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Willa Cather and the Populists University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for Fall 1983 Willa Cather And The Populists Robert W. Cherny San Francisco State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Cherny, Robert W., "Willa Cather And The Populists" (1983). Great Plains Quarterly. 1694. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1694 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. WILLA CATHER AND THE POPULISTS ROBERT W. CHERNY Despite the wealth of critical and analytical of Reform, the 1956 winner of the Pulitzer treatments of the life and work of Willa Cather, Prize for history. Unfortunately, the definitions few have noted the relationship between her of Populism that Randall adapts from Hof­ writing and the Populist movement of the stadter were neither unique to Populist thought early 1890s. Some have specifically described nor central to Populist political rhetoric. Fur­ Cather as nonpolitical or even antipolitica1.1 thermore, Hofstadter's views on Populism have The two exceptions, John H. Randall III and not been shared by any recent student of the Evelyn J. Hinz, base their conclusions on movement. In an article published in 1972, sources other than the Populist movement in Evelyn J. Hinz also describes a relationship Nebraska. Cather's writings, nonetheless, exhi­ between Cather's work and Populism.2 Like bit clear evidence of the impact of both Popu­ Randall, she relies on Hofstadter to define lism and its ideological successor, Bryanism. Populism, even while acknowledging the sig­ Cather did not like either variant of agrarian nificance of the work of Norman Pollack, one radicalism, and she expressed her distaste both . of Hofstadter's earliest and most severe critics. explicitly and implicitly. Her essay is a rewarding exercise in Cather's John H. Randall III was the first major use of the yeoman-in-the-garden metaphor, but critic to discern extensive Populist influence in the provenance of that metaphor owes at least Cather's work. In its treatment of Populism, as much to Jefferson and Rousseau as to The Landscape and the Looking Glass (1960) Populism.3 The logical place to begin to under­ draws heavily on Richard Hofstadter's The Age stand the influence of Populist thought on Cather is not with Hofstadter but with a survey of Populism as it existed in Webster County, Nebraska, and in Lincoln, the two places where A professor of history at San Francisco State Cather lived when Populism was most promi­ University, Robert W. Cherny has written several books and articles on the Populist nent. movement, including Populism, Progressivism, Nebraska Populism emerged out of more and the Transformation of Nebraska Politics, than a decade of agitation by such groups as 1885-1915 (1981). the Farmers' Alliance, the Greenback party, 206 WILLA CATHER AND THE POPULISTS 207 and the Knights of Labor. A state party was in the breeze." On election day, Webster Coun­ formed in Nebraska in late July 1890, taking ty voted 53 percent Populist for governor, and the name Independent party and dominated gave only 35 percent to the Republican candi­ by leaders of the Farmers' Alliance. Similar date. In rural Catherton township, where organizations also formed in nearby states. The Cather had lived for a time and still the home Nebraska and Kansas parties had the greatest of her Uncle George, the Populists got 81 per­ electoral success that fall, spurring formation of cent of the vote.5 a national third party. Calling themselves the By election day, however, Cather had been People's party-or Populists-this new organi­ living in Lincoln for two months. Lincoln was zation met in Omaha in July 1892 to nominate not only the state capital and the fourth largest candidates for president and vice-president. In city west of the Missouri River, but also a city 1894, Nebraska Democrats forced themselves seething with political excitement. On Labor into a coalition with the new party when the Day, Lincoln witnessed a Populist rally that young Democratic congressman from Lincoln, attracted twenty thousand participants, pre­ William Jennings Bryan, led his party to en­ ceded by a five-mile-Iong parade of Alliance dorse a number of the candidates who had been groups and labor unions. One participant in nominated by the Populist state convention that parade later concluded, "I have lived in some time before. In 1896, the Populists re­ Lincoln most of my adult life, and I have never turned the favor when Bryan won the Demo­ seen anything that could remotely compare cratic nomination for president and the Popu­ with it, even including the Armistice Day list national convention tendered Bryan their parade of 1918 and the wild jubilation of V-J nomination as well. Thereafter, the Populist Day in 1945. ,,6 and Democratic parties in Nebraska and sur­ Throughout September and October, Lin­ rounding states became a permanent coalition coln newspapers carried lengthy accounts of until the Populist party finally withered away campaign speeches and rallies, and during in the early years of the twentieth century.4 Cather's years at the university, the attention Willa Cather graduated from high school in of Lincoln newspapers and many Lincoln resi­ June 1890 and spent most of that hot, dry dents continued to focus on Populism. In 1892, summer in Red Cloud. While she left no record the Populist national convention took place of attendance at the various political meetings just fifty miles to the north, in Omaha. De­ that summer, she would have had great diffi­ bates that fall attracted large crowds to hear culty avoiding politics entirely, for Webster candidates for governor and Congress. All County was part of a broad band of Populist three of the state's major political parties held counties stretching through central Nebraska. conventions in Lincoln in late 1893, to nomi­ By May 1890, nineteen Alliance lodges had nate candidates for that year's statewide elec­ been organized in Webster County, with a mem­ tion. In 1894, coalition between Democrats bership of some seven hundred. On 4 July, the and Populists elected Nebraska's first Populist Alliance and Knights of Labor sponsored a governor, Silas A. Holcomb. Cather remained picnic and political rally near Cowles, a short in Lincoln through the first six months of distance north of Red Cloud; three thousand Holcomb's administration, then returned to people attended, the largest gathering ever Red Cloud after graduating from the university. held in Cowles. Labor Day, 1 September, In mid-1896, Lincoln vaulted to national was marked by Independent party political prominence when William Jennings Bryan be­ rallies across the state. According to the Red came the presidential candidate of the Demo­ Cloud Chief, "farmers, laborers, mechanics, crats, Populists, and Silver Republicans. By and hundreds of others" filled the streets and then, however, Cather had moved to Pitts­ sidewalks of Red Cloud, "in countless numbers burgh.7 almost, with banners flying and mottos floating Throughout the years from 1890 to 1896, 208 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1983 when Cather was in closest contact with Popu­ 1893, she took a class in journalism from the lism, the movement maintained a focus on managing editor of the Journal, will Owen three major issues: land, money, and transpor­ J ones, and soon became a regular writer for the tation. Populists' analysis of the political econ­ paper. Cather's friendship with the Gere daugh­ omy convinced them that the misfortunes of ters meant that she was a regular guest in the the farmer were due to the concentration of Gere home.9 Because of these many relation­ economic power in the hands of a few: bankers ships, the attitude of Gere and the Journal and moneylenders, land speculators and absen­ toward Populism is important to an under­ tee landlords, grain and stock buyers, and the standing of Cather's opinions. railroads. The leading Populist newspaper of The Journal, throughout the last third of the the state described Nebraska's economy in nineteenth century, was one of the two leading 1890: Republican newspapers in Nebraska, sharing There are three great crops raised in Ne­ that distinction with the Omaha Bee. The Bee's braska. One is a crop of corn, one a crop of editor, Edward Rosewater, usually aligned freight rates, and one a crop of interest. himself with the reform or antimonopoly wing One is produced by farmers who by sweat of the GOP and sometimes bolted party candi­ and toil farm the land. The other two are dates not to his liking. By contrast, Gere and produced by men who sit in their offices the Journal were scrupulously regular in their and behind their bank counters and farm the Republicanism, accepting party candidates un­ farmers. questioningly.10 Throughout the early 1890s, Populists feared this concentration of power in when Cather regularly encountered both the the hands of those who "farmed the farmers," Journal and the opinions of C. H. Gere in his and they found such concentration dangerous own home, the Journal stood adamantly against not just to the prosperity of the farmer but the Populist movement. One of Gere's most also to opportunity and to individual rights famous characterizations of the Populists more generally. Their solution to these con­ fully matched the most hyperbolic outbursts of centrations of power was collective action: their campaign orators: "They [Populists 1 are government ownership and operation of the to Nebraska what a herd of hogs would be in railroads, a government alternative to private the parlor of a careful housekeeper, and how­ banking systems, government prohibitions ever completely they are kicked out in Novem­ against absentee landlords, and cooperative ber the filth they have scattered broadcast grain elevators and stockyards.
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