Topics in Kansas History: Politics & Government

Essay on Populism

During its first 50 years of statehood, Kansas provided fertile soil for third party movements. Many parties attracted support during the 1870s and 1880s. Farmers and small business people turned to these reform groups when it appeared their interests were being ignored.

The first serious challenge to the state's dominant Republican party came in 1890 from the People's or Populist party. Nowhere did Populism attract more attention or have a greater impact than it did in Kansas.

After the Civil War, thousands of people came to Kansas to farm the prairie. Many farmers prospered and the state's agricultural economy matured.

The lure of free or cheap land was hard to resist. And, during the 1880s, farmers even settled the state's last frontier. The semi-arid High Plains of western Kansas boomed as the region experienced a few years of extraordinary rainfall.

Farming also matured during this era of technological and industrial revolution. Farmers readily adopted the latest machinery. This turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.

Mechanization improved the farmer's productivity, and allowed him to plant more acres. If conditions were favorable, it gave him more surplus for the market. This meant a greater cash income and an improved standard of living for the farm family. But, it also meant increased costs, which led to an increase in the number of farm mortgages, and a concern about interest rates and foreclosure. In addition to his banker, the commercial farmer of the late nineteenth century was dependent on the railroad, local elevator operators, and others who provided needed services.

When the boom busted in the late 1880s, farmers were more inclined than ever before to organize in an effort to deal with their problems. The Farmer's Alliance, the most important of these efforts in Kansas, was especially interested in starting cooperative elevators and stores. Although never very successful in this area, Alliance membership grew rapidly.

In 1890, the Kansas Farmers' Alliance formed the basis for the People's party. Populism became a crusade which sought political solutions for the problems of America's farmers. According to Annie Diggs, Populists flocked to mass, outdoor meetings which were usually "more like religious revivals than like unto any ever before known in the realm of politics."

Promising to take the government out of the hands of corrupt politicians and big business, Populists won a stunning victory in the fall of 1890. They gained control of the Kansas House of Representatives and elected five of their candidates to the lower house of the U. S. Congress. In addition, the Populist controlled legislature turned three-term Senator John J. Ingalls out of office. In this cartoon, Ingalls is reduced to a lowly shoeshine boy, fit only to shine the shoes of the powerful Farmer's Alliance.

Ingalls, a nationally recognized author and orator, symbolized everything the Populists hated about Kansas Republicans. The senator was one of the state's founding fathers and the designer of the state seal. But, he had little appeal with the common man and became a primary target of the farm revolt. In 1891, Populists and Democrats combined forces to elect William Alfred Peffer.

A devout party man to the end, Ingalls pledged his allegiance shortly after his defeat. "I am, as I have been from the birth of the party, a Republican. It is not a perfect political organization, but it is the best there is or has been or will be till the sheep and the goats are separated at the last day. It has had some bad men, but it is recorded that of the twelve Peter denied his master and Judas betrayed him. It has committed errors and made mistakes, but nothing human is exempt from infirmity. No other party in this or any other country, in the present or a previous age, has ever exerted influence so enormous and so beneficent upon the essential nature of government and the destiny of mankind."

Ironically, like most Populist leaders, William A. Peffer was not a farmer. After teaching school for a short time, he practiced law and then took up journalism, editing newspapers in Fredonia and Coffeyville. Later he moved to Topeka and edited the KANSAS FARMER. A Republican until 1890, Peffer holds the distinction of being the first and only Populist ever elected to the U. S. Senate.

Because of the importance of his elective office, Senator Peffer was the target of many partisan attacks during his single term. On July 24, 1891, the Wichita DAILY EAGLE reported that "Since Peffer was elected a great many people who emigrated from Kansas to Oklahoma have ceased to regret it." In 1898, two years after losing his senate seat, he ran unsuccessfuly for governor on the Prohibition ticket. He died in 1912, at the age of 81, at his home in Elk County.

Soon after moving to Neosho County, Kansas, in 1871 to teach school, Mary Elizabeth Clyens married Charles L. Lease. After a few years in Texas, the family moved back to Kansas and eventually settled in Wichita. While caring for a home and children, Mrs. Lease managed to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1889. Soon she gained a reputation for her speaking ability and support of numerous causes, particularly Populism.

By 1890, Lease had become a leading voice in the Farmer's Alliance movement and soon one of the best known Populists in the state. In a typical speech, she talked about poverty in a land of millionaires, attacked Wall Street, and assailed John J. Ingalls. The government, she exhorted one audience, "is no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master. . . . Kansas suffers from two great robbers, the Santa Fe Railroad and the loan companies. The common people are robbed to enrich their masters."

"Little Annie" had begun a career in journalism before moving to Lawrence in 1873. After writing an Alliance column for the Lawrence JOURNAL, Diggs went to work for THE ADVOCATE in 1890. This Topeka paper was considered the state's leading reform weekly. Although not as effective on the platform as Mary Lease, Diggs was a force in the Populist movement. In 1892, she became state librarian, a position she held for a decade.

Simpson, formerly a sailor on the Great Lakes, moved to a farm in Jackson County in 1878. He became involved in third party politics soon after moving to a ranch near Medicine Lodge. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress on the Greenback ticket in 1886 and the Union Labor party ticket in 1888 before winning as a Populist in 1890.

Jerry Simpson received the nickname "Sockless" during the 1890 campaign. Reportedly he informed a Medicine Lodge crowd that his opponent, Republican James "Prince Hal" Hallowell, wore silk stockings, while he wore none. Some Republicans argued that "he would render Kansas a laughing stock." A number of years later, however, William Allen White, also a partisan Republican, insisted that Simpson was not a "sockless clown." He was in fact a rather smart, self- taught man who was very widely read, and "was intelligent enough to know that, the more his silk- stocking opponents portrayed him as 'Sockless Jerry,' the quicker the dis-contented and the underprivileged citizens of Kansas would give him their vote." Interestingly, during his first term, Simpson, became "known in Washington as one of the neatest and best dressers in Congress."

The state's twelfth governor, Lewelling had lived in Kansas only five years before winning election to that high office. Prior to this time, Lewelling had worked in the Iowa reformatory system, edited the Des Moines CAPITAL and served as president of the Iowa State Normal School. Soon after moving to Kansas, he gained recognition as a reformer while lecturing extensively throughout the state. His administration was one of the most turbulent in Kansas history.

On January 9, 1893, a "great crowd of enthusiastic populists" packed Representative Hall to celebrate "the first People's party inauguration on earth." Addressing the overflow crowd, Lewelling called for acceptance of the following Populist positions: government regulation of the railroads, the adoption of the Australian ballot, mortgage and tax law reform, and fair market prices for farm products.

When the legislature convened on January 10, 1893, both the Populists and the Republicans claimed a majority in the lower house. The two parties elected their own officers and for the next month conducted separate sessions.

Tension mounted in mid-February 1893, and Populists took sole possession of Representative Hall locking themselves in and Republicans out. Early on the morning of February 15, Republican Speaker of the House George L. Douglas led an assault on the capitol and gained entry to the Hall by applying a sledge hammer to the main entrance doors. Populists left without a fight and no blood was shed, but the "Legislative War" had taken a violent turn. Tension in the state capital was high and a fighting war appeared imminent.

In order to restore order and provide protection for his fellow Populists, Governor Lewelling called up several militia companies. Late on February 15, the governor sent for Battery "A" of Wichita and instructed the men to bring their Gatling gun.

This photograph shows the battery on the capitol grounds near the state armory.

During the three-day crisis, the Republican house enlisted the support of several hundred Topekans to protect their newly won position in the state- house. R. B. Welsh, former Shawnee County attorney, was appointed chief of these sergeants-at-arms. Here they pose inside the hall for a photograph taken three days after the signing of a truce between the warring factions.

Both sides were well armed and bloodshed appeared likely for several days. Unable to rely on the militia to support the Populist position, however, Governor Lewelling negogiated with Republican Speaker of the House George Douglas. They reached an agreement on Febrary 17 which amounted to a Populist surrender.

People's party representatives agreed to conduct their business in a separate statehouse room and to allow the supreme court to decide which party had the legal majority. On Saturday, February 25, by a partisan vote of 2 to 1, the court found in favor of the Republicans. On Monday, the Populists went to Representative Hall to assume their position as minority party in the Douglas house. By this time only a few days remained in the session. Although little constructive work was accomplished, the Republican majority did accept Populist legislation providing for a secret ballot and revisions in the state's mortgage laws. They would not, however, embrace Populist proposals for railroad regulation.

This Topeka landmark was located at the southeast corner of Ninth Street and Kansas Avenue. It was a center of Republican activity for many years and served as party headquarters during the Kansas "Civil War" of 1893.

Although Kansas Populists experienced some set- backs in the 1894 election, they fought back in 1896. In April of that year, however, the twenty-eight- year-old Republican editor of the Emporia GAZETTE launched an assault on the their party. "What's the Matter With Kansas?" earned White his first national recognition and was reprinted in papers and campaign literature that circulated throughout the country. Apparently, the article had little effect on the outcome of the election in Kansas.

These marchers show their support for the People's party by carrying a triangular sign with the motto: "Silver Happiness, Gold and Perdition." The slogan emphasized the difference between Populism, which advocated the "free and unlimited coinage of silver" at a ratio of 16 ounces of silver to 1 of gold as backing for U. S. currency, and the conservative position which wanted a strict adherence to the gold standard.

William Jennings Bryan first gained national attention as the Democrat/Populist candidate for president in 1896. Although he never won the nation's highest office, he was one of the most popular orators of his day. Bryan, a native of Illinois, visited Kansas on many occasions. In 1912, when this photograph was taken, "The Great Commoner" (second from right) was in Centralia on the chautauqua circuit.

In 1892, Populists had nominated one of their own, General James B. Weaver, for the presidency. Four years later, however, the majority united with the Democrats on Bryan's silver platform. The "Boy Orator of the Platte," whose appeal with Populists hinged primarily on his call for the "free and unlimited coinage of silver," was thus nominated by both parties. Only thirty-six years old, Bryan lost to Republican William McKinley, marking the end of Populism as a national political force. This was, however, only the beginning of Bryan's political career. He ran for president again in 1900 and 1908.

In his editorial "What's the Matter With Kansas?," William Allen White labeled Frank Doster a "wild- eyed, rattle-brained fanatic." Many other long-time critics of the Marion lawyer/politician insisted he was an anarchist and a communist. In 1896, Doster was elected chief justice of the state supreme court, a position he held until 1903.

Although he did hold many socialist views, Chief Justice Doster (center) was widely respected for his legal knowledge. Even his critics found much to admire in his record on the state's high court.

United with Kansas Democrats in 1896, Populists elected their entire state ticket headed by gubernatorial candidate John W. Leedy. They also regained control of the Kansas legislature and won five congressional seats. This would, however, be their last significant state election.

Gradually, weakened by national setbacks and a return of farm prosperity, Populist strength in Kansas began to fade. The Republican party regained its political dominance in 1898.

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