The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-02-25
Fight Soon TO end
UNDERWOOD and HOBSON EN-.
Gagged In DEATH GRAPPLE
ALABAMA MUST DECIDE

; HobSon Has Toured the State While
Underwood Has Remained at the
Helm of Democrats in the House
Friends of Both Candidates Assert
Confidence in Leaders.
The seven months fight between
Oscar W. Underwood, majority leader
of the national House Of Representa-
tives and Congressman Richmond
Pearson Hobson, for the Alabama
vacancy in the United States Senate
Is drawing to a close. The deciding
votes in campaign that has attract
ed nationwide interest will be cast at
! the Democratic primaries to be held
April 6. The actual election of a
senator will not take place until
November 4, but that will be merely
a ratification of the choice made at
the primary polls.
Mr.. Underwood has announced
from Washington that so far as per-
sonal participation was concerned,
his campaign for seat in the upper
House Of Congress already has end
ed. Representative Hobson, on the
other hand, is carrying forward the
personal campaign he has been wag-
ing for many months during which
time he has spoken in nearly every
county and town in the State.
The political adherents of the two
distinguished candidates are daily
making counterclaims Of victory.
Careful observers, however, are in
clined to await the casting of ballots
before attempting to name the sue
cessfu1 aspirant to the seat occupied
by the late Senator Joseph F. John
ston.
Mr.. Hobson, once a striking figure
in the navy and the hero of the San
tiago blockade, resigned from the SER
vice shortly after the Spanish War in
order to undertake a 'litical career.
He was quickly elect. TO the House
Of Representatives in Washington
and has served several successive
terms. His eyes long ago, however,
were fixed upon the Senate and he is
now finishing painstaking campaign
to realize that ambition.
Whatever advantage may accrue
from actual presence in the thick Of
the fight practically from beginning
to end, rests with Mr.. Hobson.
Friends of Mr.. Underwood, however,
have used the campaign activities OF
Mr.. Hobson as a basis for charges of
ha5itual absenteeism from his duties
in Washington. One of these friends,
W. H. Parker, in his capacity as a
citizen and taxpayer, recently filed a
protest against Mr.. Hobson receiving
his pay as a congressman during the
period he has been away from Wash
ington.
Mr.. Underwood spent his Christ
mas holidays in Alabama making a
covered as much ground as the lin
brief but vigorous speaking tour: He
tied period of the holiday recess per-
mitted and then announced that he
must return to his place in the House,
leaving his campaign in the hands OF
his followers.
Typical of all latter-day political
fights in the South, the Hobson-
Underwood campaign has been more
or less involved with the question OF
Statewide prohibition. Mr.. Hobson
has charged his opponent with hav-
ing been Influenced by the "liqsor in
terests". He also has charged that
corporation influence was behind the
campaign Of Mr.. Underwood for the
presidential nomination in 1912. All
of these charges have been denied by
Mr.. Underwood.
A short time ago there was pros
pect of several joint debates between
the two candidates and the State was
greatly excited over the prospect. Mr..
Hobson has issued repeated chal-
lenges from the stump, but Mr.. Un-
derwood announced that he could not
indulge in any such campaign IN
view of the demands made Upon him
in Washington.
The senatorial fight also IS inVolV-
ed more or less with the race for
governor Of the State, which likewise
will be decided at the April primaries.
There are five gubernatorial candl-
dates in the field and the campaign
has been more bitter than that wagec
by the Hobson-Underwood followers.
Former Governor Conner claims to be
making the race for governor against
the rest Of the field. 1t will be neces-
sary for the successful candidate to
obtain a majority Of the votes cast IN
the primary.
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VICTIM OF ODD ACCIDENT.