The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-15
COLLEGE BOYS TAKE CHARGE
 OF DEBATE AT TUSCALO OOSA

is watching this sixth District campaiga with Interest w. B Bankhead is here from Huntsville and be and Tom owen os Montgomery. son-.n-la~ Of the Con gressnaan. are In the training ausrters of Bankhead. Greensooro's Hobson Club is represented by Tom Knight I'd deGraffenried ard Editor II. c Benners. Jesse ssfailires and Tom Hefta cams down last night and atail:ngs talks cI nothing but Hearst Hef!n is backing aithounh he ia not naming hi& presi- dentiaE preferences that have heard. The audience sal patiently in the thea Ire this morning awaiting the apearance of ths speakers. The college boys ed'fed the waiting throns with then uoiss. rt was io:ie o'clock when tho curtain went ups disclssns the speakers and their close friends or the stage. Chairman Moody rresides. Chairman Park S. Moody os the dis l trict committee after some labor ouieted the enthusiaszn Of the studenta and ap- peaied for epsoiuse auiet He especially cautioned tho collage boys asainst stamp ing their feet abiding to tho unsafsty os' the building. Bankhead was the first speaker and at the mention of his name the boys went wild.
 Each faction raiied the other, while dis- gusr wac m the faces of the staid Tusca- loosians who had gathered to listen to q discusston cf political issues.
 '.Rah for old Peruna" chanted the Hob son forces iin the balcony.
 Throw us Kiss. !" screamed the young friends of Bankhead in unison and the college factions began wordy var. Order restored. Chairman Moody pre- sented Bankhead to speak one hour, as tone who. has represented ths district Sd faithfully and so capably."
 The boys began song about "old iPeruna. but were cut short with yeils from the opposite faction Bankhead stood smiling until the disorder was over. Bankhead said he feif entirely at home in Tuscaloosa. adding that he had edu. cated three sons here. This caught the college boys and they. applaudeu wildly. Continuing amid frequent outbursts oi applause. Bankhead spoke of his Con
 gressionai labors for every section of the
 district.
 |. Work on the Warrior.
 These efforts. he said. had been espe-
 cially directed towards aiding Tuscaloosa
 and its environment. which was due to natural conditions close to Tuscaloosa.
 but which affected the whole State This was preliminary to speaking of Warrior
 River improvements. The work on the Warrior River. he said. was begun be- fore he went to. Congress and he took no credit for It's imitation. He dwest on the various appropriations and spoke of Major Harding, distinguished en- gineef of Tuscaioosa, who was employed to locate the look at Tuscaloosa.
 After long years of service in Congress. Mir. Bankhead said he succeeded ih being assigned to the Rivers and Harbor Com mlttee. where he. was able to serve his people Tn isss he secured large appro- priaticns for Warrior River improve tnents below ,Tusealoosa.
 To his complete surprise. the approprl- atiaug were ~nlEsnlzen Rue. fem the hsl' reached the Senate. In q conference lie succeeded iti hayafts the appropriations replaced in the bill andsf went through. During his service in Congress, seven locks have been authorised and were to be completed this year which will carry the work out into the .Tombigpee River. The system was to be, extended to Mobile. which would develop this country beyond computation.
 A Robson Opinion.
 But" said Bankhead, my distin- guished friend has declared that these locks are inadequate, insufiicient and practically worthless on account of their smallness He said in. his speeches that 1t is his one desire to put dynamite un- der these locks and blow them to pieces. that he may build some under his per- soHaI supervision" Enthusiastic ap plause.)
 The warrior locks. he continued, are of uniform size and are larger than those on the great rivers. (Applause.) They were built under the supervision of the Government engineers and the material and workmanship were better than those on other rivers. S .
 Bankhead became somewhat confused m hIs statistics. to the amusement of Hob- sons friends among the college boys, which Banhhead's friends among the boys resented. and there was counter cheering
 The Congressman declared that Hob- son could not consistently go before Con gress asking for additional. appropriation to complete the work. After declaring the locks were worthless. he said Hob- son could not ask for the money.
 From Cordova to Demopolis, he said, the banks of the Warrior would be hives of industry when Improvements were finished. And. Tuscaloosa, he said.. be- ing the chief city on the river. would reap the greatest reward
 My friend will tell you" said Bank head. that I am delaying this work to favor the railroads Why the building of these locks has already caused the railroads 10 expend millions of dollars, and has greatly improved this section" (Applausel
 ''Bankhead," and ''Bloekhead.n
 Here Bankhead told the story of the man who built q monument, applying 1t to the future and his own monument m the river Improvements. which was "Bankhead," and counter cries of ..BlocK- head" "Blockhead rom the college boys.
 Sarcastic references to Hobson's naval bill were greeted with cries of ''FIurrah for Hobson." When Bankhead spoke of Hobson's purpose to spend two billions. SIX hundred and fifty million dollars on a navy, there was much whlstling of sur prise among the college boys. One Iusty young fellow stood up and called Pass around the Peruna bottle Every ret- erence to millions of dollars was received with long. slow whistles from the school boys, the remainder of the audience re- ceiving the argument respectfully and with evident interest. .-t.......
 Carefully and forcibly Bankhead ar gned against the navy scheme, as ne has done in all of his speeches. reaching the conclusion that the proposed measure was dangerous and expensive He made the new point that 1t would require 5OO,- 0Oo men to man Hobson's great navy, and 1t was problem now to get men for the navy.
 Give us competitive examinations ANnasaE