28. attend a Chautauqua

An Evening with Mary Elizabeth Lease

Tonight we went to a rally for the Populist Party in 1890. The energizing speaker was Mary Elizabeth Lease.


We threw our change on the stage when she said "It's time for a change! Change!" We jeered the Democrats and Republicans--those bloodsuckers. We chanted the populist rallying cry, "Equal justice for all! Special privileges for none!"

Lease spoke extemporaneously but was careful to check her papers for statistics and quotes--so she couldn't be criticized for getting them wrong. She worried about the farmer who only gets 6 cents for corn that sells for 50 cents in Chicago--and for the starving children in Chicago whose families can't afford that. She complained that distillers can borrow money at 2% interest, but farmers must pay 10%. She protested that the masses pay three quarters of the taxes while owning only one quarter of the wealth.

During the question period, when Glenna J. Wallace took off Mary Lease's hat and answered questions as a scholar, we learned that 1890 was the most successful year for the Populist Party, particularly in Kansas. Although, they never gained the presidency or a large number of seats in congress, the Populist Party pushed issues that eventually did make their way into law:

• women's suffrage


• graduated income tax


• usury laws


• direct election of senators


• rural free mail delivery