University of Virginia Library

Introduction

Susette La Flesche's newspaper writings were devoted almost exclusively to the Populist political revolt of the 1890s that brought the political demands of farmers and the laboring class forcefully into the political arena. Her works represent not only the Populist response to specific government policy but also the broad lines of conflict between the agrarian West and South on the one hand and the industrial East on the other and between the small farmer and laborer and the corporations and their wealthy owners.

The Populist Party was born from an agrarian movement that culminated in party action in the late 1880s as a result of the plight of farmers in the West, who were bitter because their hard work yielded such little economic benefit. Their low economic status resulted from several causes: uncertain weather, hard work, low prices for their products, high prices for goods they bought, high interest and freight rates, foreign competition, and a decrease in farm ownership and increase in renting and sharecropping. The platform announced by the new party at Omaha in the summer of 1892 called for free, unlimited coinage of silver and gold at a ratio of sixteen to one, increase in currency, passage of a graduated income tax and reduction of state and national taxes, nationalization of railways and telephone and telegraph companies, prohibition of aliens to own land, return of unused lands granted to railroads and other corporations, and government assistance in marketing farm goods. In a political appeal to laborers, the Populists sought restrictions on immigration and an eight-hour work day for government employees. They also sought political reforms, such as single terms for president and vice president, popular election of senators, initiative and referendum for the states, and the Australian secret ballot.

Running on these principles in the election of 1892, the Populists garnered twenty-two electoral votes. Their impact was sufficient to give Democrat Grover Cleveland a victory over Republican incumbent Benjamin Harrison, though the Democrats no more favored Populist ideas than did the Republicans. But both parties realized that the Populists had become a significant party determined to be heard.

The widest divisions among the parties concerned economic policy. In general, the Republicans favored high tariffs on imported goods to protect American manufacturers and a gold standard for U.S. currency. Some Western Republicans, however, joined the Populists in calling for silver coinage. A compromise in 1890 had resulted in the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which provided for government purchase of silver bullion and issue of notes redeemable in either silver or gold. The other half of the compromise was the McKinley Bill, an act providing for high protective tariffs.

In early May of 1893, shortly after Grover Cleveland's inauguration, past economic policies resulted in a panic. Causes were numerous, but among them were increased government spending that had resulted in a deficit, increased demand on the gold reserves caused by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, demands by foreign investors and businessmen for payment in gold, and loss of market confidence with the falling gold reserves. Within a few short months, numerous banks failed and thousands of businesses closed. Cleveland sought and obtained, with the help of Eastern Republicans, repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which angered not only Populists but Western and Southern Republicans as well. Cleveland sought as well a decrease in tariffs set by the McKinley Bill, which revision was less popular with Eastern Republicans.

It was in the midst of the debates over repeal of silver purchase and tariff revision that La Flesche began covering the U.S. Senate for the American Nonconformist, a Populist newspaper published at Indianapolis. During the next year and a half she published about fifty articles, which range from straight factual reports of events in the Senate to more "interpretive" pieces in which she editorially injects her own impressions and opinions. Eight of these latter have been chosen for publication here. In them, she reflects her fierce loyalty to Populist fiscal theory and concern for the poverty ridden farmers and laborers of the country. She is highly critical of the Senate as a legislative body, questioning the character of some senators and picturing others as political dinosaurs. During 1895 she wrote for the Lincoln Independent, at Lincoln , Nebraska. The four selections reprinted from the Lincoln Independent are broader in focus, presenting a Populist view of the failures of the gold standard and the disparity in wealth among the American people. While La Flesche wrote under her translated Omaha name of Bright Eyes, these writings contain no mention of issues concerning the Indians.

Only minor editing has been done: correction of obvious typographical errors, addition of quotation marks to distinguish among sources, and annotations in the form of notes to clarify contexts, identify people and events, and define terms.