Looking to the Past as a Reminder

People's Party Political Cartoon  

I strive in this blog to be informational--to share history in particular.  The blog began when I was doing research for my book, Prairie Bachelor, The story of a Kansas Homesteader and the Populist Movement.  I shared things I learned about how Isaac B. Werner staked his claims--  things that mattered to Isaac and still matter today, such as literacy, art, education--and the wider history of our nation, especially how important it is to learn the lessons history has to teach us.    

I wrote this blog several years ago, and for some reason it was never posted.  However, I recently came across it, and thought it was relevant to issues we are dealing with today.  I hope you enjoy it.  

Isaac B. Werner was active in the populist movement of the late 1800s.  Many posts have shared information about that movement and the political parties that evolved during that time to confront the two established parties, which farmers, ranchers, miners, and other laborers found to have been neglectful of the concerns of the common man.  The People's Party, which grew out of this movement, focused on such things as fair sharing of wealth with the laborers whose efforts created it, and limiting the political influence of monopolies, speculators, railroads and other corporations.  Some of the things that those populists advocated have been adopted, such as the use of secret ballots, direct election of Senators, and 8-hour work laws.  

The words of the People's Party Preamble, written by Ignatius Donnelly, include two important priorities:  First, "we seek to restore the government of the Republic to the hands of the plain people, with which class it originated."  Second, "We declare that this Republic can only endure as a free government while built upon the love of the whole people for each other and for the nation; that it cannot be pinned together by bayonets; ...and that we must be in fact, as we are in name, one united brotherhood of free men."

The opposition of the People's Party regarding "undesirable emigration" should be noted, particularly their resentment that manufacturers were hiring poor emigrants to work for wages that made even minimal living standards impossible, firing workers who had been paid more because of the cheaper wages and unsafe working environments that desperate emigrants would accept.  The animosity was largely economic. 

The populist movement with its roots in the late 1800s still has things to remind us.   

Today our Nation also seems divided, although there is no third political party involved.  However, perhaps there are lessons we can take from history. 

Sometimes we forget that our Nation has had divisive times in the past, the obvious example being the Civil War.  However, there were other times when the Nation was threatened from within, such as the KKK, and the American Nazis gathering at Madison Square Garden in 1939. Our Forefathers believed in us, and the ability of citizens to protect what they created for us.  There will always be hate groups and politicians like Senator Joseph McCarthy, who spewed misinformation and hate, saying whatever it took to gain or hold office. So far, American voters have managed to live up to the responsibility of electing candidates who will continue to protect our constitution. The protections the Founding Fathers put in place have held.  Unfortunately, not all elected officials chosen by voters have been responsible, as well as some placed in official roles that do not require election.  

What history has shown us is not that preserving the Union is always easy, and this blog is intended to remind us of that.  What is important is that they trusted us to vote, and we must respect that responsibility.  From local offices to the Presidency, our votes count, and our responsibility to vote wisely matters.  I like Donnelly's quote: "We declare that this Republic can only endure as a free government while built upon the love of the whole people for each other and for the nation; that it cannot be pinned together by bayonets; ...and that we must be in fact, as we are in name, one united brotherhood of free men." The challenge of preserving the union requires our vigilance, and our  sense of respect and responsibility to elect people who see themselves as guardians of our precious Constitution.  This blog reminds us that there have been difficult times in the past, but enough voters have selected wise men and women to keep our Constitution safe.  Vote as if your vote mattered--because it does!       

  

What is Populism?

Isaac Werner's Journal

 Many of you who follow my blog know that the discovery of Isaac Werner's Journal was what inspired my decade long research and writing of Prairie Bachelor, The story of a Kansas Homesteader and the Populist Movement.  Because Kansas played such an important role in that movement, and because the community in which I grew up was among those active in the movement, I have a deep sense of what populism meant at the time Isaac Werner and many in his community were part of that movement.  

Therefore, I am often perplexed by what is being called Populism today.  While I was doing research for my book, I found present day politicians described as populists who were unlike the people I came to know in my research for Prairie Bachelor.  It did not seem to make sense that very different politicians today are being called Populists.

Watching news during the recent 2024 primary election in New Hampshire, I heard someone say, "You know there is both  Negative Populism and Positive Populism." I decided it was time for me to do some research to explore how the term Populism had evolved since Isaac Werner's time.  In the era of my book, during the late 1800s, Populism began with the common people, such as farmers, ranchers, miners, and small business owners.  They believed the two major political parties, Republican and Democrat, had become overly influenced by wealthy men, to the extent that they were ignoring the intensions of the founding fathers.  Although the wealthy had more money with which to influence government, the common people had greater numbers of voters.  They formed a party of their own--The People's Party, and although their party was short-lived, it remains the most successful third party in our nation's history.  Many of their ideas were implemented by the two old parties.

My current research found that the term Populism had practically disappeared in common use by the 1950s; however, historians began to apply the word to those who were Anti-Elites.  With the rejuvenation of the word Populism, it's original meaning expanded, becoming so broad that the meaning from the late 1800s, as well as the achievements of the people of the Populist movement, were nearly forgotten.

One political scientist noted the modern ambiguity of the term by describing the range of meanings for the word.  It was used for farmers' radicalism, peasant movements, and intellectual agrarian socialism, as well as populist dictatorships, populist democracy, reactionary populist, and politicisms' populism.  If you followed all of those adaptations of the meaning of Populism, your head must be spinning.  Some have observed the contradictory meanings of these uses and have suggested that the word should be abandoned entirely.  (Wikipedia, Populism)

What would Isaac Werner and other Populists of the late 1800s think of the use of the word they created as it is being used today.  If there is the word Populism in today's politics, who defines what is Negative Populism and what is Positive Populism?  I am inclined to agree that the journalists, news commentators, and politicians of today return the word to the Populists of the late 1800s and come up with new words for the political turmoil of today! 

 

 

Pausing to Remember the Past

Photo credit Lyn Fenwick

 When we received the message from David Werner explaining that he and his wife were hoping to drive from Wernersville, PA to South Central Kansas to visit Isaac Werner's grave and to see the Journal, as well as anything else of interest in relation to Isaac, I was pleased...and then worried.  The two things he mentioned were certainly available, but what else was there to show them?  Nearly all of the structures from Isaac's time are gone, and even the land Isaac claimed has changed.  What is there to see?

As it turned out, there was a lot to see, and this blog is not only about our visit from Isaac's cousins but is really about the things around us that we no longer give our attention--that we fail to share with our children and grandchildren.  While the things available to share are not exactly like they were when our ancestors lived, there are still things to see and stories to share.  That is what this week's blog is about.

Photo credit Larry Fenwick

The picture above of David  Werner, Isaac's 1st cousin 3 times removed, having slipped back to take one more picture of Isaac's grave, particularly touched me.  As did the light touch on the corners of Isaac's stone by each of the cousins--LaRita, David, and Cynthia--as the group gathered around for a photograph.  (Also in the picture is Deann Werner.)  The emotions for this once forgotten bachelor cousin were real.  

I walked them around the quiet country cemetery, pointing out the graves of friends of Isaac, many of whom are mentioned in Prairie Bachelor, and I directed their attention to the number of settlers whose stones displayed their military service in the Civil War.  Particularly emotional were the many stones of infants and young children.

We drove around Isaac's timber claim and homestead, although both are changed by cultivation for more than a century.  The second day we returned, first for a farewell to Isaac and then for a tour of his community.  As we drove through the community, I read brief excerpts from Prairie Bachelor, connected with the particular locations where we paused, such as the land where Isaac stayed with neighbors in his final days, the locations of the country post offices, the location of the home of the young man who visited Isaac every day until Isaac could no longer remain in his home--sharing details at each pause related to each of his neighbors in some way.  They couldn't believe how far he walked in his community for visits, jobs, and other reasons.

They discovered their own surprises--how sandy the soil was, how pretty the wild flowers were, how many animals they saw on the country roads, how the cottonwood trees had looked like a snowfall had covered the bark, and because of the blackened trees from a recent fire in our community that burned many acres, how frightening prairie fires must have been in Isaac's time.

Lyn, Dave & LaRita: Photo credit Larry Fenwick

We visited both the Lucille Hall Museum in St. John and the County Museum in Stafford, which Michael Hathaway generously interrupted his weekend to share with us.  It was a particular treat to see both where Isaac's Journal was found and to see the actual "County Capital" newspapers where I did so much of my research for Prairie Bachelor.

Although I had worried that there would be too little to show them, that was never the case.  Of course, I have written this blog to share their visit with you, but I hope that it may encourage you to consider your own family tour, whether to see sights specifically relevant to your family or just to explore the community that we sometimes take for granted.

I will close with a final photograph that perhaps best displays the joy of connection with roots from the past.  I had covered the dining room table with examples of my research, and added to the display was an incredible research collection compiled by Cynthia McClanahan Cruz, tracing the Direct Descendants of Henry and Magdalena Meyer Werner, (Isaac's grandparents), genealogy that stretched back to the generation that connected all of the guests to one another.  Among these items placed on the table to be explored was Isaac's Journal.  I will close with the picture that seems to say it all. 

Photo credit Larry Fenwick

Without Isaac Werner's daily entries in this 480 page oversized journal, there would never have been a Prairie Bachelor, The Story of a Kansas Homesteader and the Populist Movement.  Many of you who had never heard of the Populist Movement in which Kansas and other states played such a significant  role, might never have known about it, its influence today, and the roots of Populism and Progressivism.  For many readers of the book, they now understand the challenges their own ancestors faced during that time.  Today, Kansas is sometimes referred to as a "flyover state," but those who know its full history know better!

Truth vs. Interpretation

Cicero: Credit, Liam Clarkson-Holborn

For a decade, I have been doing research for my manuscript about the Populist Movement of the late 1800s.  I was fascinated to learn that such a significant event that began with the Farmer's Alliance in Texas and reached its peak with the People's Party in Kansas, (spreading to other states primarily in the South and the Central states), was so quickly forgotten.  The People's Party is the most successful 3rd Party movement in our nation's history; yet, many...perhaps most Americans (except those of you who have followed this blog) are not aware of its importance. Nor, are many Americans aware that their ancestors were participants in this movement.

My focus on a political movement from our past has made me especially aware of how people can receive the same information and interpret it differently.  That makes reasonable political discord challenging.  As satirist  Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) wrote in Gulliver's Travels, it might do a politician some good to "...have half his brain swapped with half the brain of a member of the opposing party."

The Populist Movement and the creation of the People's Party arose very quickly, and it fractured and faded just as quickly, less the result of opposition tactics of the Republicans and Democrats but more from divisions and disagreements within the People's Party itself.  The two old parties succeeded in a sense by implementing some of the Populist ideas, so that the need for a third party to get those things done disappeared.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I collect quotes I find particularly thought provoking.  Too often, I jot these quotes down on scraps of paper or whatever writing surface is at hand when I discover the quotes.  Eventually, I copy them into a file on my laptop.  Sometimes, before I get them copied into that file, I end up with quotes from unrelated authors and eras that give particular reason for reflection.  When I found the three that I am sharing today in the back of my desk drawer, they challenged me in exactly that way.

Friedrich Nietzsche - 1861

Two of my great grandfathers were friends of Isaac Werner, whose journal has inspired my manuscript over the past decade.  (A third great grandfather was also an acquaintance but lived outside Isaac's immediate community.)  One of those neighboring great grandfathers was a Union Soldier in the Civil War, and like so many of those soldiers, he came to Kansas and staked his claim with the advantage of crediting his 3 years of military service to reduce the 5 years otherwise required to mature a homestead claim, resulting in only 2 years needed for him.  And, like most Union Soldiers, he voted Republican, the party of Lincoln.  My other great grandfather in Isaac's neighborhood emigrated from England, and at that time had only his wife and two young daughters, the youngest being my grandmother.  A son and another daughter were later added to the family.  He became active in the Populist Movement and supported the People's Party.  One a staunch Republican and the other an active Populist, these two men brought differing political perspectives to their voting during the Populist Movement.  Did those differing perspectives impact their political decisions, and how might they have aligned themselves with the two quotes that follow?  

"What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage.  The mere fact of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious."  Marcus Tullius Cicero, (106-43 BCE)

"All things are subject to interpretation, whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth."  Friedrich Nietzsche.  

As the quotes of Swift, Cicero, and Nietzsche have shown,--men whose lives span several centuries,--the distinction between how we define "Truth" and "Morality" has been and always will be complex when mixed with politics.

Corporations and the People's Party

Isaac's journal kept during the Populist Movement

The early years of what became the United States of America consisted almost entirely of a population of farmers, proprietors of small shops, and independent producers, like blacksmiths and farriers.  Gradually, that began to change from self-employed proprietors to large corporations operated by salaried managers.  The agricultural and small merchant society of community businesses and small towns with citizens having fewer economic differences evolved into larger urban areas with greater distinctions in wealth.

At the beginning of the Civil War, there were 400 millionaires in the United States.  By 1892 there were 4,047.  American society had evolved into a wealthy class, a middle class, and a laboring class.  Key to this evolution was the changing view of incorporation.  Many lawmakers saw the interests of the nation as linked to the growth of large corporations.  With this perspective, lawmakers voted for tax cuts and other benefits, and the old way of life changed forever.

It was during this period of rapidly changing social conditions that Isaac Werner kept his daily journal and farmers and other workers formed the People's Party to come together in their greater numbers to politically confront the smaller number of wealthy voters.  However, the wealthy had greater power, and with many politicians seeing corporations as essential to the economic growth of the nation, even those politicians elected by workers often voted with the wealthy once in office.

Power of Wall Street & Railroads political cartoon

Farmers like Isaac saw the incorporation of America as an unfair misappropriation of the nation's wealth.  The original idea had been that the new nation's greatest wealth was in its vast lands, a wealth that seemed inexhaustible.  Thomas Jefferson and others had predicted that it would take a thousand years for the population to spread to the Pacific, and homestead laws were enacted to encourage that spread.  Instead, only three generations had been needed.  Railroads had played a significant role in that expansion, and railroads had also been key to the economic changes in the nation, including the growth of incorporation.

After the Civil War the 14th Amendment was enacted to provide freed slaves "equal protection of the laws."  However, an aggressive lawyer used it for his railroad client's purposes.  Seeking to avoid a California tax on railroad property, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company owned by Leland Stanford argued that his railroad was a person too.  His lawyer cited the intent of those who drafted the amendment as having been meant to embrace 'artificial persons as well as natural persons."  Years later it was found that the lawyer had fabricated that intention.

By then, as the saying goes, the horse was out of the barn.  A series of cases which have led to the more recent Citizens' United case, have expanded the interpretation to see corporations as people too.

In a speech in 2003 by Bill Moyers, he said:  "They [populists and progressives] were a diverse lot, held together by a common admiration of progress--hence the name--and a shared dismay at the paradox of poverty stubbornly persisting in the midst of progress like an unwanted guest at a wedding.  Of course they welcomed, just as we do, the new marvels in the gift-bag of technology...But they saw the underside, too--the slums lurking in the shadows of the glittering cities, the exploited and unprotected workers whose low-paid labor filled the horn of plenty for others, the misery of those whom age, sickness, accident or hard times condemned to servitude and poverty with no hope of comfort or security. ...This is what's hard to believe--hardly a century had passed since 1776 before the still-young revolution was being strangled in the hard grip of a merciless ruling class."

United States Supreme Court

When America was founded, there was a natural suspicion of corporations, based on abuses known from English law.  The evolution of corporations in American was gradual, recognizing the benefits of people coming together to pool assets for businesses larger than the simple independent producers in the original colony but also realizing the potential for abusive power.  Yet, gradually the benefits began to seem more important than the risks.  Black's Law Dictionary defines a corporation as "An artificial person or legal entity created by or under the authority of the laws of a state or nation... acting as a unit or single individual in matters relating to the common purpose of the association..."

We ordinary humans do not need "the authority of the laws of a state or nation" to define us.  Corporations do.  In the Citizen's United case, the dissent argued that the Founding Fathers disliked corporations and never intended the First Amendment to apply to corporations.  In his concurring opinion with the majority, Justice Scalia wrote that even if that argument were relevant, "the individual person's right to speak includes the right to speak in association with other individual persons."  Scalia seemed to think that because a group of individuals had incorporated to manufacture "something or other," they were entitled to select those to speak for them about their common venture, and those persons, acting within that corporate capacity, are protected under the first amendment. 

For Scalia, the individual shareholder in the corporation has not only his voice but also the voice of the corporation of which he is a part.  One might say such a person has his own tiny voice but also the megaphone volume of his voice amplified by the wealth and influence of the corporation.  Others might see it as unfair for both individual shareholders and the corporation of which they are a part to have the protection of the 1st Amendment's freedom of speech, but the Supreme Court did not.

By analogy, it might be argued that all of those coming together in the People's Party in the late 1800s to exert more influence through the combined power of their votes were using the power of a political party to magnify their individual votes.  Even so, they didn't get to vote twice. 

Remember, you can click on images to enlarge them.

     

What is Populism?

Isaac Werner's Journal

The discovery of Isaac Werner's journal is what led to my manuscript with the working title of "Prairie Bachelor, The Story of a Homesteader and the Populist Movement."  However, what intrigued me as I read his daily accounts of solitary work, neighborhood activities, and trips to surrounding towns, was the social and political involvement that culminated in the Populist Movement.  Although I was raised in Isaac's community, I knew little about the important participation of my community and region in that movement.

I hope I have informed those of you who follow the blog about that involvement; however, the news of recent months has made "populism" a common word.  Just what is Populism?  How could news reporters have described the campaigns of both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as attracting a populist base, and what would their campaigns have in common with the Populism of the late 1800s with which Isaac Werner and his region were so involved?

I'll start with a simple definition.  The word comes from the Latin word populus, meaning people, and is intended to emphasize the power of common people and their right to participate in government through their numbers by using their votes to confront the smaller numbers of the wealthy and political insiders.  While that is a simple definition, the term is used in ways that have very different meanings, depending on the political goals of those being described.

Populism is not unique to America.  Populist Movements have arisen all around the world, and populist leaders have been elected in many countries.  Populism has been employed by both political parties considered liberal and those considered conservative.  It has been used to gather votes but abandoned once in office.  It has been applied to candidates as an insult and as a virtue.  In short, answering the question I raised in my title is probably impossible for one blog!  Perhaps it is nearly impossible for any number of words to pin down!

Political cartoon from the County Capital in St. John, KS

In an article by Marie Antelme posted in April 2017, she wrote:  "...there is no single definition of populism, and no common ideology that defines populist politics."  She did seek to distinguish between "Leftist political populism," which she described as more likely to attract lower- and middle-income voters confronting the wealthy, politically powerful and economically influential elite, and "Rightest" populism, which she identified as more likely to be anti-immigrant, racially resentful, and disliking elites whom they saw as protecting or supporting such outsiders.  Ms. Antelme is an economist with a South African asset management investment firm.  She analyzed populism from an economic perspective, concluding the "Countries with ageing population (like the US and many European countries) need a pragmatic, agreed policy on immigration," and concluding that the political parties in these countries need to find "...the right kinds of jobs--with sufficient pay--in a world of integrated supply chains and disruptive technologies, while providing effective social support as populations age."

Bloomberg writer Stephen Mihm, writing Dec. 13, 2015 during the political campaigns referred back to populism's origins in the late 1800s, describing it as a rural movement arising during the Gilded Age.  He wrote,that "...the Farmers' Alliance morphed into the People's Party" in order to confront "an era of rampant inequality, devastating financial crises and a pervasive belief that the game was rigged against ordinary Americans."  Mihm saw Populists of that era as very different from today's populists, but he listed five things populists of differing times have in common:  1. Anger, 2. Nativism, 3. Dislike of Wall Street, 4. Religious Prejudice (Jews in earlier times and Muslims today), and 5. Conspiracy Theories. (Examples of this might be Foreign Syndicates in the late 1800s buying mortgages to reduce farmers to serfs and accusations of 'fake news' today.)

FDR and Populist ideas

On March 22, 2017, Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio published a detailed examination of populism titled "Populism:  The Phenomenon."  He wrote:  "Populism is a political and social phenomenon that arises from the common man, typically not well-educated, being fed up with 1) wealth and opportunity gaps, 2) perceived cultural threats from those with different values in the country and from outsiders, 3) the 'establishment elites' in positions of power, and 4) government not working effectively for them. ...Populist leaders are typically confrontational rather than collaborative and exclusive rather than inclusive."  He summarizes, "In other words, populism is a rebellion of the common man against the elites and, to some extent, against the system."  His article goes further and contains interesting charts and graphs further explaining his analysis.

These three articles were chosen to represent the challenge of specifically defining Populism.  It is the origins of populism in the late 1800s in which Isaac Werner, his region, and his state played such a significant role, with which my manuscript deals.  The next historic period during which populism played a significant role was between the World Wars (1920-1930s).  According to one of Dalio's charts, not since 1930 has such a spike in populism occurred as we are seeing in recent years.

It is important to understand historically how Populism came into existence and the various ways in which the term has been used.  Kansas and Texas, as well as other states with large farming and working class populations, played instrumental roles in the creation of a movement as timely as today's news!

Isaac & "The Wizard of Oz"

For most readers, especially the children for whom L. Frank Baum wrote, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is as Baum intended, "a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out." In his Introduction for the book, Baum left little doubt about his intentions: "Folklore, legends, myths, and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous, and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations." However, Baum believed, "...the time has come for a series of newer 'wonder tales' in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf, and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale." Baum never outgrew his capacity for creative fantasy, and he believed it was important to encourage a child's sense of wonder and imagination.

Yet, as clearly as Baum stated his intention, adults have repeatedly imposed their own interpretations and ideas upon Baum's work. The 1939 movie has several minor changes, ruby rather than silver slippers being one example. The biggest change, however, was to begin the movie with a sepia-colored sequence at Dorothy's prairie home, with actors that were easily recognizable later in the movie as the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Wicked Witch. The movie, as wonderful as it is, declined to trust children's imaginations to accept that the tornado actually transported Dorothy to a real Land of Oz, suggesting instead that Dorothy's trip to Oz had only been a dream. While L. Frank Baum would surely have loved the movie, as so many generations of children already have, I suspect he would have been disappointed by the movie producers' decision to present Dorothy's visit to Oz as a dream.

So, why am I writing about L. Frank Baum and Oz on Isaac B. Werner's blog? One reason is to share how some scholars have gone even further in pre-empting Baum's fairytale for children. In 1954 a history teacher named Henry M. Littlefield suggested that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz could be interpreted as a parable of the Populist movement, using Baum's characters as stand-ins for people or places connected to The People's Party: the Scarecrow as the farmer; the Tin Woodsman as the industrial laborer; the Emerald City as Washington, D.C.; the Wicked Witch of the East as Eastern millionaires, monopolists, and bankers; and depicting the Populist opposition to the gold standard and belief in a return to bimetallism and renewed coinage of silver represented as the Yellow Brick Road misleading people toward reliance on the gold standard; Dorothy's silver slippers representing the untested power of returning to silver; and the Cowardly Lion as Populist (and Democratic) 1896 Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. Littlefield's theories about the allegorical meanings of the book led others to propose their own historical and political interpretations, one of the most interesting being that the name of Oz itself came from the bimetallism ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold, suggesting to one scholar that Baum had used the abbreviation for an ounce as the name of the Emerald City.

Eventually, Michael Patrick Hearn, who is widely recognized as the leading scholar on L. Frank Baum and who authored the Introduction, Notes & Bibliography for The Annotated Wizard of Oz, weighed in on the debate with a letter to the New York Times, stating that he had found "no evidence that Baum's story is in any way a Populist allegory." A few weeks later, Henry M. Littlefield wrote a letter in reply, agreeing that "there is no basis in fact to consider Baum a supporter of turn-of-the-century Populist ideology." All of this makes an interesting connection between Baum and Isaac, and although Isaac died before the book was published, he was active in the Farmers' Alliance and supportive of Populist candidates.

A second reason is historical, since Dorothy's adventure begins on a farm on the Kansas prairie during the hard times Isaac described in his journal. While I agree with Michael Patrick Hearn that Baum intended to write a book for children and not an elaborate allegory about the populist movement and the election of 1896, I think it is natural that Baum was influenced by the events of his time. After the collapse of the Baum family's theatrical business, L. Frank Baum moved his family to Aberdeen, South Dakota to open a general store, but the hard times meant there were too few customers with money to purchase his goods, and the bank foreclosed on his store. He then purchased and ran a newspaper, which certainly made him familiar with the news of the day. It seems inevitable that some of what he saw around him would weave its way into his story.

Except for the fact that Isaac and some of his neighbors had planted trees on their timber claims and homesteads, Baum's fictional description of the Kansas plains on the opening pages of the book is not too different from what farmers in parts of Kansas might have seen during the years of drought in the late 1880s and 1890s. Baum wrote: "When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere."

The connection between Isaac's Journal and L. Frank Baum's Oz book was recalled to my attention as we prepared for a special event. The Macksville City Librarian, Jody Suiter, asked my husband and me to share our love of Oz with the K thourgh 5th grade students, and it was decided to use the larger space of the grade school library for the presentations. The picture at the right is of my husband handing out diplomas, signed by Oz and awarding each student a Degree of ThD (Doctor of Thinkology).

We had a wonderful time preparing for the day--baking cookies, making bookmarks, selecting which parts of the book to read to the students, printing diplomas, and choosing pictures from some of our favorite Oz illustrators to show them--Michael Hague, Charles Santore, W.W. Denslow, Robert Ingpen, Scott Gustafson, Robert Sabuda, and the unusual Lisbeth Zwerger. We decorated a tree with our collection of Oz ornaments, shared our one-of-a-kind Oz chess board with the 4th & 5th graders, told the story of Oz to the kindergarten & 1st graders with the help of hand-crafted Oz dolls, and compared how different illustrators imagined Oz in unique ways with 2nd & 3rd graders. In short, the innocence and enthusiasm of the students provided us with an afternoon of the very magic Baum wished for children when he wrote his stories, and through them, we experienced it too.

So, the movie makers can be forgiven for using artistic license to alter Baum's story for the screen, and the scholars can be humored for twisting Oz into a historical & political allegory, so long as children can still find magic in the Land of Oz as Baum intended.

(To see more pictures and information about our sessions with the children, visit Jody Suiter's wonderful website at http://macksville.mykansaslibrary.org/.)