The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-03-19
The Rantings Of Simpson.

and life
The PAINTINGS Of Simpson.
Hon. .Jere Simpson, said to be the
soekless statesman from Kansas, who
was last November elected to Congress,
has been in Washington recently, and
was invited to address public meeting
in Baltimore. He poses as the es
pecial friend Of the farmer, and was
elected by the Alliance influence. In his
speech last week, he referred TO a speech
delivered in the Senate during the clos
ing DAYS of Congress lty Hon. J. J Ingalls,
in which was said: 1--WE have become the
wealth:est nation in the world, and most
of our money has been accumulated i'll
the last fifty years. Every time the clock
ticks in this chamber the wealth of the
country Increases $4,000. And Mr..
Simpson asked: "Who produces this
wealth? Is ii not the farmer 1t is this
kind of stuff that Is misleading great
many we'll meaning and honest Gael.
who have been brought TO the belief
that from the farm is produced all the
wealth of the nation The occupation
of the agrieuliurist is honorable, useful
and Indispensable to the prosperity and
even existence Of u community. But
what is the mere owner of land without
the assistance of the inventor and me
chanic who make the machinery and
nstrnments by which the soil is titled
and its products prepared for MARKET
And what world the farmer do if there
were no other classes, engaged in diversi-
lied occupaton to purchase and con
t:lne what he produces? The mines,
the furnaces, the industrial plants and
workshops are all wealth creating puT
suits, and just as important factors in
the prosperity of the nation as the far
mers When comparison is instituted
between the wealth created from tillfnG
the sell and that created from other
channels of trade and enterprise, it will
be found that the propondarance is
largely against the farmers Yet each
is essenti al to the other, and all com
bined constitute the forces which deyel-
op country. utilize its material resour-
ces, and contribute tn the wealth and
progress of the nation.
Another false premise is that relating
to the burdens that the farmer has to
bear. The condi ions in Kansas and the
Dakotas and several of the distant
Northwestern States are assumed to be
IL, iaI,
where, and all attributed to unwhole
some laws which discriminate against
! the farmer. This is an egregious mis-
take The failure of the crops for sew
eral years in succession in those States
is the main cause of the depression and
suffering there. When the crops were
good and gathered in good condition,
we heard nothing of this refrain OF woe.
Everybody was rushing to Kansas, Ne
braska and the Dakotas as the territory to
| which to emigrate, and thousands upon
| thousands of our young men left the
older States, and especially Virginia, to
share in the unprecedented prosperity
which seemed to be a part OF the natu-
raj order OF things in those States.
There were no complaints then of op
pressive laws, Of mortgages being fore
| closed and wrongs being p0rpetrated
| upon the farmers. a succession of crop
| failures reversed this, and Yet The laws
| except those of nature-had nothing to
| do with it, What had been accumnla~
! ted in better conditions was consumed,
and then came the pinch. And all at
once a full crop of demagogues and
| cranks sprung up, to charge upon polit-
| zeal organizations AM Congress and
Legislatures the misfortunes which had
| theirsource in natural causes and nothing
else Without produce to sell. without
values to barter, necessarily there was
no money for the farmer; and then fol,
lowed a clamor for cheap money; for the
government TO stamp its fat upon 80
cents and call it a dollar; to declare a
piece of paper, with the governments
stamp on it, Il dollar, whether there
was bullion or gold and silver coin to
back it or not. And because money has
not been flooded into the hands of those
whose misfortune it was to have Moth
ing to exchange for it, q hue and cry was
raised against Congress; against the
'srobber tariff against the party in
power, because il happened to be in
power when the crops failed
OF course there are good men who
have been deceived by such stuff. and
been induced to vote for such dema
gogues as this man SIM son to represent
them in Congress. OF course Simp-
son and his kith are opposed 10 national
banks, bf cause there is something safe,
conservative and business like about
them; Lecausa they represent values
and require their values to be respected,
expect Il dollars security for a dollars
siness principles. Simpson and men
like him care nothing for this. They
want more money; they want to
gather figs.from tiiisties, to upturn ali
conservative and safe methods, and in
stitute the primary idea of financial
anarchy and chaos. in the hope that
something may turn up to supply the
DEFICIENCIES of The crops and the absence
of money, when there was nothing to
get money with.
1t is well enough that such cranks as
Simpson have been let loose at this par
ticular time, WI Ell they can do less harm
than they might be able to do under
different conditions The second sober
thought of the people will soon give
them a auietus. They cannot deceive
the massts more than once. When they
find that this government cannot be
converted into a brokers' establishment;
that it will not adjust its policies and
practices to supply money to those who
have nothing to exchange for it; and
that the law of equivalents is as ineXora-
bic in wise government as it is in ma
ture, the Simpsons will find their occu-
patton gone The farmers are conceded
to be the conservative element of the
State and country. They are generally
endowed with q large amount of com
mon sense and when they bring their
minds to close examination of a question,
they ordinarily reach conservative and
safe conclusion They will not be long
in finding out that the Simpsons are not
the kind of men to make laws for ma
ton, and that the rule to govern in pol