The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-26

In his report of the taking Of the
Merrimac into Santiago channel Admiral
SAMPSON said: II venture to say that a
brave and daring thing has not
been done since CUSHING blew up the
Albemarle.' Captain HoBsoN's feat will
remain historic, whatever people may
think of his eocentricities as a naval
officer afterward, and whatever may be
the fortunes Of his new departure as q
politician. There is something theatrical
about his defeat Of Representative JOHN
H. BANKHEAD at the primaries in the
Sixth Alabama district. He has had his
revenge, but was the game worth the
candle? The young mans career In
Congress will be the answer.
Captain HoBsoN always charged that
Mr.. BANKHEAD prevented a favorable
report by the House Naval Committee
on the bill to transfer him to the retired
list Of the navy "as for disability incurred
in the line Of duty" The Navy Depart
ment approved Of 1t, and in a special
message the President spoke of it al a
Suitable measure" for the relief OF
Captain HoBsoN. Four Republicans
voted to report the bill favorably, and
two Republicans and three Southern
Democrats were recorded in the mega
tive, Representative BANKHEAD has de-
MED approaching any member Of the
Naval Committee. Subsequently Cap
tain HoBsoN resigned from the navy
and became q candidate for Congress in
B~ANKHEAD's district, although he had
never cast a vote there or paid his poll
tax. The ladies smothered their hero
with flowers, but the nomination went
to BANKHEAD. In a second campaign,
which closed on Monday, Captain HOB
SONS success was indicated by the en-
thusiasm he stirred UP in a tour Of the
district. The flowers were in evidence
again, and women and children flocked
to his meetings. But that was not all:
there were complaints that BANKHEAD
had neglected the post offices, and
limitations that a term Of twenty years
in Washington was long enough for any
statesman. General WHEELER had to
scratch hard to keep in Congress, and
the General was a man who appealed to
the imagination.
1t is because Captain HoBsoN could
also make that appeal, and Mr.. BANK
HEAD could not, that the Sixth district
will be represented in the Sixtieth Con-
gress by an ex-hero with no training
for legislative work but with an alb
normal bump of self-esteem. We don't
know which to admire more, Captain
HoBsoN's persistence in getting even"
with the Hon. JOHN H. B~ANKHEAD, or
the hardihood of+the voters of the Sixth
district in selecting the Captain to rep
resent them at Washington.
In the navy RICHMOND P. HoBsoN
was regarded as an odd fish, and he lost
caste by getting out on the plea of physi-
cal disability after a board of examina-
ton had pronounced him fit for duty.
The navy in time Of peace was not at
tractive to him; he had written a book,
he had lectured, and he was a public
character; politics also called him.
When we think of his ebullitions on the
stump we tremble for his future. 1t
was bad-form to attack President RoosE-
WELT as he did; and it was callow to tell
the Kansans that his mission was ito
educate the people Of this country to
realize that they are the greatest people
in the world" Captain HoBsoN will
enter Congress as a rampant naval
expansionist compared with whom all
other e~xpansionists are conservative.
The Captain will have the greatest navy
in the world by 1915, or know the reason
why. Opposition he will not brook, and
IL Congress refuses to listen to him he
will lecture.
It is to be feared that Representative
HoBsoN will be hazed a bit when he gets
to Washington.