The age-herald., 1900-11-08
General Wheeler and Lieutenant HobSon Arrive in the City and
 Speak At Seals Hall

sands indebted to the south for qts glory, jurisprudence, legislation and territory. This is our heritage"
 Here the general made a beautiful tribute to Lieutenant Hobson, and the. southern heroes. of the Spanish war. H described how in previous wars similar efforst had been made to go out in small boats to blow up an enemy and how that history had shown that every man engaged in them had lost his life. "It was with this knowledge" said he, that Hobson and his comrades undertook to sink the Merrimac."
 General Wheeler spoke about the Philip pines. "The first thing which greets your eye are hills of living green, then large and fertile valleys. There are no fences, and everything Is beautifully cultivated. The islands were discovered by the Span ish navigator Magda1en, who took possess sion of them in the name of Spain in 1521. The people have every grade of education and civilization. They had colleges in Manila when the Indians were in Boston. Many of the people are as cultivated as ourselves The schools are much like ours. Nearly all the people with whom I had business can read and write.
 The soil Is fertile, and they make four crops of rice year in some places. With in 100 miles the elevation is such that you find coffee, sugar, hemp and a variety of srops. They have the most valuable for ests in the world. Coal, gold copper and other minerals in aboundance. Nearly all the people are Catholics
 "The population Is increasing very fast In 1S46 it was 5000, 900, in 1876 6,200000 and is now 100000. l asked many of the lead- ing men to tell the greatest number of children in family. The invarable re- ply was IS, 19, 21, 22, the average number s. 9. 10 or Il. But their fighting qualities make a man ashamed of humanity. They will run from works that an American would hold against ten times the number" The General spoke of the advantages to accrue to Alabama and the South from the opening the Isthmian canal, of the marvellous increase in the production of cotton and iron; of the increase trade with the Pacific and urged that all through the South meetings should be held to urge its completion upon Congress.
 He concluded with a beautiful tribute to the women of the South, who, he said, were the inspiration of all that made our soldiers what they were in the war, and our men what they were in peace. At the conclusion of the Generals ad- dress there was prolonged applause, which showed the position the General holds in the hearts of the people of Alabama
 Hobson Speaks.
 Lieutenant Hobson was then introduced. Great applause greeted the hero of the Merrimac He made a short address, n part follows:
 While listening to the portrayal of the war of the Confederacy," he said, which had been so ably put by General Wheeler. and hearing of what those men have done, I feel that there should be no reference to what the younger generation of South erners have done. I feel humble and un- worthy to stand in the presence of those great men-the survivors of tht great war. By contrast with their deed the 100 days war with Spain seems like peace of sport. Too much importance is given it. It can not be mentioned in the same breath with that greater struggle, which lasted four , long, terrible years.
 T wish that our younger generation of the South could take and measure he vast ness of the obligations that are placed upon them towards the survivors of that war, with its great figures, with which the heroes of no other war can be com pared. It is hard to grasp the magnitude of that struggle We had no shipyards and no factories.
 Iron and steel are the agents of war faee and Alabama can congratulate herself in standing at the forefront in these pro- auctions"
 He spoke of how iron forgings were made during the civil war In illustration of the difficulties the Confederates labored under. Everything had to be improvised at the South; but their efforts are shown in the wonderful results they accomplished.
 "'What that war meant and will forever mean to our country is something that should be considered"
 Mir Hobson then traced the early polit- ical history of the country and the forma- ton of the constitution. He referred to undecided by the constitution. Freedom in our country, he said, must be founded on the freedom of the individual.