People's voice., 1893-07-14
ONE OF THE CRANKS.
FERRY SIMPSON INTERESTS AWaSH-
INGToN CORRESPONDENT.

He Talks About What the Peoples Party
Has Done and Is Going to Do-'How the
Farmers Are Thinking and What That
.Msans-New England Stirring.
Agitation is the price of liberty" 1t
vas Jerry Simpson, the Kansas congress
man, who spoke. He came back from
bis stamping ground last week and will
remain here till congress adjourns next
yyesr, save for occasional trips here and
there in behalf of his cause. His cause
Ms the cause Of the Peoples Party, and he
ID intensely interested in it. A great
Many-probably the majority Of people
call him a crank. Possibly they are
right. 1t has become the habit to call
those who come to the front in advo-
cacy Of some new theory or some res
Hzrrected theory too old for general rec
9SAection cranks. But it is remembered
that Chauncey Depew, in the course Of
his address on the Worlds Fair" deliv.
med in Chicago some time ago, declared
;Eaat the world owed its progress to men
rwhoihsd at some time been called cranks,
and amsng the names he mentioned was
Columbus. But whether Jerry Simpson
IAN be rightly termed crank or slne
man enthusiastically endeavoring to Jan-
eft the condition of his fellows is neither
here nor there. He is sincere. No one
doubts that.
Mr.. Simpson is busy man, writing
Tor 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
ais words, and while what he says may
not produce conviction one cannot help
feeling that Congressman Simpson be-
lieves what he says; that he expresses a
principle, and that he intends to fight
forit Anditis refreshing to run against
such a man once in awhile-even if he
is a crank.
"The necessity for agitation" he went
on, "ies in the fact that we must always
keep moving. If we do not, we become
stag1ant, 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
tits desired to accomplish big reform
IN this country it is necessary to build
up a new party for that purpose. When
q party accomplishes the purpose for
which it was created, it cannot be de-
pended on to do anything more 1t be-
'oomes very conservative. The political
trimmers or barnacles attach them
selves to it and act almost like an an
aChor, 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 body when life is extinct. Step
a0n the head of q snake, and its tail and
body will twist and writhe before it be-
comes quiet. The Democratic party il
not very much better"
HAS the growth Of the Peoples Party
satisfied you"
''On the whole, yes. The Alliance,
which many confound with the Peoples
Party and which is an industrial organ
azstion, has fallen off some. But the
party is growing. The members of the
Alliance saw that for US to achieve our
ends 1t would be necessary for US to
secure control of the legislatures, con-
yress and the courts. We did secure
the election Of our state ticket in Kan
;sss, but we did not possess the court, and
the court decided that we did not have
the legislature. Had we secured the
court hers he smiled) think the law
would have been found to be in our
favor. The members of the Alliance, as
1 said, saw that we must get control of
the legislature, and so we took more in
tersst in the Peoples Party"
"Are the farmers satisfied with the
progress madef"
"They are now. At first they were
not. | knew many who thought that
The reforms we wanted would be OBJ
tained in week or month or at the
eu1tdde In year. Many thought that
&hs middleman was the cause Of the dis
tress and that with him out of the way
an would be well. But they learned
sthSt establishing cooperative store
and thereby getting 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 endanger
"a republican form Of government. 1t
Smatters not whether that class be the
h0odlums 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
ssophists. The farmers are waking up
tto a realization Of things. They are be-
ginning to think. And that means
great deal. 1t means that they will
achieve their emancipation so soon as
they realize their strength. Our party
Tis constantly growing. 1t was hard to
get it started in Pennsylvania and New
England. The farmers there had been
IN the old party ranks so long they were
willing almost to sacrifice everything to
ether political principles. And changes
in their condition do not come so rapid
ny in the east as in the west. But death.