The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-08-08
Speaker Read and the Kansan were.

Speaker Read and the KanSan We're
on friendly terms. The Speaker could
no of course subscribe to Simpsons
political creed but admired his abili
ty to AXE care of himself in discussi-
on, and his excellent good sense on
many questions of legislation. Mr..
Simpson enjoyed a very desirable po-
position in his later years as a ember
of the House. He was the recognized
leader of the little handful of Populist
and accordingly was in control of con
siderable time on every important dis
|cussion. The advantage was that he
could always ecure time to speak,
when many other members, Demo
Gratis and Republicans could not. He
usually made fifteen or twenty speech
es a session on a very wide variety
of topics.
Once he and Speaker Reed a a
serious clash. 1t vas of a parliamen-
tary character and more interesting
to witness than to read about. Simp-
son was attempting to speak to a ques
ton normally when the subject of his
remarks were not in order. He was
called to account, and the Speaker sew
eral times in succession thun.ped vio-
|lently with gravel. At each thump
Mr.. Simpson sank into his seat, to
rise again in his inmitable manner as
Mr.. Reed dwarled out: The gentle
man must proceed in order" The
House was Occupied for half an hour
with this seesaw performance and be-
fore the close of it the Speaker show
ed considerable temper.
His Look into DingIey's Hat.
But the most humorous of all epia,
sodes in the House in which this
unique Kansan figured occurred dur
ing the Fifty-fifth Congress. Almost
from the time he came to Washington
he enjoyed participating in debate
with the late Mr.. Dingley. of Maine.
Mr.. D~ingley's two legislative special
ties were shipping and the tariff. Mr..
Simpson was very well informed on
shipping and could ebate shipping
topics readily. h two had it ham
mer and tongs frequently. At last,
one day when the House was proceed
ing in a humdrem sort of way, Col.
Pete" Hepburn. of Iowa, who is a
humorist, intimated to the Kansan
that on looking inside Mr.. Dingley's
silk hat he would probably find some
thing to his advantage.
This silk hat had been deposited.
crown down, upon one of the House
desks, as was Mr.. Dingley's custom
On coming into the House for a few
moments. Mr.. Simpson walked eau
tiously past it, peered within. saw that
it bore a London label, walked back
to his side of the House, and
ded a query to the gentleman from
Maine.
There was an object lesson against
protection, which Mr.. Simpson made
the most of. The Chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee and au-
thor of the Dingley law was wearing
a silk hat made in London. Mr.. Simp-
son wanted to know why the cham
pion Of protection and home markets
did not wear a silk tile of the Ameri-
can manufacture.
Routed the Floor Leader.
When Mr.. Dingley replied that the
hat was probably made in this coun-
try, but given the London label 20
make it sell better, the Kansan only
pounded him the harder for catering
to that false sentiment. For the first
time in his long career as a member
of the House, Mr.. Dingley was plain
ly routed. The House was in high
spirits that day. When it's Republi-
can leader angrily denounced the dis
cussion as "all rot" there was a shout
of laughter.
Unless it were Speaker Reed, no 9th
er member of the House was more
written about than this Populist mem
Der from Kansas. He was always
good natured n obliging. His fire.
guent sallies into debate enlivened
dull proceedings. He was n of the
best copy makers" in congress-, and
himself liked TO set the House by the
ears. He would even go to the ex-
of stirring up his POpulist breth-
rem at times. Their fantastic theories
of government were by no means al
ways shared by him. He frequently
found himself in accord with such con i
~servative Republicans as Uncle Joe"
Cannon, and incuIcated into his spec
ches a deal of homely but sound ohil-
about the administration of
federal government and the ex-
penditure of government moneys
Of stories have been written