The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-02-25
DEFENSE IS MADE
 FOR BANKHEAD Col. McCoIlum Answers Hob-
 sons Speech. CHARGES ARE UNFOUNDED Gives Glowing Tribute to the Record of the Present Congressman and
 Tears Down Hobson's
 Arguments. ii 

Jasper, February 24.-(Special)- M 1 B. McCollum of Jasper has returned from 1 Vernon. Lamar county, where, on yes terday, he replied in the interest of Con gressman Bankhead, to the speech made by Captain Hobson on Monday. l Colonel McCollum states that very large crowd of voters heard his speech, and Is very enthusiastic over MT. Bank | heads prospects in Lamar, claiming that l it will go for Bankhead by a vote of five l to one.
 Colonel McCollum states that Captain Hobson has an appointment to reply to his Vernon speech today.
 I A request was made for division of time Monday for Colonel McColium, which request was denied by Captain 1 Hobson's representative.
 l The major part of Colonel McCollum's l speech was given to Hobsons greater | navy scheme, and defense of Colonel Bankhead's record.
 Argument Is Ridiculous. 1 Colonel McCollum said that Hobson stated at Cordova that this appropriation | would not increase taxes one thousandth l of one per cent yet in ten years we would be paying right at two dollars per cap | ita. He declared that the argument of l Captain Hobson to the effect that naval supremacy would increase the price of cotton to 40 or 50 cents per pound was ridiculous and absurd He said that Hob son charges that Bankhead knows noth- ing of the army and navy, saying. He has had four years at the front, with Lee, Jackson and Johnston and many other heroes of many hard fought vic tories. and l leave it to you to answer as to the captains knowledge on these things"
 He declared that Hobson says that we must not give up the Monroe doctrine handed down to us by our forefathers, put that the Monroe doctrine of last cen tury does not mean the Monroe doctrine or the nineteenth century lie proposes to cast the old doctrine 10 the winds and spend hundreds of mill Hons for navy in order to stick our noses in the business of all the powers or the earth insted of sticking to the old doctrine which advises against foreign entanglements"
 In referring to the pass incident. Col. Mccoilum said: Which is the worse the man who was kind enough to get the pass or the man who would use 1t and then make political capital of it?" Col, McCollum declared:
 Has Procured the Money.
 There has not been a day since Bank head was put on the committee of rivers
 SOAS th1t tiS WOTk or WarrlOr rlver improvement has stopped for lack or money, and to get the money is all that a congressman has to do with it. the United States engineers under direc- tion of the war department, doing the work of locating the locks and regulating their size
 The reason the work was begun at Tuscaloosa was because during six months of the year there was navigation that high up the river and building the first locks at Tuscaloosa would quicker bring about competition with the rail- roads than beginning the work further down the river. He does not know enough about the river to know that if you have wide locks in low water there will not be enough to carry anything"
 Manuscript Is Not True.
 He argued that if Bankhead was so much in favor of the railroads, as argued by Captain Hobson. that he would never have gotten the large appropriations to open up the Warrior river, and charged that the manuscript Hobson uses in his speeches. which is stated to be Bank heads record in congress lis the work of an old drunken lawyer who lives off of fees to traduce the character and records of congressman, and there Is not word of truth in it, and Hobson knows It."
 He finished his speech with a glowing tribute to Bankheads record in war and in peace, characterizing the charges made by Hobson as utterly unrounded and un- worthy of belief