populism- the problem of rhetoric and reality

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Commentary: Populism: The Problem of Rhetoric and RealityAuthor(s): J. Rogers HollingsworthReviewed work(s):Source: Agricultural History, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr., 1965), pp. 81-85Published by: Agricultural History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3740606.

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Astheprecedingapersocuson theshort-comings f recent tudies f Populism, er-hapsthis issueof SgriculturalHistory willbe significantn markingheendof an era,a newdepartureorthe studyof Populism.Indeed,Mr.Pollack'sssay learly ointsuptheurgencyor raisingnewquestionsboutthe Populists.His papersuggestshattherecent iteratures threateningo turnourattentionroma studyof Populismoa con-centrationn the psyche f recenthistorians.And I for one am doubtfulf charges nddenials hat certainhistoriansufferfromauthoritarianersonalitiesill add to ourunderstandingf eitherAmericanistory rthe historicalrofession.I regret hatI cannotdisagreewithPro-fessorHandlin's ontentionhat we havemade ittleadvancementowardunderstand-ing the Populistsduringthe last decade.True,severalusefulmonographsave re-centlyemerged.1But basically, istoriansknowvery littlemoreabout he Populiststoday han heyknewfollowinghe publica-tionof C.VannWoodward'somWatson:Algrarianebel n 1938.Indeed,t is mostdiscouraginghatso muchenergyhas beeninvestedn the studyof a subjectwith solittlereturn.Butwhyhavewe made o littleprogress?ThoughProfessorsollack ndHandlin ug-gestthatmostwriters aveapproachedheirsubjectwith pre-conceiveddeas,I suspectthattheproblemnvolvesarmore han hemental utlook f thehistoriansfPopulism.Perhapsmuchof thedifficultyasresultedfromthe methodhistoriansaveemployed.J. ROGERSOLLINGSWORTHs Sssociste Pro-fessorof History at the Universityof Wis-consin,Madison. This commentarywas pre-sentedin a sessionon the Populistsat theSouthern Historical AMssociationt LittleRoct andis printedSerewithminorchanges.Hollingsworth s the authorof TheWhirli-gigof Politics;The Democracyf ClevelandandBryanChicago,I963).

CommentaryPopulism: heProblemfRhetoricndReality

J. ROGERSOLLINGSWORTHMostof thewritingmaybe describeditherbroadly r narrowly s intellectualistory,and no doubtthis is wheremuchof thetroubleies. Of course,mostof us, at leastin some ense, re ntellectualistorians.)b-viously, o onecanwriteabouthepastwith-out dealingwith ideas.And yet, therehasbeen ittleeffort o thinkseriouslybout hepropermethodso be usedfor studyingheideasof a popularmovementuchas Popu-lism.Intellectualistoriansavetried to studythe Populistmovementy concentratingri-marilyon the rhetoricof the most vocalPopulists.Thougha dimension f reality,the rhetoric f an era is oftena distortionofreality.But here remeans f penetratingthe Populist ind ther hananalyzingtsrhetcoric.orexample,heeverydayctivitiesof peopleand thesocial nstitutionsf a pe-riodoftenreflect s muchabouthe thoughtof an eraas its rhetoric.Unfortunately,estill know too little aboutthe institutionsand classstructure f the late nineteenthcentury.And until we know muchmorethanwe do about he socialhistory f theera,no onewillbeable o writea meaningfulintellectualistory f Populism.As I reviewmuchof the recentiteratureonPopulism,am disturbedy thefact hatwe haveengagedn a greatdealof debateabouta groupof peoplewithoutbeingveryprecisesto whotheywere.2Thisleadsmeto suggestthat the most importantaskfacing hehistorianf Populisms to answersuchelementaryuestionss (1) whowerethe Populists,nd (2) whatkind of peoplewere hey?For example,whydid some n-dividualsbecomePopulistsand othersre-mainRepublicansrDemocratsn thecom-munitiesof centralNebraska nd Kansaswhereeconomiconditions ad an adverse

1 For example, see Martin Ridge, Ignatius Donnelly:the Portraitof a Polztician(Chicago, 1962); and WalterT. K. Nugent, The Tolerant Populzsts (Chicago, 1963).2An exception to this is Stanley Parsons, Who Werethe NebraskaPopulists, Nebrasta History, XLIV (July,1963), 83-99.81

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82 AGRICULTURALISTORYeffect on almosteveryone The Populistscertainly ad no monopoly n mortgagedlandsor hard imes. Yet we cannot get tothe bottomof theseproblems ntil we be-comemuchmoreprecisebout the social ndeconomic ackgroundsf the Populists.Wesimply now oo little about heir thnic ndoccupationalharacteristics,heir migratoryhabits,heirproperty oldings.We have otengaged n enoughcomparativenalysis fthe Populistswith othergroups.To put the matter notherway: f we donot knowwhothePopulists ere,whatkindof people hey were, hen I seriously oubtthat we can accuratelyescribe heir ideasor motives.Are historianseally aying erymuch when they argue that a group of

. . .peop were reactlonarlesr progresslveswithoutknowingwhy they held the viewstheydid? Canhistoriansxplainwhypeopleheld heirviewswithout learly efiningwhothey were? And until we get to the rootof thesequestions doubt hat we will bein a verygoodpositiono writea meaningfulor useful ntellectualistory f Populism.To improve ur echniquesorunderstand-ing the Populists,we should discontinuefocusing ur atterltion rimarily n the toplevel leadersand top level eventssuch asdebates n Congress, ationalconventions,and presidentialampaigns.We now knowthat the views and valuesof political litesare frequently iderent rom those of theelectorate.3 nd it is time that this knowl-edge be reflectedo a greater xtent n ourhistoricaliterature. t is certainly uestion-

able as to how enlighteningt is to quoteindiscriminatelyromMaryElizabeth easeIgnatiusDonnelly,Tom Watson) r froa dozenamonghundreds f Populist ews-papersn order o pile up evidencehatthePop U I S t S were anti-Semitic,rogressivelyminded, r reactionary. he Populistmove-ment was extremely omplexand hetero-geneousSnabling istorianso marshal vi-dence o demonstratehat he Populists ere

. . . * . . . .eltner ratlona or lrratlonal, oclaStlC or. . . .. . .

Caplta lStlC, Jlngo1st1c or peace- vlng.But even if we had the time,the scarcityof sourceswould render t impossible ostudy n an individualasis he thousanclsfyeoplewho werecaughtup in the Populistmovement.However we can identifyand

study in detail hundredsof people whosoughtelection o courlty nd state oflices.Anci t is thesepeopleon whomwe shouldfocus attention,or they were undoubtedlymuch more similar o the electoratehanthosewho operated n the nationalevel.With the use of stateand federal ensusreports,egislative luebooks, rade,profes-sional and city directories,eed and mort-

* .gage reg1stersn countycourt zouses taxassessor'secords, nd newspapers, e canfrequentlyearn the followingabout localleaders:heirage, ethnic }ackground,laceof birth, eligious ffiliation,ccupation, ax-imum education, reviouspoliticalexperi-erlce, he extentof property olding, nd, nsomenstances, property values. Grantedhatthe sources will be more plentifuland in-formativeor some areas han others, hatcensusdata re usually incomplete,nd thatcomparisonsromone census o another rediflicult; everthelessntensive se of suchdata would undoubtedlypen new dimen-sionsto the studyof Populism.On the basisof fragmentaryesearchhiskindof investigationas yielded ome nter-esting informationor the stateof Kansas:4(1) Mostof our studies stress the factthatPopulismwas strongern the wheatgrow-ing than n the corn-hog roducingtates fthe MiddleWest. The literatureftencon-veys the impressionhat the Populistswereengaged n wheat farming.Yet, corn-hogfarmingwas widespreadn centralKansas,the heartof the Populistmovement. igni-ficant s the fact that wheatfarmerswere

3See v. o. Key, PublicOpinionand the Decay ofDemocracy, irginzaQsarterly Keview, XXXVII Aug-ust, 1961), 481-94; RobertDahl, Who Gorerns? (NewHaven, 1961), 211-25; JamesW. Prothroand CharlesM. Grigg, Fundamentalrinciples f Democracy:Basisof Agreement nd Disagreement, ournal of PoliticsXXII (Spring, 1960), 276-94; Samuel Stouffer,Com-munism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties (New York,1955); and HerbertMcClosky, Consensusnd Ideologyin American olitics, mencan Political Science Reriew,LVIII June,1964), 361-82.4For this section, he followinghave been extremeIsshelpful:WalterT. K. Nugent,The Tolerant PopulistsandSomeParanzetersf Populism an extended ersion fan excellentpaperread before he AmericanHistoricalAssociation, ecember 9, 1963);JamesC. Malin,X Con-cern abotlt Humanit (Lawrence,Kansas, 964) and At71Yhatge Did Men BecomeReformers, ansas Histor-ical Quarterly,XXIX (Autumn,1963), 250-61; and Ray-mond C. Miller, The PopulistParty n Kansas't Ph.D.dissertation, epartment f History,University f Chi-cago, 1929).



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POPULISM: HE PROBLEM F RHETORIC ND REALITY 83more nclined o remainRepublicans hilefarmersengaged in corn-hogproductiontended o be Populists.But why? Was itbecausemanyPopulistswerenewcomersothe area and had not yet adjusted o thenew environmentf centralKansas?Sub-stantialevidence ndicates hat this is cer-tainlypartof theanswer.(2) From the workof Allan Bogue,weknow that mortgage ompanieswere fre-quently eluctanto foreclosemortgagesndthat interestratestended to drop in thelatter part of the century,particularlynmoresettled reas. vforeover,n analysis fcourthouserecordsuggests hatPopulists,Republicans,ndDemocrats ereall heavilymortgaged. o conclude ere, he Populistswouldseem to havehad no greater easonto protestabouteconomic onditions hananyothergroup.Buttherewas a differencein whatwas mortgaged.The courthouserecordsf severalKansas ountieseveal hatDemocrats nd Republicans,n contrast othe Populists,weremuchmoreengaged nspeculativeealestate ctivity ndusedmort-gages o finance heirbusinessentures.ThePopulistswere muchmore nvolvedn im-provinghe land on whichtheylived,andtheyhad a higherpercentagef theirtotalpropertymortgaged. n other words,thePopulists ppearohavebeenmortgagedutof necessity nd when the depressioname,they were caughtmoreseverely.5(3) Whilewe often hinkof reformerssyoungmen who are chargedwithidealisticfervorKansas opulists eregenerally lderpeople,many of whom had been chronicfailures.Significantly,oungermen weremorereluctant o turn their backson theestablishedoliticalnstitutions.(4) WhilePopulistss well as Democratsand Republicansesidedon farms,Profes-sorNugenthas demonstratedhatPopulistswere seldomurbanites.6As a result,theDemocrats nd Republicansxercised vir-tual monopolyn suchpursuits slaw,bank-ing, andmerchandising.nd prior o 1890,the political eadershipf Kansas onsistedof people,not from farms,but from thetownsand villages. This virtualexclusionof farmersrompositions f influence elpedto heighten rban-ruralensions.(5) Stateandfederal ensusesuggest hat

thePopulists ad a higherpercentagef im-migrants ho ran or public flice n Kansasthan did the Republicansnd Democrats.While this informationmustbe related omanyotherfactors o be very meaningful,surelysuchevidencehas relevanceor thecharge f nativism gainst he Populists.(6) Data n Kansas evealshat he Popu-listshad slightly ess formal ducationhaneither Republicans r Democrats. Andthough he Populists adfrequentlyraveledmore n otherareas llaneither he Republi-cansor Democrats,he evelof formal duca-tion of all threegroupswas sufficientlyowthatwe should e cautiousefore oncluding,as doesProfessor ollack, hatthe Populistshada sophisticatedocial heory or solvingtheproblems f theirage.(7) The Populists' oliticalprogramwasnot as uniqueas we havefrequently eenled to believe.For example, irtually veryreformadvocatedy the KansasPopulistshad alreadybeenproposed y one of themajorpartiesor a minorparty. And theProhibitionlatforms f 1886and 1890andthe Republicanlatform f 1890 were socomprehensivehat they includedvirtuallyevery eformdeclarationf the next decade.(8) When theycontrolledhe governor'sofl;ce ndbothhouses f the state egislaturesimultaneously,he Populists ereunsuccess-ful in implementingheirreformprograrn.The intenseparty quabblesn key legisla-

. . . . . .. . .tlve lssues nc catetne vast c vlslonWltlnthePopulistmovementvenwithina singlestate.Indeed, omeof thedifferencesmongKansas opulists ereas sharp s anywithineither he Democraticr Republican arty.Thesefactsprovide he basis or new in-sights nto the mindof theKansas opulists.Though omehistoriansavearguedhat heprotests f the Populists adnofirmbasis nreality,he evidencendicateshatthe Popu-lists were more adversely ffectedby de-pressedconomiconditionshanwereDemo-crats rRepublicans. n the otherhand,weshouldnotdismissRichardHofstadter'sug-gestion hat he basis or muchof the Popu-listprotestwas rrational.Wearestill facedwith the questionwhich disturbedHof-stadter: as here rationaleasonorpeople

sNugent, Some Parameters of Populism.6 Ibid.



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84to become opulists? f the reform rogramof the Populistparty n Kansaswas essen-tially no moreadvancedhanthoseof otherpartieswe certainlyannot nswer he ques-iion with a simple es or no.In this connection)erhapshe concept falienationan shedsome ighton the Popu-list movement.7 ignificantly, ansasPop-ulismwas most ntensen thoseareaswhichwere undergoirlg he most rapid socialchange where ocialconditions nd institu-tionsweremostunstable.The Kansasmove-ment includeda large numberof olderpeople who had grown to maturity n aperiodwhendiflerentnstitutions eredomi-nant,peoplewho had recentlymigratedoKansaspeoplewho had not yet adjustedotheirnew enxJironment. world n whichshipper nd carrier) roducer nd consumernce ongerknewone anotherwas disturbingto a peoplewho were accustomedo moreintimaterelationships.Withoutvisible n-fluence n local politics banksn r businesshouses, he Populistselt an acutesenseofisolation. To many Populists, heir newtorld seemed transitory,ncoherentandwithoutcohesion.Unable o form effectivepsychologicalies with those with whomthey came nto contact having ost psychiccontinuitywith the past bewildered y thesuddenobsolescencef traditionaloolsandcrafts, hreatened ith the loss of all theirpersonal ossessionss a result f one of theworstdepressionsn the nation's istory,hePopulists ought dentityand meaning n apolitical arty utside stablishednstitutions.More distinctiveor its style than its pro-gram the rhetoric f KansasPopulism ro-vided comfort o thosewho were alienatedby theirnew surroundings.t offered newmeaning o life for thosewho weredesper-ately trying to recapture their ndividualityto reaffirmheirtraditionalalues.ObviouslyX ansasPopulismwas some-what more complicatedhan the aboveac-count suggests. We shouldertainly not as-sume hatall peop-le ere rrational ho en-gaged in what appearso us to have beerlirrationalehavior.And though great dealof the Populist hetoric as irrational, uchof it was rationallyalculated.

We must be mindful hatwhile tatisticaldata is useful n pointing out general pat-

ternsof behavior,uch data s equally m-portant s an indicatorhatall socialactivitydoes not readily onform o a coherent rmeaningful attern.At the present ime, tis impossibleo 15tall Populist eaders ntodescriptive odels. Perhaps his is becauseour knowledge f KansasPopulisms stillincomplete. Not nly mustwe learnmoreabout ts local eadership ut an analysis fpopular otingbehavior, articularlyf ho-mogeneouslectoral districts,wouldpermitus to refine ndqualifymuchof ourexistingknowledge bout he ethnic, conomic, ndurban-ruralonflictswhich nfluencedmuchof the Populistmovement.Though the Populistparty was a thirdparty, et us rememberhat it was nation-

TSomewritershaveused the termsanomieand aliena-tion as though they are synonymous.While there is asimilaritybetween he two terms, they should not beequated. Anomie s a sociologicalerm and refers o asociological onditionwhich exists when the aspirationsof a groupare beyond ts ability or fulfillment.Anomiemost often resultsduringa periodof socialdisorganiza-tion anddecay, n periodswhen the actions f antagonistscannotbe regarded s legitimate.For example, ee Rob-ert Merton) ocial Theory andfSocial Structure(GlencoeIllinois, 1957), 161-94.Alienations a psychologicalerm and refers o a stateof mind. It is the subjectiveide of anomieand is simi-lar to what some writers efer o as anomia.See DavidRiesman,NathanGlazer,and ReuelDenney,The LonebCrowd (New Haven,1951); Leo Scrole, SocialIntegra-tion and CertainCorollaries:An Exploratory tudy,Americvn Sociological Re?viet, XXI (December,1956),709-16; DorothyL. Meierand WendellBell, AnomiaandDifferential ccess o the Achievementf Lifc Goals,American Sociological Review, XXIV (April 1959) 189-208. Alienated eopleusually elieve 1) thatcommunityleadersare little concernedwith their needs, (2) thattheir ife goals arenot beingfulfilled, 3) that it is dif-ficult to counton one'sfellow man for support, nd (4)that the operations f society are unpredictable. eeMelvinSeeman, On he Meaning f Alienation, mer-ican Sociological Review, XXIV (December, 959) 783-91 +For a correlation etween alienationand advancingage, see WendellBell, Anomie, ocial solation, nd theClassStructure,s'ociome-fry,XX (June,1957), 105 16;DwightG. Deann Alienation: ts Meaning nd Measure-ment, American Sociological J?eview, XXVI (October1961)>757. For insights nto the problem f why somepeoplebecomealienated nd othersdo not even thoughtheirsocialpattern ppears uite similar, ee hJarshall .Clinard,Anomie a7zd Deriant Beharior (New York,1964). iFor omeof the problems ncounteredn weigh-ing the intensity f alienation,ee Meierand Bell op. cit.Professor ollack's ssay mplies hat alienations anurbanphenomenon.HoweverShere s a substaniialit-eraturewhich indicates hat alienation as a widespreadnon-ur an zase as well. See Meier and Bellsop. cit.>201 and the excellentbibliographyn Clinardop. fsit.,246-311.

AGRICULTURALISTORY



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POPULISM:HE PROBLEM F RHETORIC ND REALITY 85widein its following.And likeall nationalparties?ts membershiponsisted f diversegroups hroughoutAmericanociety.Thepartymeant everalhings n theSouthandstillothersn theMiddle ndFarWest.Butuntil we have the kind of informationorPopulistsn all partsof the countryhat is

. flsowMemerglng or tansas t ze movementwill probablynot becomeany more in-telligibleor us than t is now.In neglectinghe study of localleaders,historians aveoftenfailedto examinehelocal ssueswhich hapedhePopulistmove-ment.Forexample,ery ittleworkhasbeencompleted n the impactof prohibitionnthe Populistmovement.Yet, irl Indiana,Nebraska,nd several therstates,prohibi-tionwasintricatelyiedup withotherssuesof the dayand wasan importantactor nshaping he destinyof the Populistmove-ment. In statessuch as Washington ndOregon,Populismwas part of a broaderprogramo regulatehefishingndustry ndto promote ariousconservationrograms,but it has not yet beenstudiedn suchacontext.And partybecauseColorado as aleadingminingstate,we haveexaggeratedthe role of silveras a factorn its politics.The desire or irrigationanalson the partof farmerswas one of the mostexplosiveissuesof the day in Colorado oliticsandwas extremelymportant n creating heurban-ruralensionswhich werea vitalas-pectof thePopulistmovementn thatstate.Therecentntellectualistory f Populismis deficient ot onlybecauset focuses n asmallgroupof Populistsn national olitics.Someof it suffers roman over-dependenceon thepopulariteraturef theperiod.Forexample,muchof the writingaboutanti-Semitismand Populismreliesheavily onselectpiecesof fiction.But can we under-stand hisliteraturer its authors efore hesocialsettingfromwhich theyemergedsfully analyzed To what extentdoestheanti-Semitismn IgnatiusDonnelly's aesar'sColumnreflectmerely he personaldiosyn-crasies f its authoras distinct rompreju-dices ngrainedn themindsof its readers?Morever)were the readersof the novelgenerallyPopulists Obviously)hese arequestionswhich t is impossibleo answer.But byfacingup tO theseproblemsne can

better ssesshe valueof novelsashistoricalsources.Even so, historianshouldconstantlystrive o makeimaginative sesof popularliterature,nd heyshould ot becomeverlydependentn sourceswhich require yste-maticquantification.ut at thistime tech-niqueswhichutilizeextensiveuantificationof dataarenecessaryf weare o break wayfrom the treadmillProfessorHandlinhasdescribed,f we areto understandherealityof the eraas distinct romits unreality sseen hroughherhetoric f thepleriod.We must be especially autious n ac-cepting he Populists'hetoricn regard otransportationates ndhigh nterestharges.Had nterestatesbeen ower,armers ouldprobablyaveborrowed ore apitalogrowincreasedmounts f farmproduce.Thisinturnwouldhavecausedhe pricesof theircropsto drop even more. The farmers'troubles ereduenot somuch ohigh rans-portationndinterestharges s to the factthat henation'sateofeconomicrowthwastoo low to accommodateatisfactorilyherapidlyncreasingopulation.8etween 870and 1900, everalmillionpeopledrifted otownsandcitiesfrom the farms.Had therateof economicrowthbeengreater,morepeoplewouldprobably avebeenattractedto the cities,agriculturalroductioIlouldprobably ave decreased,nd undoubtedlyfarmconditions ouldhave mproved.Hopefully,hehistoricalrofessions pre-paredo take a newdeparturen thestudyof Populismby usingdifferentechniquesandasking ewquestions. utuntilweheedProfessor andlin's leathatwe stopview-ing the participantsf historyn termsofgoodpeopleversus hebad guys, t will benext to impossibleo study the Populistswithina differentontext.ProfessoramesC. Malinmadea similarplea hirty-threeears go.9Let ushope hatat the end of the nextthird of a centuryourresearch ill haveprogressedo a pointthat we will be able to make a diderentrequest.

8See the perceptiveomments y MortonRothsteinnThe Joarnal of Economic Hzstory, XXII (December,1962), 479.9JamesC. Mal-in7Noteson the Literaturef Popu-lism^ Kansas Historical Qxarterly,I (February, 932),160-64.


populism- the problem of rhetoric and reality

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