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415:"In these later years I have seen, with gratification, that my work in the good old Populist days was not in vain. The Progressive party has adopted our platform, clause for clause, plank by plank. Note the list of reforms which we advocated which are coming into reality. Direct election of senators is assured. Public utilities are gradually being removed from the hands of the few and placed under the control of the people who use them. Women suffrage is now almost a national issue...
358:, who did not share her political views, wrote on one occasion that "she could recite the multiplication table and set a crowd hooting and hurrahing at her will". While many considered her speeches inspirational, the fervor of her words and the vehemence of her conviction, made others hesitant to support her cause. Farmers and labor unions loved her, while the press and the major party politicians criticized her mercilessly.
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in the heart of the corn, in the kernel of the wheat, and in the luscious juices of the fruit. A small phial of this life from the fertile bosom of Mother Earth will furnish man with subsistence for days. And thus the problems of cooks and cooking will be solved'. This theory, it is suggested, remained a 'private fantasy' until 1930 when it found its way into the early
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certain sort of power, is illogical, lacks sequence and scatters like a 10-gauge gun." The
Wellington Monitor called her “a miserable character of womanhood and hideously ugly of features and foul of tongue”. A Republican editor similarly characterized her as "...the petti-coated smut-mill. Her venomous tongue is the only thing marketable about the old
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In 1893 Lease predicted that by 1993 people would be eating synthetic food. She predicted that in one hundred years' time 'Agriculture will be developed by electricity, the motive power of the future. Science will take, in condensed form from the rich loam of earth, the life force or germs now found
400:
It would seem that the first interview reflected her true feelings. By
December 1893, Lewelling attempted to have her removed from the board of charities, a position to which he originally had appointed her. Lease felt the attempt to have her removed stemmed from her determination to have women's
361:
Most went far beyond disagreeing with the content of Lease's arguments and resorted to ad hominem and misogynistic tactics, focusing their attacks on her looks, self-confidence, and her "unwomanly" argumentative behavior. One reporter described her as "untrained, and while displaying plenty of a
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474:"Wall Street owns the country. It 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... Our laws are the output of a system which clothes rascals in robes and honesty in rags..."
411:
Despite her fallout with—and the eventual destruction of—the
Populist Party, Lease felt that their work and efforts were ultimately rewarded with the election of Theodore Roosevelt and the national push for reforms that she had championed years earlier:
346:
She was said to have exhorted Kansas farmers to "raise less corn and more hell", but she later said that the admonition had been invented by reporters. Lease decided to let the quote stand anyway because she thought "it was a right good bit of advice".
369:
Despite the abuse, Lease persevered, continuing to deliver her message throughout
America. She would eventually make more than 160 speeches for the Populist cause, campaigning throughout Kansas, as well as the Far West and the South.
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owns the country. It 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
408:
By 1896, Lease had become alienated from the
Populist Party, and historian Gene Clanton cites her split with the Populist Party as being a major contributor to the Populist party's defeat in 1894.
393:
Lease was a leader of the anti-fusion faction within the party who opposed merger with the
Democratic Party. Lease began drifting away from the Populist Party after Populist Governor
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was elected into office. By
November 1893, she was reported to have openly criticized the Lewelling administration, only to deny it in an interview several days later.
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She opposed big business and stated flatly that "Wall Street owns the country." She was called "Our Queen Mary" while campaigning with the
Populists candidate
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suffrage and temperance as her main focus at the
Populist Party's next state convention. Her public outrage at the attempt to remove her prompted other
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She divorced her husband in 1902 and spent the rest of her life with one or another of her children in the East until her death in 1933.
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during his 1892 run for president, and also "Mother Lease" by her supporters, as well as, "Mary Yellin" by some of her enemies.
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Today then: America's best minds look 100 years into the future on the occasion of the 1893 World's
Columbian Exposition
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222:". In that party's 1890 campaign she made more than 160 speeches and claimed credit for the defeat of Kansas senator
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Orr, B. S. (2006–2007). Mary Elizabeth Lease: Gendered discourse and Populist Party politics in Gilded Age America,
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Lease began her speaking career in 1885 when she went on her first public speaking tour to raise money for the
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1891-1900: The rise of populism, The Wichita Eagle, Beccy Tanner, January 29, 2011, UPDATED JUNE 08, 2011
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She was recognized as being a powerful orator who was adept at expressing the discontent of the people.
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The Populist Revolt, A History of the Farmers' Alliance and the People's Party
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176:(September 11, 1850 – October 29, 1933) was an American lecturer, writer,
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Speech to the Women's Christian Temperance Union by Mary Elizabeth Lease
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At the age of 20, she moved to Kansas to teach school in Osage Mission (
322:. From there she became involved in the movement that would become the
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The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin
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She made her political debut in 1888 with the Union Labor Party or
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768:. American & World Geographic Publishing. pp. 177–178.
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The seed we sowed out in Kansas did not fall on barren ground."
291:, where she took a leading role in civic and social activities.
741:. The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1931. p. 421
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She was born to Irish immigrants Joseph P. and Mary Elizabeth
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claimed Mary Elizabeth Lease to have been the model for
670:"Mary Elizabeth Lease", Kansas State Historical Society
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In her later years, she claimed 1853 as her birth year.
303:. She also spoke at the Kansas state convention of the
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Wall Street Owns The Country by Mary Elizabeth Lease
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256:. In addition, she worked as an editor for the
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199:Clyens (an anglicization of the Gaelic name
602:Encyclopedia of Women and American Politics
558:. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
258:National Encyclopedia of American Biography
556:"Lease, Mary Elizabeth Clyens (1853–1933)"
133: 1873–1902)
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214:and soon joined the Farmers' Alliance or
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330:had made the people of America into "
230:was elected on the Populist ticket.)
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812:. New York: HarperCollins. pp.
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578:"Lease, Mary Elizabeth (1853–1933)"
528:"Mrs. Mary Lease Dies in 84th Year"
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845:Kansas Populism; ideas and men
754:(Bloomington, 1980), pp. 86–87
646:"Wall Street Owns The Country"
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