The log cabin Democrat., 1920-10-22
FAULKNER TO GAIN A REPRESENTATIVE REAPPORTiONMEN1.L 4 ACT Census Figures Show Many Absurd Inequalities in Distribution of Leg
 islative Representation.


 sentation in the Arkansas general as sembly is made on the basis of the 1920 federal census, Faulkner county is practically certain to gain an addi- tional representative in the house of representatives, and this county may be ssigned to a new senatorial dis trict, although this is less probable.
 Reports from the state capitol say that reapportionment bill will be passed by the 1921 general assembly, It will have been exactly 30 years since the latest apportionment act was adopted and during the three decades the shifting of population, the rapid growth of som" eoraties and slow in- crease of otLc1., has brought some rather startling a6surditics in the present scheme of I-pro sntation.
 Ten counties whose D. lulation by the 1920 census is smaller than that ot Faulkner have two representatives each in the lower house while Faulk- her has but one. The population of this county is 27,6S1. The 10 smaller counties which have two representa- tives each and their population for 1920 are as follows: Clark, 25,632; Columbia, 27,670; Conway, 22,578; Crawford, 25,739; Franklin, 22,O11; Garland, 25,7S5; Independence, 23,796; Logan, 25,S86; Pope, 27,153; Yell, 25,655.
 Five other counties with larger population than Faulkner also have only one representative in the lower house. The inequality is strikingly shown in the case of Mississippi coun- ty with 47,320 population and one representative, compared with Frank lin county with 22,011, considerably less than half the number of inhabi- tants, and two representatives, thus giving each inhabitant of Franklin county theoretically over four times the voting power in the house of that possessed by each inhabitant of Mis- sissippi county. The case of Craig head county, with 37,541 population and one representative is almost as absurd. The three other counties larger than Faulkner which have but one representative are Union, 29,691; Crittenden, 29,309, and St. Francis, 28.385.
 These five counties and Faulkner are practically certain to gain repre- sentative. As the membership of the house is limited by the constitution to it's present number, 100, and as each | pO roll at least one representative, the reap portionment will take away from other counties to add to those which have grown faster. Conway, Franklin and ! Independence are almost sure to lose one of their two representatives Several other counties with two rep resentatives are so closely punched as to population, as will be noticed by the figures of the 10 counties given above, that the exact apportionment ratio would have to be set by the legisla- ture before it could be determined which of them would lose representa- tives.
 It is probable that the reapportion- ment bill will also include provisions for redistricting the senatorial dis tricts and rearranging the representa- tion in the state senate. The situation in the upper house is as unequal in some instances as those cited for the lower house. Washington county, with 35,468 population, for instance, constitutes the Fifth senatorial dis trict, and Benton county, with a pop ulation of 36, ,253, constitutes the Thir- ty-Fourth. On the other hand the Twenty Ninth district is composed of the counties of Poinsett, Jackson and Mississippi, with total population of 93,614, nearly three times that of the Fifth district. Greene, Clay and Craighead counties constitute the First district, and have a total population of 90,904 while the Thirty-F Fourth { (Benton county alone) has 36,253.
 Faulkner and White counties con- stitute the Twenty-Seventh senatorial district. Their combined population is 62,284. The population of Arkansas as whole is in round numbers 1,750,- 900. As there are 35 senators, the 1 average HunlDef or lnndDlJanIS to d senator is almost exactly 70000. Ben ton and Washington counties, with one senator each, have a combined population of 71,721, just over the average for one senator for both.
 As entire counties must be made units of each senatorial district it will be of course impossible for an apportionment to be made exactly ac- cording to population, and it is hardly probable that the district consisting of White and Faulkner counties will be disturbed, unless it becomes nee essary in the shifting about of sena- torial representation to detach one of the counties and place it in another district.