The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-22
DAVIS HEARS
 FROM ROBSON Challenge to Debate Is Accepted. ExrERTs VISIT JASPER Congressman Deplores Injection of
 Politics. Desi-rs. Trip over si.sA District w.. srlsaaes ses Ail Farmer. ana s. Net ss stir up
 sts4se.
sY CHARLEs IA HAKoLp.

5ss st " O4AMA48 AA kxA8VA4Os tAtffl Jasper. April 2l.--tspeciai. )--An att tsntive audience welcomed again the Hobson party of agricultpral experts here this morning and afternoon.
 '. The expansive court room of Walker County was nearly filled to hear the distinkuished speakers. making a crowd but little smailer than the audience at Tuscaloosa on Tuesday.
 liticsi Nrrnsnt in Tuscaiooss. the ss- senbled cittzens of the community could not avoid associating this expe- dltion led by Congressman Hobson with the great race that seems guar anteed the present incumbent next year. On nearly every street corner. mingled with discussions of hogs and beef cattle and chickens and eggs were to be heard earnest discussions of Hobson's political strength. Has he gone back? Has (he lost his magnetic hold on the biz numbers of the Sixth Disbictfs Was his utterances on the Brownsville troops bill fatal to 'his po- lftical Interests? Will those three minutes Of explanation of his vote thereon defeat him next vear7
 Captatn Hobson does not personally want politics to mix up with this ag- ricultufal campaign. He i~ Deated to- day as he said in the beginning at Tuscaioosa. that 1t is no time to stir up politics. that the present work was planned far ahead of the. Washington occasion which gave rise to his oppo- sition so promptly in the persons of Solicitors W. B. Oliver of Tuscaloosa and W. c. Davis of Jasper. He pleaded with his hearers to dis miss politics from their minds for the present. and added with emphasis that he would come soon enough to deal with whntcver issues his opponents might wish to Inject Into the cam paign.
 Davis ana Hebson.
 With apparent cordiaIity Captain Hobson met Mir. Davis on. the public square this morning a few minutes af- ter their arrival. They held . few min- utes conversation and parted, Mir. De- wis was in the audience at the court house. He hung upon Mir. Hobson's every word. He has his Congressional records of the past few months down pat, they say. and is ready to spring much material for debate when the three-cornered battle begins.
 That there win be the debate was made known today. when Congress- man Hcbson came out with q s,A,rt iet- ter postponinE but accepting e chai- lenge to joint debate. Mir. Davis had few days back written an open let ter to the young Representative at- tacking the laktcr's circular 10 his con- stituents on the Brownsville matter. The Jasper lawyer asked many point cd questions in his chaIienge, hfnting strongly that Captain Hobson must have known that the Hrownavflle bill was payment of the eampaixn debt of the ARebubtaoan Party for the ne- gro vote of thss G60btkufa States: that he was warned by Southern Democrats against voting with the Republicans on that measure. and that the bill mak- ing 1t possible for the negro soldiers to be reinstatsd did not provide for their punishment should the guilt of any of them be proven by court mar tial. Also Mir. Davis had asked if Sem ator Pettus did not join in the com mfttee recommendation for the dismiss sal of the soldiers.
 Accepts the ChnIlenxe.
 Captain Hobson replied briefly today that he would accept in due time the challenge to joint debate with Mir. Davis and other opponents who might Announce, but said he did not consider the pfesent the proper time to indulge in k discussion of the Brownsville or afiyA other political topic or that the newspapefsl were the proper channel for carrying on the campaign
 This correspondence means that the present Incumbentiis to enter the cam paign for the fourth consecutive time and that the voters of the sixth Dis trict are assured of a big bundle of fun &f,.k @
 There was applause at intervals thrbuxhout the speeches today. and there was evidence that even in the homes Of his opponents the Merrimac hero still has a following tos be reck- oned with in spite of the perllous coh- fiict into which he plunged himself de- lf5erately. ts
 The agricultural addresses were we'll received. thoGkh the Hobson oppon- ents declare that there was not nearly the crowd to hear his party this time that met with him two years ago.