The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-18

MIR. Donovan's letter is MS follows;
To the Editor of The Age-Ierald,
1 should like to challenge Captain
Richmond Pearson Hobson. through the
columns of your newspaper, to debate
the question, ''Resoived, That Absence
Good Health Is Honest and Justifiable,"
he 10 taae the affirmative and The de-
bate TO be held before an audience of
the citizens of Alabama some time DUR
Ing the period that Congress Is ad-
!. journed for the Christmas holidays.
= According to reports that l have read
In The Age-Herald, Captain Hobson, as
an excuse for his continued absence from
Congress, has stated to Alabama audi
ences that l am common filthy bar
tender"
No Man Can Escape Penalty
Now would 1t not be easy for all GRIM
lfinals to escape penalty by accusing those
who spoke the truth OF them of being
common filthy bartenders?'-and am
going to assume that taking money out
Of the United States treasury without
service rendered is criminal No man is
elected to Congress to spend more than
half his time away, and no one can es-
cape the penalty by claiming that the
other fellow some time in his career has
been short in his habits. or that his
grandfather stole sheep.
What would the good people of the
great state of Alabama say II 1t has in
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aggregate salaries were not more than one
congressman. who absented themselves at
will and permitted the schools to run
themselves? Would they permit the
school teachers to remain away because
the teachers replied that the person call
ing attention to their shortcomings was
a common filthy bartender Would the
good people of Alabama say that the
teachers have an excuse that is justif-
. able? suppose the people of Alabama who
fwere litigants before courts could not
secure a trial of their cases. because the
Judges whom they paid several thousands
OF dollars per year did not care to hold
court? Would they accept an excuse from
the judge to the effect that the persons
calling attention to his delinquencies were
only common filthy bartenders?''
Criticism of Absenteeism
On September 10, 1913 long before Cap.
tain Hobsons name was ever mentioned
by me on the floor of the hall of represen-
tatives, 1 criticised absenteeism. We had
been meeting for some time with only a
few members, less than quorum pres
ent. | called attention to the fact that
one great state in the union did not have
q single member present, and that the
Empire state with 43 members to its credit
very often could not muster a corporaPs
guard. Among other things called atten-
tion to the absence of many of the lead
ers. The thought came to me that these
eaders should be present during the
preparation of the great currency meas
IRE as the tariff bill was then in confer
euce and had taken our leader, and sew
eral of the prominent members of the
ways and means committee away from
the currency deliberations. There was
some sulking done by old time members,
and CHANGED to ask the question, What
has become OF the member from the Sixth
Alabama
Example to New Members
looked over the records only to find that
Captain Hobson seldom attended ses-
sion of Congress. AS he was a four-term
man, thought it was very wrong for him
to set such an example to new members,
and SO stated.
NV mentioning of Mr.. Hobson's name in
connection with his continual absence
brought him back to Washington. He
aaid that he came back to reply to me,
and several new members who had never
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