The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-09-14

then a wag would fire good natured
arrow at the EAGLE as he passed the Office,
but it neither hurt nor was intended tc
hurt anybody. In fact, the order main
tanned was perfect.
There were five bands in the procession
which played good mus; Earlier in the
morning the banl that led the procession,
the Sedgwick Glee club, serenaded the
EAGLE. and played some excellent music.
1t would be next to impossible to de-
scribe the order of the line of march. for
carriages and lumber wagons, aud horse
men and advertising floats were ,ndwich.
ed lnsas they got chance to. take their place
IN the procession It was exactly 1928 when
the rear Of the procession arrived
at Riverside park. Marshal Slower
and his assistants are to he con-
graduated on the gereralship they
displayed in handling the procession.
AT THE GROUNDS.
The crowd at the park was large and,
it might be candidly stated. a happy one.
The city people made the day the occasion
for picnic. and they wanted, too, to in
dulge in the novelty of barbecue. The
consequence was that nearly one-fourth of
the citizens of Wichita were on the
grounds mingling with their rural fellow
mortals, ard all had happy time. The
EAGLE reporter estimated the crowd on the
grounds at nearly 6,000, which was consid-
cred ty most everyone to be about right,
but Colonel Harris, candidate for congress
man-at-Iarge on the Peoples party ticket.
who is used to estimate crowds, said that,
fc mi L.,
pie on the grounds when Jerry Simpson
spoke. which WAS undoubtedly the hour
when the greatest crowd was at the park
Mr.. Harris said that he learned to esti-
mate crowds when he was in military
school and afterwards when he was in the
army. He thought that the crowd
was nearly if not quite 1000.
Nicholas Bird, one of the prominent
populists Of the city said, when Mr.. Simp-
son was speaking. that the crowd that was
listening to the speech numbered $500. If
Mr.. Bird was correct the whole number on
the ground did not exceed 5000. It must
be remembered that 1000 people make an
immense crowd. The crowd in She wig
wan at Chicago numbered 400, and
everybody who saw that crowd could
hardly estimate the crowd yesterday at
more than one fourth of its size. Tom
Cartwright. Councilman Kenyon and
many other intelligent Populists who
were present thought that between 5000
and 1000 would be a very fair and at the
same time liberal estimate. The farm
ers' spreads" were interesting for town
man to look at. 1t demonstrated that the
farmers of this county are not half starved
and that they are long, long
distance from the verge of ma
terial ruin. The speakers of the
son, Colonel Harris and some small fry.
Mr.. dwellings, speech was short and of
no political interest. Jerry Simpson made
Il very poor effort and created no enthusi-
asm whatever. Jerry was evidently a
very sick man. He looked bad, his voice
was coarser and harSher than usual and
he told hone of those stories he has here
tofore been so successful with in catching
the crowd. The fact is, since Jerry be-
came climated to the society of
statesmen he has divorced him
self from those simple methods he used
to adopt with such signal success. He
=
of statesmen and the result is he spoils
his originality completely. Then again
lie seems to harbor an idea that his repu-
tation will carry him through and he
makes no effort. John l.. Sullivan thought
the same thing and it cost him his pugil-
istic crown. Jerry made, probably, the
poorest speech he has ever made since he
entered politics in Barber county. He
made many statements which everybody
knew to be absurd. For instance, in speak
ing about money, he said paper
money was the proper currency; that
as long as the government lasted
it was all right and that when the gov
failed no money was OF any value
Every body in the crowd knew that all the
governments on earth might fail and that
the gold and silver dollar would still re-
tain their intrinsic value. He made
another statement about a certain church
" hich was injudicious in him, to say the
east. He said in substance, that in the
early days the church had power over all
,hs governments, and that while it robbed
he governments, the governments robbed
he people, leaving the latter in n terrible
condition. If Jerry lived in New York
or in any district where there might be N
arge Catholic vote it would have cost him
ais seat in congress. He also attacked the
navy and in doing SO showed his lack of
lepth. He spoke abou. a certain vessel
hat cost the government 5000 600. Car
,egei he said, furnished the plates for
his vessel and made IA clear profit on the
of So, 000, 900. Admitting that Car
legies profit was 100 per cent. the plates
# the vessel alone would cost 100000
moro than the entire price of it.
lie said that while there was
evenly cents back of the silver
Iollar there was only twenty cents back
# the gold dollar. This was statement
hat every body cheered aud that nobody
He ridlculed the G. A. K en-
held here recently and said it
vas nothing more nor less than political
Meeting 1t would require column TO
ven briefly state all the absurd state
nents he made in his speech. His best
riends were surprised at him.
Mr.. Harris made very nice speech
om pared with Jerry's. He was not so
errlbly radical in his style nor so careless
bout his statements. 1t was easy to see
hat he was not Populist in
he strict sense of the word al.
hough on that ticket. He did not
Jaw the air, cali every body thieves and
obbers. or insist that the world had gone
o the dogs like Lewelling and Jerry. OF
curse there was nothing whatever prsc-
ical in his ideas, but they were deceutly
expressed and the language he employed
vas not only correct, but snloothe and re-
med, The subject he dvelt on most was
he naturalization of the railways. etc.
lie made much better impression than
erry.