The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-10-19
JERRY SIMPSON.
His Political Standing and Reputation at
His Own Home.

From the Barber County Herald. Dem
Believing it to be the imperative duty
OF public journalist to give its patrons
| all the knowledge that is possible so that
| they can cast their ballots correctly and
| lntelllgently, we have considered 1t ex-
| pedlent, as this is Jerry home, TO inter
est ourselves sufficiently in politics to
| interview several of the leading Demo
| Gratis of this city and county to gain an
expression of their opinions of Mr.. Simp-
son and If they were not intending to
vote for him to give their reasons for
Withholding their support. We have
! been careful to interview only those who
are recognized as being sound Democrats
and good, influential citiZens-men who
! have no personal feeling against Mr..
| Simpson and who have known him for
years. There are many other good Dem
ocrats in this county who would willing
ly corroborate these gentlemen, but we
were unable to see them all. The first
gentleman we met was DR.. l. w. Stout,
chairman of the Democratic central COM
mittee of Barber county, who, in response
to the following questions, said:
Question. Will you state your reasons
for not supporting Mr.. Simpson?
Answer. Yes, sir. His extreme I'M
reliability in politics is my principal
reason.
Q. Why do you consider him unre-
liable?
\. Four years ago he was a candidate
on the labor ticket for representative.
Two years ago he was candidate for
the same office on the labor and Demo
cratic ticket. The Democratic party
supported him in good faith; he was de-
Gated and now his warmest supporters
in this county certify that in the cam
paign two years ago he was engaged In
the gigantic enterprise OF downing
the Demo-Republican combine that ex-
listed at that time. Now if this great
apostle of reform has the brazsn etfront-
ty to claim that such a combination ex-
listed then, what could he not claim as
an excuse for any of his actions in con-
gress should he be elected? He has
always, since living here, been an office
seeker, always claiming to be a reformer,
but when an opportunity was Of
fered he was just as anx-
iOus for an office. from the
Republican party, which convinces me
that his desire to reform politics eman-
ates from his desire to draw the revenue.
His land tax theory would, if it pre-
vailed, destroy all internal improvement
in agriculture. His ideas of railroad
control. if they should prevail, would be
destructive to Republican form of gov
eminent.
We next met Mr.. J. H. McCracken,
who resides in this city and is gentle
man who enjoys the respect of every
body, is good business man and one of
the best posted men upon the tariff ques-
with whom we have conversed. To our
inquiry he said: 81 cannot vote for
Jerry for the reason that do not regard
him as qualified for the position. l do
not believe he could accomplish anything
if elected"
The next man we met was Mr.. 7. H.
Trice, a Democrat who lives in Sharon
township;his postofice address is Sharon,
Kan. He is now serving his second
term as trustee in that strong Republican
township. He said: II am a good
Democrat and have always been.
have lived within two miles of Jerry
Simpson and have known him for three
years. / cannot vote for him because he
is one of those professional Office seekers.
He would run on any ticket or with any
party to get an office. He is not a
Democrat and am under no obligation
to support him."
Our next interview was with Hon. a.
J. Jones, an able and reliable attorney of
this city, pure and straight Kentucky
Democrat and one of the able leaders of
his party. In 1886 he was elected to the
the office of county attorney over a Re-
publican by the largest majority ever
given to Democrat in Barber county.
We asked him if he was intending to
vote for Jerry Simpson. His reply was
this: 81 never voted for a Republican
in nv life. nor did l ever scratch a
Democratic ticket, but if Jerry Simp-
sons name is placed upon my ticket,
l will mark it off for several rea-
Ons, some of which l will give you.
First. Jerry is no more of a Democrat
than is Mr.. Hallowell Second. | am
opposed to paternalism in the govern
ment, which Jerry is now advocating.
Third. The Democrats of Barber county
do not owe him anything. Two years
ago we put Jerry upon our platform and
ticket for representative; we supported
him because he was our candidate: he
was defeated and has been cursing us
ever since. His ideas are rebellious and
foreign to Republican form of govern
ment. He has no respect for our Union.
He is always in sympathy with newly
organized factions and / may say fol
lower of strange gods. never critl-
Clsed Jerry for being an avowed lnf1del.
have tried at all times TO overlook his
eXtravagant remarks and statements, es-
pecially against the Democratic party
until the death of Senator b. Beck, Of
Kentucky. When heard of his sad death
mentioned it to Jerry. He remarked:
C d. them; they can't live always;
they all ought to die That settled it
with me: / viii never vote for candi-
date for congress who reJoiced in the
death of the noble and honest James b.
Beck. This was after | had helped to
get Jerry nominated on the Democratic
ticket and had spent time and money to
help elect him to the legislature, and
after l had helped him get the appoint
ment of marshal of this city
.. Mr.. Jones, did you and Mr.. Simp-
son ever have any personal difficulty:
A. No, never. We were always good
friends and are now. He employs me as
his attorney and we have been friends at
all times so far as know.
.. What effect will the action of the
Democratic convention at Pratt, in re-
fusing TO nominate candidate, have
upon our party:
A. In nv opinion it will injure US
this year and will cost the state ticket
many votes 1t has destroyed the organ
ization of the district and has injured US
TO that extent. but the most serious
injury will come upon us after the cleo
ton. II Jerry is elected the Democratic
party will be held responsible for his &C
tons and if he is defeated the Alliance
willblame our party.