The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-04
THE HOBSONBANKIIEAD DEBATE IS
 FILLED WITH BITTER REGENERATION

was willing to do this. he said. ito drry. { crowds for my honorable opponent. v .S Taking up the statement of Cof Bankhead that he was educated by x . Goverpment. Captain Hobson snig .9 ae l statement was true, because he hs $ son the opportunity for such an edw yn in competitive examination. B ,S eigh- l teen years, he said, the boys oc A sixth District had not had opps .,Sity to stand competitive examinatio- for West Point and Annapolis. Colonel Bankhcad had said that he had made appointments to keep Republicans or negroes from passing the examination. Captain Hob son said 1t would have been easy enough to have had competition between Demo- cratic boys.
 Of Government Manufacture. eff the Government has made me, Captain Hobson exclaimed, T hope 1t will get g chance to make other boys from this district"
 At some length he discussed his ser vice in the navy and the failure of his eyes. He had been away from Alabama,
 but he had been at his duty. Colonel 1 Bankhead. he declared, was away from Washington most of the second term Of the Fifty-first Congress. He reviewed the history of the bill for his retirement due to injuries fin the line of duty | me Dlll, ne Sdlu, was lntrOuuCcu eHo Senate by Senator Gallinger, physi- i clan. and in the House by Representa- l tive Moody, neither of whom were known to him. Senator Morgan readily agreed | to push the bill, but Colonel Bankhead, l to his amazement. declined to support It. He read 6 letter from the Chairman | of the House Naval Committee who l favored the bill, saying that several members of the committee opposed 1t De- cause they understood that Hobson if re- tired would run against Bankhead. My honorable oponent was afraid or
 a precedent" declared Captain Hobson, i savageiy, but Senator Morgan was not 1 afraid of a precedent" This statement | was received with the first outburst or l applause. Captain Hobson explained l that those personal allusiors were touch | ed on to show how Colonel Bankhead 1 represented his constituents.
 | Captain Hobson said that the Sixth Dis | trict did not get its just governmental | benefits. It was denied soil surveys and l rural mail routes. These are simple, l every day bread and butter duties your | Congressman is paid to perform" said | Captain Hobson, and he has not done | his duty l Criticises Locks.
 He criticized the width of locks on the l Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers, and said
 Colonel Bankhead could not evade the | responsibility for the work on rivers Of
 his district a His official record should be 1 known to his constituents notwithstand- l ing 1t might be personal.
 1 "I declare" said Captain Hobson, that he has not improved these rivers because l of his close association with the railroads, | which do not want river navigation. l This association, he charged, was for l Rntn to Bankhead and his relatives. .,EReadinE from a statement pfepared for lfhim by the Congressional Bureau of In-
 Formation, Hohson showed the record of Colonel Bankhead Oh railroad measures. every ono of which Hobson charged, had \ been supported by the Congressman. He took up Colonel Bankhead's charge D that he was not a Democrat. T was
 born Democrat" declared Captain Hob-
 son, his deep voice rising to great height;
 "I was brought up a Democrat until
 left for the government service, and
 am going to vote the Democratic ticket
 the first chance I ger. (Cheers)
 Captain Hobson said some times a
 railroad was right and ought to be sup
 ported, but Colonel BSnkhead had voted
 with the corporations every time.
 /Continuing reading from his paper, ,RCaptain Hobson said: My honorable ops ponent criticizes my Washington speech X writer. I recommend the compiler of
 this information to my opponent. It is
 the bureau which complies information
 for both the great parties in their
 national campaigns" (Cheers.)
 \ Colonel Bankhead. he said was posing Nas. the exponent of river and harbor i'm
 pSovement, land yet" he said, ''he made
 his first inspection of the Warrior River
 in eighteen years the day after spoke at
 Tuscaloosa.
 Hobson's Navy Bill.
 Then Captain Hobson reached his naval ls';premacy scheme Here he was at home.
 and he spoke with ease and enthusiasm.
 It is amazing the interest the men and
 women of the mountain County are man. Testing in the idea of America as a
 world power. Hobson told them that the
 price of cotton was fixed by foreign coun-
 tries and was governed by wars and ru-
 mors of wars. These things could be con-
 trolled by the United States if 1t had a
 greater navy. Our country, he declared
 Is a peace-loving Christian country. The
 surest way to guarantee this peace is to
 approve of his great navy scheme. With China opened like Japan, he said, there
 would be in twenty years millions more
 of Chinese merchants to trade with us.
 The Chinese merchant, he said, was in- hnitely more desirable as a customer than the Japanese.
 "But." said Hobson. "my opponent wi'l tell you that he cares nothing about Chi ) ma or foreigners. Then I tell you he is not the kind of a representative to safe guard the interest of the Sixth District ' He discussed internal and external af. fairs including money, the tariff, labor foreign complications, resources and in ldustrfes. , 'r tell you frankly he said. q have not mastered the money question. except . the fundamental principle that there must be sufficient money to conduct the busi- ness of the country"
 He alluded to Captain Bankhed's sup port of both silver and gold. adding ''When you see a man who Is dead cock sure he knows what the right thing is he Is a dangerous man and it is time to
 get rid of him" (Cheers>. There should not be any discrimination in favor of any class of citizens, he said . This is a fundamental Democratic doe , Urine and he stood by it., Capitalists and labor unions he said must be given to understand that if they violate the laws they must and will be punished He ! specifically charged that Bankhead' being affiliated with railroads and other cor
 porations, was not equipped to fairly
 meet this question.
 Going back to his navy scheme 1t wal
 exploited at great length. He spoke o' tne duty of the government to uphold th'
 Monroe doctrine. direct the peace or tn'
 world. and perform such acts as taking
 poor little Cuba by the hand.
 America, he declared, before lont should supercede Europe in controlling the common affairs of this earth by ma val supremacy.
 Captain HObson said that bill hat