New Ulm review., 1908-08-05
Cong. Hobson's Message.

4 l. 4oOSS44 AVASSkSeA&S<
In recalling the striking incidents
of the democratic convention recently
held at Denver one cannot avoid be-
ing impressed by the difference in the
reception accorded Congressman Rich
mond Pearson Hobson by the COM
mlttee on resolutions and the conven-
ton itself Mr.. Hobson had mes
sage to deliver, and in spite of jeers
and other signs of levity he delivered
it. He wanted the convention to adopt
a strong plank for a strong.navy, and
he used strong language to carry his
point.
The platform committee listened to
him ten minutes, and then concluded
that it ought to listen for ten minutes
more. When the twenty minutes were
up and the message was still jncom-
plete it gave him a third ten minutes.
Then it gave him ali the time he
wanted.
But when he went before the con-
vention the chairman had to threaten
to clear the galleries before he could
proceed. The spectators were hungry
for horse-play just then, not for a
serious message, and Mr.. Hobson was
very, very serious. War with Japan,
he asserted, is inevitable. There has
not been day in the last ten years
that Japan has not been making pre-
parations to seize our territory in the
far East, especially Pearl Harbor.
Japan is ready now to act, and is
only waiting for a good pretext. She
has added eight divisions to her army
since the Russian war. She has
$4,000 men working day and night in
her navy yards and arsenals. She
has $4,000 trained soldiers now in the
United States in various disguises,
10000 of them in clubs with rife
galleries attached. She is prepared
to conduct a two years war without
borrowing dollar. She has ordered
1925, 100000 worth of battleships since
her recent war in Manchuria. In four
days time she can embark 100000
soldiers; in four months, 400, 900; in
year, one million.
Finally, driven desperate by the
frivolous reception of these alarming
figures, MIR. Hobson launched this re-
mark:
''Not so very long ago the president
of the United States said in my pres
ence that there exists the greatest
probability of war with Japan"
1t was after this amazing indiscre-
tion that the chairman had to threaten
to clear the galleries, for the shouts
of derision lasted several minutes and
there were calls for the cowboy band
to strike up again with the tune, "I'm
Afraid to Go Home in the Dark -
''For sheer balderdash, says the
New York World, "Hobson outdid
even himself in his speech at Denver,
and the convention showed it's good
sense by guying him unmercifully."
But the New York American takes the
message as seriously as the committee
on platform took it. 'sHobson and
the men who really know the dangers
that threaten us, it says, "and who
will take no rest until they shall be
removed, are surely deserving Of more
than jeers from the politicians whom
they seek to awake to the country's
need.
To be sure, Roosevelt denies ever
having made the statement attribute
to him, either in the presence of Hob
son or any other person, but then, as
president what else could he be ex-
pected to do? In our own mind we
are satisfied that he does not look up
on the Hobson message save with the
utmost concern.
Mayor Andrews of Mankato has ap-
pointed a committee of five prominent
business men to investigate and fix, if
possible, the responsibility for the
carelessness and neglect which gave
rise to the terrible epidemic of typhoid
fever now prevalent in our neighbor-