The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-08-24
ONE OF THE CRANkS.
JERRY SIMPSON INTERESTS a WASH
tSGToa CORRESPONDENT.

He Talks Absns whss she People, Party
Has n"as ami Il Going TO Do-Hsw sA~
Farmers Are Thinking and What That
MsAas-Ssw England stirring.
Agitation Is the uricr q liberty I,
syas jerry simpson. tn. Kansas coagress-
man. who spoke. He came back from
his stamping ground last week and will
remain here till congress adj0urns next
year, save for occasional trips here and
there in behalf e his cause. His cause
Is the cause If the Peoples Party. and he
Is intensely interested in IL 4 great
many-prohably the majority Of people
call him a crank Possibly they are
right. Il has become the habit TO call
those who come - the front in aivo-
cacy Of some new theory or some res
directed theory too old for general rec
election cranEs. But il is remembered
that Chauncey Depew. in the course Of
his address on the Worlds Fair" deliv-
cred in Chicago some time ago, declared
that the world owed its progress TO men
9
and among the names be mentioned was
Columbus. But whether Jerry Simpson
can be rightly termed a crank or sane
man enthusiastically endeav oring to ben
eft the condition of his fellows is neither
here nor there. He IS sincere. No one
doubts that.
Ny. Simpson is busy man, writing
for the papers Of his party and attend
ing to an extensive correspondence with
people in all parts Of the United States
He doesn't talk rapidly. He measures
his words, and while what he saws may
not produce conviction one cannot help
feeling that Congressman Simpson be
heves what he says: that he expresses a
principle, and that he intends to fight
fort. And it is refreshing to run against
such man once in awhile-even IL he
is crank.
the necessity for agitation" he went
On, lies in the fact that we must always
keep moving. If we do not, we become
stagnant, and stagnatiOn is not in the
scheme of nature. do not believe that
the Peoples Party, when it comes into
power, will settle all ills for all time. l
have come to the conclusion that when
it is desired to accomplish big reform
in this country it is necessary to build
up new party for that purpose. When
party accomplishes the purpose for
which it was created, it cannot be de-
pended on to do anything more. 1t be-
comes very conservative. The political
trimmerS or barnacles attach them
selves to it and act almost like an an
Choir, while the issues of the day float
past it. The Republican party is dead.
My wonder is that the people in it don't
know it. know that it moves, but so
does a body when life is extinct. Step
on the head of Il snake, and its tail and
body will twist and writhe before it be-
comes quiet. The Democratic party is
not very much better"
Has the growth of the Peoples Party
satisfied your
ION the whole, yes. The Alliance,
which many confound with the Peoples
Party and which is an industrial organ
| ization, has fallen off some. But the
party is growing. The members of the
Alliance saw that for US to achieve our
ends it would be necessary for US to
| secure control of the legislatures, con
gress and the courts. We did secure
| the election of our state ticket in Kan
| sas, but we did not possess the court, and
| the court decided that we did not have
the legislature. Had we secured the
court (here he smiled) think the law
would have been found to be in ou1
| favor The members of the Alliance, as
| said, saw that we must get control OF
| the legislature, and so we took more in
| terest in the Peoples Party"
"Are the farmers satisfied with the
! progress made:'
"They are now. At first they were
not. l knew many who thought that
the reforms we wanted would be OBJ
tanned in a week or a month or at the
outside in year. Many thought that
| the middleman was the cause of the dis
tress and that with him out of the way
all would be well. But they learned
! that establishing a cooperative store
and thereby getting a pitchfork 10 cents
| cheaper than before was a long ways
from overthrowing the burdens that
have weighed the farmers down. The
great good that has been accomplished
thus far is making the farmers think
1t is the unthinking class that endangel
a republican form Of government. II
matters not whether that class be the
hoodlums of the cities or the farmers
in the country. The former are pur
chased with money; the latter were
| but are not now, led away by clever
sophists. The farmers are waking uI
| to realization of things. They are be
| ginning to think. And that means 6
great deal 1t means that they will
achieve their emancipation so soon a.
they realize their strength. Our party
is constantly growing. 1t was hard te
get it started in Pennsylvania and New
England The farmers there had beer
in the old party rank51n long they were
willing almost to sac &c everything te
their political princiuexAnd change:
in their condition do1 Come SO rapid
ly in the east as in the West. But death
| starvation and hard times have taught
them lessons, and they are beginning tt
think, too, and to join our ranks
| Washington Letter.