The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-27
py WILL T. STEPHAN.

By WILL T. sHEEHAN. Andalusia, Feb. 2e.--(Spectal Corre- spondence. l--Cpvington County heard described as "a little empire" when had been in It's capital city of Anda- lusia bare i've minutes.
 A proud citizen so termed it, averr- inR in the next breath that next to Baldwin County 1t was the largest county in Alabama. He furthermore went on record as saying that its ex- panse of territory was qual to that cultured but corruption ridden State. Rhode Island.
 But coming down to arbitrary facts, | L learned that this big county had a | territory of 1.012 square miles--a ter ritory that is almost twice as large as some other counties of the, State. Now of timber or farm lands. The county therefore has the enormous total of s47,ss0 acres of land and the most of l 1t is the sort of soil that would de- light the heart of any thrifty intelli- gent farmer.
 These fgures may be troublesome. but they are nevertheless to be borne in mind if one cares to get true and adequate conception of existing con-
 ditions In this big and promising
 South Alabama county.
 
 creased between the census of 1890 and
 the census of 1900 faster than did Jef-
 ferson County. And its percentage of
 increase, being larger than that of
 Jefferson County, was larger than that
 of any other county of Alabama.
 have heard 1t declared that the
 percentage of increase of population of
 Covington County was larger than that
 of any other county in the United
 GtaA hAe rxrnc mo rH7 nI hx,ry t.x
 of the census department, to back up
 this statement and fortify it against
 any attack of doubt, and Is therefore
 set down here with a degree of quali-
 flcation.
 Fastest Increase Here. E But the other Coyington County as- sertion, namely, that the county in- creased faster than any other Alabama County. stands for itself and needs no restriction or qualification. The cold, census figures show that the popula- ton of the county moro than doubled in the ten years between 1890 and 1900. These figures show that the per- centage of increase was more than 100.
 If any man who is the fortunate pos- sessor of one of those excellent Ala bama maps The Advertiser is now sending out should turn to its margin, | so rich in statistical information. he will find the census figures of 1890 and of 1900 as they relate to the counties of the State so carefully set down | that they may be easily compared. { If he puts his finger on Covington County he will see that in 1890 the | county had only 7.536 people and that in 1900 that population had increased | to 15.346--more than doubled, Suppose that Georgia County of Full | ton in which Is located the timid. l shrinking city of Atlanta, had been given so brave or dear a compliment | by the census people: those conserva- tive papers which have so praised Att Ianta year in and year out would have been speechIess with pleased astontsh- ment and would have used. when they recovered. page after page In explain | ing just how 1t happened.
 Fancy that the rapid growth County | of Jefferson in Alabama had moro than | doubled its population. Then consider what the papers and the people or Bir- l mingham would have--but such Q thinp
 as that Is beyond the flight of imagi- nation. ,2- . have temporarily lost her boise had so ! fine a thing come her way from tho census bureau.
 The RaiIrosd Came In- This same census was over four years aro. The railroad had just come in a oounIe of years previous. The census- takers were doing their work in the first flush of the County's rejuvenation. This growth SO remarkable has more than held it's own. For instance the same census shows Andalnsia with g.
 population of 500, which was accurate
 enough over four years ago. But to-
 Ao1 4a four timex as large as 1t was when the census was
 taken. The County itself Is claimed to
 have A population of 10000 which may
 not be far of the mark
 This wide expanse of territory, Gov
 inRton's 647,6S0 acres of land, and a population of 10000 people are to be considered together as correlated facts. Then they are to be considered Tn the light of the fact that although the soil is the fine farm land that character izes the Wiregrass, and although no County of South or Southeast Alabama is better equipped with railroads than ia Covington, fine farm lands can be bought for from $5 to SIP an acre. AS a whole I found lands in no South or Southeast Alabama County so moder- ate in price, What fine field for de- velopment. therefore. does the big County hold!
 It is pierced by two brancneS or the Central of Georgia. It is cut from end to end by the Louisville and Nashville. The land is the clay and sand so suit able for farming. so fruitful and so sure of fine crops And thousands and thousands of acres to be had for from x5 to x12 sn acre. These conditions in themselves are assurances of the truth of the claim of the Covington County people that just as the County doubled it's population in the past ten years even SO would it double its population in the next ten years.
 Wide Field for Progress. E
 The cheap lands. the railroad tactl- ities. the fertile soil the climate. which is that of South Alabama--and that is to say 1t is as fine as any climate in the world--are impressive in their pos abilities of the country's future. So wide a field Is this county for progress one fancIes that civilization could new CT become crowded So fine is the soil that one wonders why other Southeast Alabama counties are so thicI<Iy set tied, and the wonder grows that in oth- CT counties lands like those in Coving- ton sell for S20 and $25 an acre.
 A national movement of immigration is setting towards the South. The movement is too obvious. too manifest, to he unnoted. It needed not the tele- xra phic dispatch SO widely published the other day that 4S7 white immi- grants left Chicago on one train to come to one Alabama county to com vince the observing man of the exist euce of this movement. From the inc kn