The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-15

national convention at St. Louis. The Hon. G. w. cochrane presided and intro- duced the speakers, the Hon. Jesse Stall lings, ex-congressman from the Second district, and the Hon. Thomas Hefiin.
 MT. Stallings took strong ground in favor of the selection of twenty-two del- egates from Alabama to the national con- vention who were loyal and sound and pure democrats-whose records were free from the charge of having bolted the par ty nominees. He insisted that the demo- crats of Tuscaloosa county should choose as delegates to the state convention only such men as would reflect the sentiment of the regular democrats of Alabama.
 MT. Hetiin after being introduced en- tered at once upon a vigorous discussion of the duty of democrats in the matter of selecting delegates to the national con- a4SS%SA~->4~S-s-~~ district democratic executive committee, acted as chairman of the meeting and in- troduced the speakers with brief remarks Scenting trouble from the college boys ne requested that they keep quiet and re- minded his hearers that they must not applaud by stamping with their feet as the building was a little shaky
  ed in a speech of one hour and Captain Hobson was allowed one hour and thirty minutes in which to answer, his opponent replying in a speech of thirty minutes.
 Bankhead Greeted With Applause.
 As the congressman rose to address the audience he was greeted with tremen- dous burst of applause which last for fully two minutes. He then began by saying that he felt entirely at home at Tuscaloosa as he had been constant visitor there for the last twenty years He said that he had educated three boys at the state university and fortunately had been able to serve Tuscaloosa county more than any county In the state. This was greeted with another burst of ap- plause.
 Colonel Bankhead then took up review of his work on the Warrior river, which he said was begun long before he enter ed congress. He told how Major Hard ing had done the first work of engineer ing for the locks and how the improve ments had continued since 1888. The con gressman said that with the passage of another rivers and harbors bill which is now being prepared, enough money would be appropriated to complete this great work and make the Warrior navigable from Cordova to Mobile. He reminded the rlsple of Tuscaloosa of the fight he made in congress to reinstate the appropriation for the Warrior which was omitted from the rivers and harbors bill by the sem ate committee. and how it was restored after a long fight between the conferees of the house and senate.
 'eWe have the greatest coal fields near tide water in the world" said Colonel Bankhead, "and when these river im- provements are completed the immense benefits to be received by this district can hardly be estimated. The United States is about to begin the work on the Panama canal and when this IS finished there will be a demand for coal that will tax the mines along this river to their utmost capacity"
 Makes Sarcastic Reference.
 Colonel Bankhead then sarcastically re- ferred to a statement made by Captain Hobson that he would like to be elected to congress so that he could take dyna- mite and blow the locks out of the water because they were too small. A humorous murmur of wonder came from the college boys which caused laughter.
 Colonel Bankhead then compared the Warrior with the Moningahela, Kanawha and Kentucky rivers, showing that the locks in the Warrior were much larger
 
 ity for transporting coal. In detail he began telling how many tons of coal could pass through the locks in a cer- tain time but got his figures tangled He haltingly tried to correct himself and the college boys attempted to help him. One would suggest "400" another "4O00 ' and still another 10000" This unsolicited assistance got the colonel worse tangled and the crowd laughed heartily. He finally got the figures strengthened, ex- plaining that 10000 tons of coal could pass through the locks in ten hours. This is in excess of the daily output of all the coal mines in the state of Alabama.
 If Captain Hobson thinks these locks worthless, can he consistently ask con- gress to grant an appropriation to con- tinue the work if he is elected?" asked the congressman. No, no. no,' said one crowd of boys, while the other said "Yes, yes, yes"
 Will Make Great City. Colonel Bankhead said if this work was completed nothing could keep Tuscaloosa from being one of the great manufactur- ing cities of the state and the south. This brought out loud cheers. which the Hob son crowd did not answer.
 The congressman then took up the crit icism made by Captain Hobson that he was affiliated with the railroads and was really trying to delay river navigation in the interest of these corporations.
 ''The building of these locks has already forced the Southern railway to build a parallel line for the purpose of carrying some of the freight said the speaker. 'The improvements on the Warrior has brought two or three millions of dollars here for investment which otherwise would not have come.
 'I have devoted the very best efforts of my life to this work" said Colonel Bank head, land when I die I want 1t to be said that the great industries which will line this great river are monument to my memory" He then told the story of Ben Butler building a house in Washing ton to his memory and compared 1t to his work on the Warrior.
 Colonel Bankhead grew very eloquent at this time and the college boys yelled "Bankhead. Bankhead." only to be an- swered by ''Hobson, Hobson,' and "toot, toot. toot."
 After this interruption Colonel Bank head jumped on Hobson's naval bill and said the naval officers system of finance had made Pierpont Morgan and the other great students of finance look like thirty cents.
 ..Talk Peruna" yelled youthful voice.
 "Tell about Hobson's kissing rep'' shouted another.
 Bankhead Pays No Attention. Colonel Bankhead paid no attention to the boys but continued his argument when they had subsided. "The naval board" he continued Says all we need is forty-five or forty-eight big war ships and that Is all we will ever need. I've have more ships now than we can man. he continued.