The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-19

in less than 40 minutes; and yet this road Is much inferior to miles and miles o public road recently constructed through out the wiregrass section of the state Hand in hand with road improvement oi the section is to be noted improvement il agriculture and all other phases of devel opment which go to make up progressive and prosperous counties" Professor Metallic also called speeia attention to the clay industry In Wilkin- son and Twiggs counties. The opening of the bauxite mines in Wilkinson coun- ty last summer is the first effort made to- ward the mining of this material in the southern section of the state. This land was being sold for s10 an acre before the bauxite deposits were discovered, and now it is worth s5o,0oo an acre wherever the deposit is six feet thick.
 Stories Of Major Hanson
 An interesting story is told Illustrative of two characteristics of the late Maj. J. F. Hanson president of the Central of Georiga Railway company.
 He was In many ways a man liberal of mind as we'll as of pocketbook, but he possessed a dogged determination, and whenever he made up his mind on a proposition, that 1t should be thus and so. an army couldn't change him.
  latter-day type of education. Being self educated, he felt in great measure that others should be so; that the most suc- eessful man was the man who got his ed- ucation in spite of poverty and other ob- stacles. So, while he gave to many charitable objects, he gave little or noth- ing to modern educational projects.
 One day, however. the principal of one of the north Georgia mountain schools determined to '.beard the lion in his den, ' as it were
 Major Hanson received him. heard him at first more or less impatiently, declar- ing that 1t was against his principles to give anything to institutions of this sort, and then finally, as his caller grew elo- quent over the sad condition of the mountain boys and girls and the fate that awaited them in growing up in ig- norance. the tears began to stream silent ly down his face.
 He reached for his checkbook, drew Il check for s1Oo and handing 1t to his caller. said In effect:
 q give you this," he said. You may take 1t and do what you please with it, but I will not give it to the school"
 A friend afterward asked him about the incident"
 '.Yes, I gave him the money" he re- piled, ''but I gave it to him and not to his school
 Though never a seeker after notoriety. he was friend of newspaper men, that Is, of certain newspaper men, more par ticularly the workers In the ranks.
 One whom he had known a long time got sick and In distress being in bed four or five months preceding his death. To another newspaper man Major Hanson wrote in effect:
 '.I hear my old friend, Blank, is sick and in distress. You may draw on me for s1O0 in his behalf
 Blank was then nearing his end and a few days later it was that money which went to pay his funeral expenses.
 DisparitIes in Population
 Striking disparities in the population of Georgia's senatorial districts are em- phasized by the figures of the recently completed census. In more or less degree these disparities have always existed, but with the lapse of time they have increased in remarkable ratio.
 The smallest senatorial district, the Thirty-second, has only 15,240 population. while the largest. the Thirty-fifth, has 216.5SS. In the latter case a single sena- tor represents about IA times as many people as in the former. Both of these are three county districts.
 With fl senatorial districts and a pop ulation of 2,609, 121, the average to a dis
  ent constituted 26 districts have less than 5000 and IS have more. There are only four districts close around the average with between 55,O00 and 5000 persons. Nineteen districts have less than b0,000, and 13 have more than 10000. so that s2 districts are considerably out of balance so far as population Is concerned. Seven districts have four counties and one has five; all of these eight districts have co., 900, or over, while there are eight dis tricts with only there counties which have less than 36,0o0 persons.
 The discrepancies in population are now so great that there has arisen a practical necessity for senatorial district revision, and 1t Is quite probable the legislature will take the matter up next summer, based on the present census.
 The districts may be reapportioned ac- cording to population without increasing their number, although it is certain that when the question comes up there will be an effort to increase the size of the Senate.
 It is generally conceded and has been for some time that the larger counties of the state, such as Fulton, Chatham, Rich mond and others should each be consti- tuted a senatorial district, as their pop uation is equivalent to that of three or four ordinary counties.