EDITOR HEARS DEBATE
Brough Gets Hodges’ Goat In
Joint Debate at Little Rock
Monday Night, Mar. 13.
Little Rock, Ark. March 14,
If the sentiment expressed at
the Brough-Hodges joint debate,
which closed at 12.05 Tuesday
morning exists over the state,
the result can be nothing short
of a landslide for Dr. C. H.
Brough.
Three thousand people packed
into the Municipal Auditorium in
spite of fears that it might not
stand the strain, and fully two
thousand remained to hear Dr.
Brough’s closing remarks, cheer
ing him repeatedly and drowning
entirely the efforts of the Hod
ges advocates to prevent Dr.
Brough being heard.
The debate widely advertised,
brought voters from all sections
of Arkansas, and all day
the feeling grew, until evening,
when special tfians brought
other advocates of the candidates
the Wynne Brough delegation
bi n ,ing a band to enliven their
prut* s ion, which marched
through the principal streets of
the city before dissolving in front
of the Brough headquarU rs The
Hodges supporters also came in
numbers, and every politician of
note in East • Arkansas attended
the conferences which were held
in his headquarters during the
day.
Rumors of how the Hodges
managers were endeavoring to
get control of the hall, refuse
room to Brough men on the
stand, and even to limit the num
ber of those attending, caused
feeling to arise to a high pitch,
and when the doors of the Audi
torium were opened at 7 o’clock,
a rush was made which soon filled
the mamoth structure. The doors
were locked in the face of fully
two thousand more people, who
hammered on the doors and de
manded admittance.
it aia not taKe tne crowd long
to show its sentiment. Mr
Hodges was generously cheered
when he appeared, especially by
the stand, where the majority of
his supporters seemed to be seat
ed. But this was not to be com
pared with the ovatation tender
ed Dr. Brough when he came in
with his managers. The Brough
supporters were determined that
the Hodges men, who termed it
a “Hodges meeting” should not
assume control, and every cheer
from the Hodges section was
rolled back with a volume which
swamped it.
Dr. Brough opened the speak
ing, being given an hour and
thirty minutes. He was liberally
applauded throughout, the candi
date was never in better spirit,
though his voice was a bit husky.
He poured his liqued fire into his
opponent, who sat upon the stage
and appeared to be interested in
what he had to say.
Mr. Hodges started his speech
with an introduction in the ren
dition of 4‘Dixie’’ by the band,
but the cheers which the old pa
triotic standby provoked, were
puny beside the cheers for the
preceeding speaker. Mr. Hodges
spoke for two hours and a half
with frequent interruptions. The
crowd gave him careful attention
until he started to mimic Dr.
Brough, and then it broke loose.
When Mr. Hodges undertook to
defend Eastern Arkansas politi
cians, there was a minature
storm, and many times thereaf
ter he had to stop while Chair
man W. S. Mitchell pounded
vainly upon the table for order.
Even Dr. Brough could not si
lence the audience, and Mr.
‘Hodges threw fat into the fire
when he called the cheering mul
titude “University students.”
There were many former students
of the University of Arkansas in
the audience, but they only took
up the cheering where others
left off.
It was because of these inter
ruptions that Chairman Mitchell
permitted Mr. Hodges to speak
at such length, and before he
completed his speech, some per
fectly fine chanticleers developed
in the audience to inform the
speaker that it was almost the
break of day. The Hodges sup
porters became hot under the col
lar because of the manner in
which their speaker was dealt
with, and they shouted back a
defiance.
At fifteen minutes to 12, Dr.
Brough was permitted to begin
his rejoinder. He went only a
short way until he was interrupt
ed by a perfect bedlam at the
back of the stage, where a num
ber of Hodges supporters had
congregated. Chairs were thum
ped upon the floor and efforts to
quiet the disturbers failed. A
state official, by appointment,
led the noisemaking, fully aided
and abetted by state Capitol em
ployes and the rank and file. Dr.
Brough made several attempts
to speak, and when it became
evident that the Hodges men,
who refused to yield to Mr.
Hodges efforts to quiet them,
had no intention of permitting
the rejoinder, a clash was narrow
ly averted between the Brough
supporters and the disturbers.
The crowd had thinned down
considerable by this time, but the
hall was. still well filled, and 99
per cent of the people on the
floor of the auditorium were
j Brough men. A rush was start
: ed for the Hodges shouters on
! the platform, but Dr. Brough
; and others stopped the leaders
and bloodshed was averted. Up
to this time the crowd had been
merely approaching the climax,
I
and had been about as orderly
| as a real large crowd can be, es
pecially with the excitement at
the pitch it was during the entire
' meeting. It heard two really
I good political speeches, for Dr.
Brough has long been consider
ed one of the states best orators
and Earle W. Hodges has im
j proved wonderfully since his
Forrest City opening speech.
Both candidates followed the
line of their usual campaign
speech, though Dr. Brough in
jected quite a bit of new argu
ment, and devoted more atten
tion to his opponent that he
would have done, or has done
heretofore, when the opponent
was not present. Mr. Hodges
stuck right to the line in his
speech, and it is an improvement
on anything shown by Jeff Davis
with some of the pert Donaghey
isms thrown in.
Dr. Brough made short work
of his rejoinder. He merely an
swered one or two points made
by his adversary, and then let
his case rest with the people,
saying the balance was not wor
thy of attention.
Both speakers kept their wits
and refused to be ruffled by the
statements of the other. This
no doubt permitted the meeting
to end without a riot, and as it
was, this is probably the iast big
joint debate that will ever be
held in Little Rock.
If the opponents of Dr. Brough
secured any satisfaction from
this meeting, it was hardly
manifest while the opening argu
ment was being made. Dr.
Brough seemed to single out
members of the St. Francis Levee
Board, and Hodges campaign
managers, to ply his bitter sar
casm upon, but after Mr.
Hodges had warmed up to his
task, they began to smile again,
but later the Brough demonstra
tion was too lasting to suit them,
for a Hodges party had been
turned into a Brough demonstra
tion, and this did not set well.
Of the audience, about half
was Pulaski county voters. There
were several hundred ladies pre
sent, and the balance were voters
from other sections of the state.
It was aparent from the stand
that there were less than 50
Hodges men seated on the main
floor, or if they were Hodges
men, they failed to assert them
selves when the applause was be
ing handed about. The overflow
was about three-fourths for Dr.
Brough, and the Brough men
were quite free to show disappro
val when Mr. Hodges made a
slighting remark about their
| champion.
Dr. Brough criticized Gov.
Hays severely, spoke of Mr.
Hodges refusal to permit his of
fice to be investigated, and ans
wered every charge that has been
made on the stump by his oppo
nent to the satisfaction of the
audience. He was cheered until
the roof seemed to bulge when
he defended his record on the
negro question, and when he
said he would not make an apol
ogy for his father’s war record
if he had to leave the race for
governor. In explaining his al
leged tax dodging, Dr. Brough
stated that he had assessed per
sonal taxes every year, and that
included his poll tax. When
Earle Hodges reached this point
in his address, he declared that
such a statement was baseless
for poll and personal taxes differ
ed. In his rejoinder Dr. Brough
sprung the state law on his oppo
nent. Mr. Hodges also declared
that if things he said were not
true that he would withdraw
from the race and either vote
for Judge Smith or go fishing.
Dr. Brough replied in the close
ing that he would not make such
an assertion before an audience
of Democrats, but that if Mr.
Hodges was nominated, he
would not only vote for him, but
would take the stump in his be
half.
vv nen ur. orougn asserted
that he believed, Judge Smith
was going to beat Mr. Hodges
out in the race, the applause was
deafoning. He also stated that
he would not have deputy gover
nors in the different counties,
naming those who are now filling
this capacity, and those who
would serve if Mr. Hodges secur
ed the nomination.
Dr. Brough called attention to
the fact that one of Mr. Hodges
campaign managers had intro
duced a bill to repeal the full
crew act, and yet Mr. Hodges
made a plea for the labor vote.
Both candidates dwelt at length
on the Confederate veteran, and
when Dr. Brough completed his
speech, a gray headed, old man,
wearing a Confederate uniform,
with a Cross of Honor on his
chest, came forward and grasped
him by the hand.
Those who listened to the two
speeches until the morning hour,
could see nothing less than a
landslide for Dr. Brough, the en
thusiasm displayed by his sup
porters from over the state be
ing taken into consideration, and
there were many there who
boosted the majority of Dr.
Brough to 50,000. Dr. Brough
was followed to his headquarters
by several hundred cheering vo
ters, and for an hour or more
they declined to leave.
It will take heroic work, as
well as miraclous work, to over
come the effects of this Brough
victory, for it can be classed as
nothing else.
R.M. Johnson arrived Saturday
from Memphis to give the beau
tiful homes of F. Lewis and Dr.G.
B. Fakes a new coat of paint.