The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-06-02

as a commercial man it is very remark
able that he neither met nor heard of
the presence of men who were keen on
the trail of every susceptible or COM
mercially inclined representative.
With a revenue at stake generally
believed to amount to at least 500, 000,-
well afford to be very liberal and to
have spent vast sums to secure such in
dividual action as would insure the de-
feat of bill that threatened to deprive
them of this immense revenue, and 1
was repeatedly told by parties who
claimed they could help the bill il re-
tanned that all they had to do was to
carry their wares to the other side,
which they were told to do with all
speed, and have abundant reason to
believe they did.
When first in Washington. in the
winter of 1912, Jerry Simpson, on
three separate occasions, assured me
that he would gladly do all in his
power to further the passage of the
''anti-option bill'' and raised no objec-
ton to any of it's provisions, although
he told me he had carefully examined
it. He even went so far in his efforts
in its behalf as to go with me to Presi-
dent Polk, of the Farmers Alliance
and Industrial union" with the view
of securing Mr.. Folks active aid in
pushing the matter by petition and
otherwise. After the committee on
agriculture had, on April 1. 1892, re-
ported the bill to the house Mr.. Simp-
son-so l am informed by Hon. W. ii.
Hatch-went to the chairman of the
committee on agriculture Mr.. Hatch)
and asked for time to speak in favor of
the bill and one hour was assigned him
for this purpose. and l was informed,
by a party who was in position to
know. that Mr.. Simpson had employed
a third party to prepare speech for
him in favor of the measure.
About this time, however, the ex-
changes first began to believe there
was a chance of the bill passing the
I house and began to bestir themselves
/ to secure its defeat, raised large sum
/ and sent an agent to Washington thor
oughly equipped for business. A little
/ later small number of representatives
among whom was the gentleman
/ from the Seventh Kansas-found time
/ to give the bill a more thorough exam
/ ination than they had hitherto been
able to. and looking through glasses
provided by parties who did not desire
( its passage were able to find abundant
evidence of that detestable combina-
/ ton of millers and others for the spoli-
J - a. e., 90 iah fhax- had
! for the first time. heard from this well
! equipped agent of the exchanges. and
| from having been active propagandists
: for the bill this very limited number
of the peoples representatives be-
came at first carping and doubling
/ Thomases and then elevated them
selves ontoa high moral plane and their
/ moral convictions became SO pronounced
and the immortality of the bill so evil
dent as to render them unwilling-as
Mr. Simpson expressed it to me-to
vote to license gambling. Mr.. Simpson
went so far as to tell me that he would
never: no never (''hardly ever vote
I for the bill To which | answered that
he would. as he was then looking for
the nomination at Wichita, and that If
by any contingency the house should
not act on the bill until after the
/ Wichita convention he would still find
sufficient courage to vote for it, as he
would still desire the votes of the citi-
zens of the Seventh district in Novem-
Der; and this proved to be correct
diagnosis of his ailment, as when the
bill came to a vote on June 6-conven-
ton pending-he walked up like lit
tie man and voted for it, though with
evident reluctance. / say with evident
reluctance, as l had on the preceding
day prepared and had on the
morning of June 6 sent to every known
friend of the bill by special mes
senger-that was the way money was
spent by those favoring the bill-a no.
tice that the bill would come up that
morning 1nder a suspension of the
rules and requesting their attendance
at the opening of the session in order
that the required quorum might be
had. 1 did not consider Mr.. Simpson
such a devoted friend of the measure as
to make it desirable to give him this
information, and when he appeared in
the house he was met by another Kan
sas member who informed him that the
bill was to come up and inquired how
he (Simpson) intended to vote. l was
informed that afternoon that MIR.
SIMPSONS reply was that 1T is a bad
bill and ought to vote against it, but
/ can't afford to-" OF course he couldn't
afford to, as the nominating conven
ton in the Seventh district was only
nine DAYS distant and the election but
five months away and 95 per cent. OF
the votes in the district were in favor OF
the measure.
At the time he had said to me that he
should never-no. never-vote for the
bill so long as it contained clause
licensing gambling. as he termed it, he
said that none of his constituents un
derstood the bill. nor had they the ca
pacity to investigate and understand
it. Yet bad as it was, he could and die
afford to vote for it, as could his friends
of the exchanges afford to have him
and, by the way. the first intimatior
that he had turned tail on the bill came
to me direct from one of the agents OF
the exchanges-aS both they and Mr.
Simpson knew that the bill was likely
to come back from the senate with
such amendments as would give hin
another whack at it after the nominal
ing convention had done its work, anC
they were wise enough to know thai
his voting for the bill at this stage o.
the proceedings would very likely Sc
cure his election and insure his being
on hand when his vote might be o.
greater value and when the vote of out
member might suffice to give the bill