The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-10
PETER, THE JOKE" sENA-
 TOR, WAS A PIONEER AND A PROPHET

A few months ago the newspaper! 1 of the United States carried a briel l item to the effect that William F Peffer, former United States Senator from Kansas, had undergone an oper-
 ation for the amputat tion of his right leg above the knee, in order that his life might be prolonged until he could complete a real history of Populisrn. "
 As a senator MT Peffer was the
 butt of ribald jests and jeers, partly because of his luxurious hirsute facial adornment, partly because he was 8 Populist and advocated such theories as the initiative and referendum. the recall of judges, the imperative man. date and a National income tax. Now it would seem that Pefer was both a doctrines, with the exception Of the free coinage of silver, have become orthodox and respectable and are ad- and tProgressives.'
 William Alfred Pcffer was born in Cumberland Caunty, Pa, s1 years ago educated in the rural schools and at today, September 10th 1881, He was tender age of fifteen became a school teacher, working on his fathers farm during the summer months. upon at diana, thence to Missouri and later to Illinois. He was just a plain farmer, a, tiller of the soil, until the outbreak k of the Civil War. when he enlisted as He acted adjutant, judge advocate and quartermaster during the war, and in 1865 was mustered out with the rank of lieutenant.
 After the war Peffer settled in Clarksville, Tenn. where for a time he was engaged in the practice of law. Then he went to Kansas, where he took up journalism, and was the founder of the Coffeyville Jour nal and the Fredoniae Journal. He was a Republican in those days, serv- in 1880 was a Republican Presidential elector-s In 1881 he established the ed in the Farmers Alliance and sini- lar movements that resulted in the political organization known as the Peoples or Populist party. When the wave carried |Whiskers'' Peffer into the United States Senate and -'Sockless' Jerry Simpson into the House of Represent tatlves Peffer Q thinker and student, very earnest and very guileless, represented a new type in the Senate, where practical poli- rule. He succeeded John J. Ingalls,, orator and wit and polished man of the world, and a comparison between the two statesmen made Peffer's sim plicity all the more marked. Songress- man Jerry Simpson, famed for his alleged lack of hosiery had a double edged tongue and was able to hold his own in debate against the bright est wits of the House. but poor Peffer always serious and earnest, had no such defense against the shafts level eo III ITS o1recllon. AIler competing his term as senator. MT. Peffer was the Prohibition candidate for gover- nor of Kansas. That was in 1898, and marked his retirement from politics. Populism steadily declined, and it's more popular blanks were taken up by one or both of the established par ties. William Allen White, with his Whats the matter with Kansas ?" put the finishing touches Popu- lism in Kansas, where it had had it's stronghold. Today the Great Man from Emporia is preaching some of the Peffer roctrines, which goes to prove that, minus whiskers and plus hosiery, Populism has attained re- epectabiIity-