The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-19
Says O'Neal 'sMisrepre-
sented" and "Garbled."
Refers to Him as "HOn-
est IagO"
STILL INSISTS ON
SPECIAL ELECTION
Captain Says Provocation Has Been
Great, But That He Has Curbed
His Feelings as Best
He Could

TO the statement of Governor O'Neal
that on Sunday morning at 9 o'clock.
before the remains of the late Senator
Johnston had reached Birmingham, he
was encountered in the Morris hotel by
r. P. Hobson candidate for the senate,
and told that he had the right to make
an appointment, Congressman Hobson
yesterday morning issued reply saying
in effect, II didn't"
The statement of the candidate is long
and in parts vitrioic. He speaks very
highly of Judge de Graffenreid, one of
his supporters, and declares that the gov
ernor Sin his better moments has some-
times honored himself by following" his
advice. He refers to sinister interests
and by indireetion to Senator Bankhead.
His arraignment of the governor is fero-
eious He even alludes to the executive
as "FTohest Iago'
The candidate not only denies that he
informed the governor that he had the
right to appoint Senator Johnston's sue
cessor, but charges that the governor
deceived or attempted to deceive when
he quoted him. He denies practically
everything that the governor stated save
that he met the governor before the
breakfast hour, Sunday morning, ere the
corpse of Senator Johnston had reached
Birmingham, ana that he was the first
of all the candidates to interview the
chief executive. The statement in full
follows:
"The governors reply is in pleasant
vein, and is very shrewd. If he had all
along been. as fair with the people as
he has been shrewd, he would not today
be afraid TO call together his own leg
islature-the one method that everyone,
without exception, agrees would give us a
valid United States senator He does
not deny. and does not dare to- the con-
spracy I charged OF trying to prevent
the election of one of Alabamas citizens
who is highly honored everywhere
abroad, and who has never knowingly
done wrong to any Alabamian-who
certainly has a right to the seat If the
people want him.
Makes Absolute Denial
Il never made any such statement as
the governor said | did. Here are the
facts: | wired Governor O'Neal, hear
tily commencing him for his announced
intention to call a special election, thus
carrying out the plain spirit of the con-
ststutiop.i 1 next wired by. close friend,
that great progressive jurist. Judge de-
Graffenreid whose advice the governor,
in his best intervals. has sometimes hon
ored himself By taking, to uphold the
governor in his resolve to call special
election. Hearing that certain sinister
interests would try to dissuade him,
sought him out for the expressed pur-
pose Of reiteratins my approval Of his
decision, and to see II 1t was final
In my conversation with him I in
sisted from the start as he Is fair
enough to acknowledge, that the proper
plan was a special election: as to mere
arbitrary appointment, | was absolutely
opposed to it. | urged on him that It
could only be done, if at all, along with
a special election. That same afternoon
I stated that position TO the press, and
next dav amplified it for publication
anew. | believe, and so stated in said
amplification, that if a senator were TO
be so appointed 1t must be only as an
emergency: after a call for special
election at the very earliest practical
date: and then only when it was abso-
utely certain that the tariff vote would
come up before the date set for the
election; and further. that the appointee
should not even then offer to take his
seat until the very last minute before
the vote on the tariff bill--in which stu
pendous crisis, ] believe, that the DEM
would seat him In other words. the
only thing that could possible Justify
even such a momentary appointment
would be to save the tariff bill, for the
passage of which the very same people
had in effect voted in the presidential
election, who had or have since voted
for the seventeenth amendment The
senators would certainly have been at
least disposed TO try to help the gov
ernor out If they could. but have known
that he had made the slightest SEM
blance OF a sincere effort to observe the
spirit of the constitution instead of talk
ing things arbitrarily In his own hands.
In So Terrible Crisis
But | seriously doubt if they would
have admitted the appointee, even in so
terrible a crisis as the fate of the tariff
bill, If a mere arbitrary appointment had
been made without an accompanying
prior call for a special election-because
such would, on its very face, be a willful