the minor offices would be decided by the election board sitting as a board of contest. Two members of this board having resigned, the State Election Board, or some other Democratic authority, appointed two Goebel Democrats to succeed them, while Gov. Taylor appointed a Republican and an anti-Goebel Democrat, thus further complicating matters.

Meantime, in December, a suit was brought to have a local-option election in Ohio County declared void. One of the minor grounds of contest was the use of very thin or tissue-paper ballots, and it was supposed that the decision in regard to their acceptance would be used in the election contests that were to come. The county election on the local-option question was held to be valid.

An address was issued to the Democrats of the State, Dec. 21, signed by former Senator Blackburn, chairman of the State Campaign Committee, Chairman Young, of the State Central and Executive Committees, and all of the members of those committees, in which they said:

"The Democratic party of Kentucky, through its several State committees, has unanimously declared that the best interests of the party, as well as justice, demand that contests shall be made by all the candidates on the Democratic ticket for the respective offices for which they were nominated."

The contest for the offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor before the Legislature belongs to the history of 1900.

KOREA, or Cho-sen (" Morning Radiance "), a country in eastern continental Asia. Seaward it fronts Japan, and it lies between China and Russia, separated from the former by Yalu river and the Ever-White mountains, and from the latter along a frontier of 11 miles by Tumen river. No exact census of the population has been taken, but, estimating from the number of houses, there are 13,000,000 to 15,000,000 souls in the empire. Females are in the minority. The three social classes are the yang-ban (civil and military), who live by Government employ in idleness or by evading taxes and tolls; the mass of the people, mostly agricultural; and the seven degraded classes. The peddlers and butchers form powerful guilds,

which, though now abolished in form, are very influential, and almost all industry is organized into powerful societies. Buddhism, under ban from 1392 to 1895, and its priests and monks during that period disallowed entrance into cities, is the popular religion, and is now unrestrained. Confucianism is the cult of the literary and official classes. Sorcery and superstitions abound, influencing every action of life. There are many grotesque expressions of these in the sculpture fronting the royal palace, besides the colossal monolith mir-yeks (distance posts) near every village, tablets, and stone work of various kinds throughout the country.

Government.-Succession to the throne of the Korean Empire is hereditary, and the edict of the sovereign is law. The written Constitution, in 9 articles-issued in August, 1899-declares the independence of the country, and that for five hundred years Korea has been an absolute monarchy, and that it shall remain so for all time. The other 7 articles asserts in detail his prerogatives of absolutism. Historically, Ki-ja, an ancestor of Confucius, was the founder of Cho-sen (1122 B. C. to 9 A. D.), which gave way to the Three Kingdoms (9-960 A. D.), and these to united Korea, or Korai (960-1392), and this again to Cho-sen, founded by the present ruling dynasty, which in 1864 failed of direct heirs, when the present King, then a minor, was nominated, his father, the Tai-Wen-Kun, practically ruling the country for twenty years. From early ages Korea was China's vassal, and paid tribute, while Japan also claimed her as a tributary. Through the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-'95, and by the treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, Korea was declared free. On Oct. 14, 1897, at 3 A. M., before the altars of the spirits of the land, the King assumed the title of Emperor and named his realm Dai-Han ("Great Han," in distinction from the ancient San-Han, or "Three Kingdoms "). In administration he is assisted by a Council of State and 9 ministers, presided over by a Premier. The ministers are: Royal Household, Finance, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, War, Justice, Agriculture, and Education. In each of the 14 provinces there is a governor, and in each of the 360 districts a magistrate. There is no navy apart from revenue vessels, but 5,000 men are armed and drilled in modern style. Nine ports are open to foreign trade and residence.

Open Ports. Chemulpo, near the capital, Fusan, in the southeast, and Wonsan, in the northeast, have hitherto been open to foreign commerce and residence, and aliens, mostly nontrading, also have lived in the capital. Mokpo and Chenampo were opened in 1895. On May 1, 1899, 4 new ports, after due survey of the land, were formally opened-Kunsan, on the west coast, south of Chemulpo; Masampo, in the southeast, near Fusan; Sungchin, on the east coast; and the city of Ping-Yang, in the north, as a trade mart. The Russians and Japanese have at Masampo especially taken up land so eagerly and so largely that a collision between these rivals seemed for a while imminent. There are now about 20,000 Japanese in Korea, 2,000 being in Seoul and the majority at Fusan. In the new treaty, published in October, 1899, in which China is called the Middle Kingdom, Korean subjects in China have the full rights of the most-favorednation subjects, while in Korea no Chinaman can do stationary trade outside the treaty ports. A handsome new bund or sea wall and avenue fronting the water in Chemulpo was opened with a grand celebration in June, 1899, by the Japanese residents, who number 6,000.

Foreign Trade.-The total trade for 1897 was $11,755,625 in gold, and for 1898 $8,763,932 in gold. The short crop of 1897, though succeeded by a better one in 1898, made the natives timid about parting with their food supplies, and hindered trade. American imports have increased. In 1897 they amounted to $400,000 in gold. In 1898 railroad material, $297,861, and petroleum, $189,380, were the chief items in the total of $655,037. In textiles the import of Japanese yarn, used by the native women on their hand looms, increases, while that of shirting decreases, that for 1898 being 500,000 pieces. The Korean's commercial instinct is feeble. He runs easily into debt, and permanently overdraws his account at the bank. Hence the Chinese trader is steadily replacing the native. Japanese and Chinese have acquired so much land, through the foreclosure of mortgages, that the Korean Government fears lest whole cities get into the hands of these aliens. Concessions are granted to American, German, and English syndicates to work gold mines on condition that one fourth the net product be paid to the Korean Government, and these enterprises are doing well. Forty Americans and 1,200 Koreans are employed on the 60 stamps that treat the auriferous rock in the region of Wonsan (or Gensan), including 1,000 square miles. Coal is not yet mined by foreigners, but the surface fuel is bagged at $90 a ton, mixed with red clay and used in balls, which burn well but are costly. Japanese and Russian companies are licensed to catch whales off the coast. The whales are shot from small steamers, and their carcases are towed ashore, cut up, and salted, to be sent to Japan as whale beef, which is bought at good prices and eaten. This Japanese interest amounted in 1898 to $1,750,000, and into Nagasaki alone 2,030,912 pounds of whale meat, worth $56,470, were imported. The whalebone, being inferior, is sent to Japan for manure. Various minor concessions have been granted to Russians (lumbering, lease of land for whale curing, etc.), Germans, and Americans, native workers having the privilege of steamer service on the Ta-tong river, the SeoulGensan telegraph, and the working of coal mines. Railways. Surveys for the Seoul-Fusan Railway have been completed by the Japanese, but since the change in the programme of the Russian Manchurian lines nothing beyond survey has as yet been done by the French syndicate. The Seoul-Chemulpo Railway, 25 miles long, standard American gauge, built by Messrs. Colbran & James for James R. Morse, the concessionaire all Americans at a cost of $1,500,000 in gold, is running 4 trains daily between port and capital. The concession and materials were sold, Dec. 31, 1898, to a Japanese syndicate. It was opened for traffic Sept. 1, 1899. In Seoul Mr. Colbran built an electric trolley railway 6 miles long for a Korean company, of which Ye-ChaYun, formerly in Washington, is president. It runs from outside the new west gate through the city to the east gate, and thence to the imperial tomb. It was at first injured by the mob, because they supposed it hindered rain, but it is now popular and pays well.

Politics and Events.-The year has been characterized by an intense conservative reaction in the Government and an absence of important diplomatic or political events, except the chronic local rebellions in the provinces and the plots of rivals and partisans in the capital. Though the solar calendar was adopted in 1895, and is officially observed, yet the people still celebrate, with a fortnight of rejoicings and old-time customs, the lunar calendar and the Chinese New

Year's Day and season. After riots between the reform and the conservative elements, the peddlers' and butchers' guilds were abolished and the Independence Club and the popular movement were reduced to nullity. In March a school for girls was opened in Seoul by Korean ladies, the first in the country under native auspices. After much excitement between the anti-Russian party and their few opponents, during which KimHong-Niuk, a powerful pro-Russian, was murdered and his body mutilated by the mob, Russia and Japan, on April 25, agreed on a modus vivendi, both recognizing the sovereignty of Korea and engaging to refrain from direct interference in her internal affairs. No military or financial advisers will be nominated by either without mutual agreement. Russia agrees not to impede the commercial relations between Japan and Korea. On June 8 Prince Henry of Prussia arrived at Chemulpo, and on the 11th he had audience of the King, with a review of 3,000 troops. On the same day there were attacks with dynamite bombs on five Korean ministers. On Oct. 21 the King's adviser, Mr. G. R. Greathouse, an American of great legal ability, followed in death Gen. Charles Le Gendre, who for several years held the same office, and Gen. William McE. Dye, the American military instructor and Vice-Minister of War. The year was one of notable activity in Christian missionary work at the ports and the capital, and of steady progress in education, with a revival of Confucianism among the yangban.

KRUGER, STEPHANUS JOHANNES PAUL, President of the South African Republic. He was born in Rastenburg, Cape Colony, in 1825. His father was not of the old Afrikander stock, but an immigrant from Germany, one of the many that came from the Rhine country in the eighteenth century and merged readily in the Dutch population, to which in language and race they were closely related. When the Boers of the eastern parts of the colony, rendered desperate by the decision of the British Government that the Kaffirs who had murdered their neighbors, stolen their cattle, and burned their homesteads were in the right, aggrieved too by the policy of the colonial Government to uproot the Dutch language and laws, determined to abandon their homes and their fixed property and to go far into the wilderness to seek a promised land where the English scepter could not reach, the Krugers were as ready as the old Cape families to leave their roof tree and encounter the dangers of the great trek. Paul Kruger was only a boy of twelve, but so strong and bold that when a leopard seized his little sister he rescued her and killed the beast with his knife. They were with one of the commandos, all neighbors and relatives, that trekked all the way over the Orange, over the Vaal, up the valley of the Caledon, over the Drakensberg, and from their laager on the Tugela sent their wisest farmers out to view the land; and they found it fair, the rich terrace country of Natal, truly the promised land of Canaan. Then came the negotiation with Dingaan, then his treacherous massacre of their leaders, then the deep cry for vengeance, the vengeance of the Lord, and the long, crafty war, that strange war of 200 or 300 men against 30,000; but their faith gave them strength, and they won the final victory. Then came a British detachment, and the officer told them that they were British subjects; and when re-enforcements arrived the British flag was raised over the land of the Amorites that they had taken with the sword. Back over the steep pass of the Drakens

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