Evening star., 1936-07-21
KANSAS PRODUCED
COL0RFUL FIGURES
"SockIess Jerry" Simpson,
One of Greatest, Was
Third Party Man.
BY ALEXANDER r. GEORGE.
Associated Press Stan Writer.

Associated Press Stan Writer.
From pre-Civil War days. when it
was called bleeding Kansas" to the
current Ali Landon era, the Sunfower
State has produced more than its
quota of picturesque political figures.
But 1t took a third party uprising
In the politically turbulent Kansas
of the 90s to give the Nation one of
the most colorful Congressman OF all
time - jeremiah "Sockless Jerry"
Simpson, sage of Medicine Lodge and
campaigner extraordinary.
The agrarian Midwest was expert
encing one of those periodic electoral
revolts against "railroad-banker domi-
nation" and the interests" when
Sockless Jerry. sailor and farmer. was
carried to Congress on a wave OF
Populism which swept Western
Kansas.
Simpson had been sailor on the
Great Lakes for 20 years before TAX
ing up farming and politics at Medi-
cine Lodge, Kans. An incorrigible
non-conformist, Jerry relished argu-
ments with the preachers and be-
came known as the town atheist.
His opponent in his first congress
sional race was a fashionably dressed.
urbane orator named James Holloway.
Delivering campaign speech to
group of Kansas farmers and their
wives, Jerry said:
| Ladies and gentlemen: My op-
ponent, Prince Hal. wears fine, soft
silk socks. have no money to buy
silk hosiery. The fact is that have
no socks at all save the natural buff
that my mother gave me-"
SockleSs Jerry.
Then to prove 1t, Candidate Simp-
son elevated his pants legs and dis
played bare shanks. From then on
he was "Sockless Jerry" Although
he did not regularly eschew hosiery
he recognized the political value Of
a sockless reputation among poverty
pinched voters.
On first coming to Washington he
carried cards reading Jerry Simpson.
Medicine Lodge, elect.
the big seventh (district). N. B. No
socks On Capitol Hill, however.
Simpson wore socks
| About feet 8 inches tall, with
coal black hair, straight as an In
dams, dropping mustache and gold
boned glasses Representative Simpson
was a sartorial headliner in store
suit of broad yellow stripes on back
| ground of chestnut Sorrel.
The press reported later that he
became "acclimated" to Washington
and that there was CONSERVATION In
the short grass country when the
news was flashed to Southwest Kan
sas that their statesman was wear
ing bright red necktie, had fallen
victim to the bicycle craze and was
one of the prominent wheelmen on
Pennsylvania avenue"
Some ''city slickers" in Congress
thought at first that Farmer Simpson
would be fair game for their dialectic
talents. But after two or three dis
astrous encounters with Jerry's sting
ing repartee and whimsical ridicule,
they let him alone.
His purported uncouthness masked
q tip-of-the-tongue familiarity with
the classics, as we'll as political his
tory and economics, and an inherent
graciousness. He was powerful
campaigner, building up his arguments
in logical sequence. speaking very dis
passionately for ''rabble-rouser" and
putting his adversary in a ridiculously
untenable position.
RidicuIe Becomes Respect.
There is a story that sedate Wash
ington lady said to him:
Mr.. Simpson. would you mind
showing me whether you really wear
hosiery or not?"
! Not in the least. madam" Jerry
graciously replied. adding quickly,
land you will reciprocate, of course?'
He readily crossed oratorical swords
with the powerful Tom Reed, czar
Of the House before Joe Cannon took
over the speakership. Although lam
pooned in story and verse when he
first became a national figure, he
turned ridicule, in time, to respect
| and admiration.
Jerry served three terms in Con-
gress, covering the periods 1891 to
1895 and 1897 to 1899. Shortly before
his death in 1905 he remarked in la
menting the disintegration Of the
Populist party:
Think of me as a land agent for
a corporation and then burst out
crying"