Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-22
FARMER LAWMAKERS.
Jerry Simpson and Senator Peffer
Talk About Their Plans
STRENGTH OF THE ALLIANCE.
At Least Ten Men Will Not Caucus With
Either of the Parties.
COMMON ERRORS AS TO THE LEADERS
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DrsPArcH.l

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPArCH.l
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2L-The Alliance
Convention in Indianapolis this week is
the prelude to the Alliance show at WASH
ington during this Congressional session.
The Alliance Congressman will be the rarest
birds in the whole Congressional aviary.
Everyone of them has decided individual
ity and wild ideas of financial and social
legislation rattle around in their respective
brains like peas in q well-dried bladder.
Their number is too small for them to affect
legislation save through combination, but
they will make great deal of noise, and
NAV by combination succeed in passing
some of their bills.
There is, however, deal of sense mixed
up with their crsziness; there is wisdom
here and there in the midst of their fool
ishness, and the fact that they to q certain
extent represent the farming element Of the
United States, makes them an important
feature of Congress whose chief business
will be to make capital for the coming
Presidential campaign. There are from 81
TO IS Congressman whose elections were Sc
cured by the aid of the Alliance vote, and
aBce
There are from 10 to 10 pure Alliance
men. The hope Of the Alliance element
will be to form the nucleus of an Alliance
party under a separate candidate during the
next Presidential campaign.
The Alliance Newspaper.
The Alliance mas an organ here at Wash
ington. Its name is Tbs Economist, and it is
edited snd printed in a shackly, tumble
down old building within a stones throw Of
the Capitol In the editorial sanctum are
half dozen men writing away, mailing let
ters and carrying on the literary bureau of
this party. Jerry Simpson, Senator Reffer
or some other of the Alliance Congressman,
may be at hand directing the work.
Hon. Jeremiah Simpson, of Medicine
Lodge, has been described as a rough citi-
zen, as g boor and braggart, and when 1
called upon him 1 expected to meet big,
burly, pothuse politician with some shrewd-
marks of the professional demagogue. 1
Of it. He looks more like a
business man than like a farmer and acts
more like q common sense country mer-
chant than a financial fanatic He is about
five feet eight inches tall and stands straight
in his soft shoes of French calf-skin. He
has form slender, but well-knit and wiry,
and there is an air of hard iron strength
about him. His head is not large one.
His face is well-browned and rough, cut and
It shows the lines of thought and determina-
tion. Looking at it you would say that the
man had had a fight to make in going
through life. His forehead is not high, but
It is broad and the hair which comes close
down to it is as black as the wings of the
crows which fly by the thousands along the
Potomac This black hair is well cut.
his Clothes as Good as the Average.
Whatever. his clothes NAV have been
while on the stump there are certainly good
enough here. He wore suit of blue plaid
which well-ftted his angular frame. His
coat was sack and noted that his linen
had evidently just come from the Chinese
laundry and his standing collar had black
ribbon necktie about 1t, which Mr.. Simpson
ties himself The spectacles which he wore
had gold rims and there was nothing about
his appearance to distinguish him from
the average well-to.do Congress
man. During the talk L happened
to mention the subject of socks.
The Farmers of Kansas.
81 never made speech without stockings
in my life, and never pulled up my pants
TO show what sort of stockings / wore The
story was sent out by an Anti-Alliance
newspaper correspondent to paper in my
district. 1t was made out of whole cloth
and ii was instigated 1 suppose by the
remarks that Imade concerning nv opponent
who was noted for his fine dressing and his
expensive and aristocratic airs 1 called
him 'SIlk-stocking Hal and may have said
that farmers could not afford to wear stock
ings Of that kind. You people don't under
stand the farmers of Kansas. They are not
Doors by any means"
They are the pick of the East The most
enterprising Of the young men of the country
went from New York, New England and
Ohio and he other states to Kansas and
We have the best of this element in our
party. These men were the old aboIitionists
They fought under John Brown and we
have nearly all Of that element with us.
The only farmers in Kansas with whom
such an argument would be of weight, might
be some Of the Democratic farmers who
came from the South to that State, and who
form the Democratic party to-day. They
are from the poor white trash who were sent
10 Kansas by the rich planters in order that
their votes might perpetuate slavery. They
moved to Kansas for the rewards of politics
and they are of the same character to-day as
they were then. The Democrats of Kansas
are buccaneers, and during this falls
elections see that they have to large
exSent united with the Republicans"
'fHow will the big cross of this year affect
the Alliance party, Mr.. Simpson, said L
Senator Sherman told me a few weeks ago
that the Alliance party was q Calamity
party. He said it was made by the hard
times and that the big crops of this year
would wipe it out How is that?"
Necessity OF Farmers Combining.
"John Sherman does not know the farm
ers of the United States" replied Mr.
Simpson. che looks upon them as set of
blank fools and this is the view of your
leading statesmen. The Alliance is more
like secret society or fraternity than a
political party. Its aim was to accomplish |
its ends by the efforts of its individual |
members and 1t is the combination of the |
farmers of the country for their own good. |
This is an age of combination. The rail- |
ways, the insurance interests, the bankers |
and all the trades of the United States are |
now working in combination for the re-
spective good of the classes to which they |
belong. Agricultural conditions have |
changed and the farmer finds that his class |
must combine in order to secure its rights. |
You may be surprised at the size of the |
Alliance. We have about 5000, 900 men,
bers and judge we have at least 1000, 900 |
voters. / had talk with the head of the |
colored Alliance of the United States the
OF her day. He is a white man, but he tells |
me there are 1,500, 900 members of the col |
ored Alliance. These men are in the South |
and they will vote with US. I have trav-
eled over large part of the South within |
the past few weeks, and can tell you that |
the Alliance is growing very largely |
there"
The Passing of Senator Ingalls,.
tsThe thing that knits the farmers of the |