Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-06-29

Congressional Record of June 9th, 1921

Mr.. Simpson. Mr.. Chairman, / have been
drawn into the speech of the gentleman from
Ohio [Mr. Joseph ID. Taylorl unwillingly. He
has mentioned me personally in reading an ed
itorial from the Topeka Capital a strong par
tisan republican paper. printed in my state,
which has led the republican party to defeat
and disaster by its methods of mtsrepresenting
and slandering everybody who does not belong
to that party, In that paper am represented
as slandering and misrepresenting Kansas ON
this floor. Now. If gentlemen remember the
little discussion we had in the House short
time ago. they will remember also that took
occasion myself to defend Kansas showing
that It was great state, and, under proper
system of law and government. might rise 10
be one of the first states in the Union.
The gentleman from Ohio at that time said
that the reason the farmers of this country
were not prosperous was that they did not
work hard enough; that they were not indus
| trious enough; that the western farmers in
particular had not 'snap' enough; did not
save their earnings; were too extravacant,
ETC.; and he recommended them TO work more
| and talk less. [Laughter.I
Mr.. Joseph d. Taylor. The gentleman ought
not misrepresent me in that way. was talk
| ing then
Mr.. Simpson. Mr.. Chairman, il is evident
that the gentlemen made mistake That is
his affair, He has propably been hearing from
the rural districts in his own part OF the cOuu-
try. ILaughter.l
Mr.. Joseph d. Taylor. Look at the Record
and see what did say.
Mr.. Simpson. 1t is well known, Mr. Chair
man, TO everybody who IS familiar with the
condition of the farmers in Ohio that they are
no better OFF than the farmers in the state of
Kansas, and that they have just about rs great
reason to complain of the system OF laws IN
der which they have been living for the last
twenty-five or thirty years. They too. are in
rebellion, and 1t is just possible that the gentle
man may have heard from the rural districts
in his own state, and that that is the reason he
thinks it necessary now TO come oyer here on
the side of the farmer and to tell US that some
thing must be done for the agricultural In
terest.
have received letter from gentleman in
Kansas. living on the farm adjoining the farm
which the gentleman from OHIO told us about
the other day, and the writer says that the rea-
son why the gentleman from Ohio is possessor
of that farm in Kansas is that he was a men,
Der OF cattle company who carried on there
the business of raising cattle as well as of
farming. 1t went on for number of years,
and finally became bankrupt and this land, he
says, fell to the gentleman from Ohio as his
share, or his interest in the company. l have
here also picture which gentlemen can see
drawn on the spot, of the improvements"
on this Kansas farm of the gentleman from
Ohio. Here is a little box house with stove
pipe running out of the window. Laughter.1
Here is the remains of horse barn. four
crotches set In the earth, with poles across
and with all the hay laid off or blown away
Here is the corn orb on this Kansas farm that
the gentleman told us he was making so much
money out of, because he has got the neces-
sary industry. There are $50 bushels of corn
off seven or eight hundred acres of land.
lLaughter.1
Mr.. Brett. He is q "farmer!'
Mr.. Simpson. He is a farmer Mr. Chair
man, this 1s the class of farmers that stand I'D
In this House and undertake to tell the real
farmers OF the country what they ought to do
undertake to tell them that they have no right
70 complain, that this is the best country on
the face of the earth, that we have the best
banking system and the best tariff system, and
that IL they will only work little harder and
talk little less and practice little more econ
omy they will all be prosperous. [Laughterl
Well, sir, would take the class of farmers
that the gentleman represents, stand them in a
row here, heavy, wellfed. corpulent fellows
llaugnterl, and stand the real farmers of the
| country on the other side then blindfold the
| gentleman from Ohio and let him walk down
| the middle between the two rows and he could
pick out the bogus farmers from the genuine
| just as easily as man can pick out stan-fed
steer.
On the one side we have these fat, well-fed
| gentlemen, and on the other the old farmer
poor, with his ribs sticking out like the hoops
| of barrel. GLaughter.l While these fat fell
lows have been living on the fat of the land,
on porterhouse steak and the choicest cuts
the other poor fellows haven't had piece of
meat except the dewlap of some superannu-
| ated COW for the last ten years, yet the gentle
man from Ohio, and the class Of farmers that
he belongs to, tell the real farmers to work
little harder and talk less politics and not COM
plain and they will be all right They tell the
farmers that what they want is a protective
system. Why, great Godl haven't they had
the greatest protective tariff system in the
world in operation for the last twenty-five or
thirty years. and is not that system one of the
| important factors in bringing us to such pass
that the farmers of the country are so hope
lessly in debt that it is doubtful whether they
will ever be able to redeem their mortgaged
! homes?
Now do you want to increase the tariff? If
under this high protective tariff there have
been brought debt and disaster and death to
the agricultural and laboring classes of this
country, how are you going to beaeft them by
increasing it,
Mr.. Livingston. On the principle that the
hair Of the dog win cure his bite.
Mr.. Simpson. Then in the next breath the
gentleman tells us that what we want in this
country is more banks. Although under our
| national banking system the banks have drawn
into their golfers by their high rates of inter-
est one-third of the wealth of the country, the
gentleman wants TO increase the banks and in
crease their power of drawing money from the
people.
Mr.. Mallory. The gentleman from Ohio has
two banks, and is prosperous!
Mr.. Simpson. Yes, no doubt this is the best
country in the world for the gentleman from
Ohio. do not blame him for lauding system
that has enriched him. / understand that he
is the president of two national banks; and
agree with him that this is the very best bank
ing system ever devised by human genius-for
whom2 Why. for the national banker. DO
not blame him for Objecting to the farmers
rising up and making complaint that the laws
are not in their interest, but against them. He
is, no doubt, justified from his own personal
/ point of view in standing up for the existing
| system.
Then, again, he will tell you that what ails
| the people of this country is that they drink
| TOO much liquor-that they spend too much of
| their money for beer. whisky, etc. Why, my
| dear friend from Ohio l live in prohibition
| state, where, if we are to believe the prohibit
tioniets, there has been no liquor drunk for the
| last ten or fifteen years-a state where prohi-
bitiOn prohibits. lLaughter.l The farmers, as
class, never drink much liquor not even in
the gentleman's own state of Ohio The farm
ers are a sober and industrious class; yet in
Kansas, prohibition state, where there is
very little liquor sold at all except in a very
| few of the larger cities-that state has larger