Mary Elizabeth Lease (September 11, 1850 – October 29, 1933) was an American lecturer, writer,
Georgist
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...
, and political activist. She was an advocate of the
suffrage movement
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
as well as
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
but she was best known for her work with the
People's Party (Populists). She was born to Irish immigrants Joseph P. and Mary Elizabeth
Murray
Murray may refer to:
Businesses
* Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles
* Murrays, an Australian bus company
* Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust
* D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...
Clyens (an anglicization of the Gaelic name
Mac Giolla Chaillín), in
Ridgway, Pennsylvania
Ridgway is a borough in and the county seat of Elk County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 4,078.
History
Ridgway was founded by Philadelphian shipping merchant Jacob Ridgway and James Gillis. Jacob Ridgway earned su ...
. She made her political debut in 1888 with the Union Labor Party or
Socialist Labor Party
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
and soon joined the Farmers' Alliance or
Populist Party. She was referred to as the "People's
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...
". In that party's 1890 campaign she made more than 160 speeches and claimed credit for the defeat of Kansas senator
John Ingalls. 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
James B. Weaver during his 1892 run for president, and also "Mother Lease" by her supporters, as well as, "Mary Yellin" by some of her enemies. In 1895, she wrote ''The Problem of Civilization Solved'', and in 1896, she moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
where she edited the
democratic newspaper, ''World''. In addition, she worked as an editor for the ''National Encyclopedia of American Biography''. Lease died in
Callicoon, New York
Callicoon is a town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 3,057 at the 2010 census. The town is in the northwestern part of the county.
History
The town was formed in 1842 from the Town of Liberty. The original spell ...
.
Early life
At the age of 20, she moved to Kansas to teach school in Osage Mission (
St. Paul, Kansas), and three years later, she married Charles L. Lease, a local pharmacist. They lost their
Kingman County farm in the Panic of 1873 and moved to
Denison, Texas
Denison is a city in Grayson County, Texas, Grayson County, Texas, United States. It is south of the Texas–Oklahoma border. The population was 22,682 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Denison is part of the Texoma region and is one ...
where she studied law. The Leases and their four children later moved to
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
, where she took a leading role in civic and social activities.
Political career
Lease began her speaking career in 1885 when she went on her first public speaking tour to raise money for the
Irish National Land League
The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...
. She also spoke at the Kansas state convention of the
Union Labor Party.
By 1888, she was active within the party, stumping for the 1888 campaign and editing the party newspaper. Her work led her to the
Farmer's Alliance
The Farmers' Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement among American farmers that developed and flourished ca. 1875. The movement included several parallel but independent political organizations — the National Farmers' Alliance and ...
and
Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor (K of L), officially Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also ...
, and in 1891, she was elected leader of a local Knights assembly.
She was involved in
African American suffrage. From there she became involved in the movement that would become the
Populist Party. She believed that
big business
Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly kn ...
had made the people of America into "
wage slaves", declaring, "
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
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
monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
is the master."
["Wall Street Owns The Country"](_blank)
speech, circa 1890 Although she is widely believed to have exhorted Kansas farmers to "raise less corn and more hell", she later said that the admonition had been invented by reporters. Lease decided to let the quote stand because she thought "it was a right good bit of advice".
She was recognized as being a powerful orator who was adept at expressing the discontent of the people. ''Emporia'' editor
William Allen White
William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America.
At a 1937 ...
, 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. 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 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
harpy
In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, a harpy (plural harpies, , ; lat, harpȳia) is a half-human and half-bird personification of storm winds. They feature in Homeric poems.
Descriptions
They were generally depicted as birds with the hea ...
, and we suppose she is justified in selling it where it commends the highest price." 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.
Split with Populists
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
Lorenzo D. Lewelling
Lorenzo Dow Lewelling (December 21, 1846 – September 3, 1900) was the 12th Governor of Kansas.
He was born in Salem, Iowa. He was the son of William Lewelling, an abolitionist and Quaker minister who died soon after making an impassioned sp ...
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.
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 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
Populist parties
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
to distance themselves from her.
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.
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: "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... The seed we sowed out in Kansas did not fall on barren ground."
Later life
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.
Literary scholar
Brian Attebery
Brian Attebery (born December 1951) is an American writer and emeritus professor of English and philosophy at Idaho State University. He is known for his studies of fantasy literature, including ''The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: F ...
claimed Mary Elizabeth Lease to have been the model for
Dorothy
Dorothy may refer to:
*Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name.
Arts and entertainment
Characters
*Dorothy Gale, protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum
* Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character playe ...
in
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...
's ''
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after s ...
''.
Famous quotes
"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..."
Notes
References
Works cited
*
External links
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lease, Mary Elizabeth
1850 births
1933 deaths
Activists from Kansas
American editors
American political writers
American suffragists
American temperance activists
American women non-fiction writers
Georgists
Kansas Populists
People from Ridgway, Pennsylvania
Writers from Pennsylvania
Writers from Wichita, Kansas