13. Purification of Politics 

Source:  American Nonconformist (Winfield, KS), October 16, 1890

Senator John J. Ingalls of Kansas proved to be one of the Republicans who most antagonized Alliancemen.   His most infamous comment was that "the purification of politics is an iridescent dream."  Populists swept the state elections in 1890 and replaced Ingalls in the Senate with farm editor William A. Peffer in 1891.

For more on the response of Plains State Republicans to Farmers' Alliance demands, see:

Ostler, Jeffrey. Prairie Populism: The Fate of Agrarian Radicalism in Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, 1880-1892. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993.

For more on William A. Peffer, see:

Argersinger, Peter Hayes. Populism and Politics: William Alfred Peffer and the People's Party. 337 p. Lexington: U P of Kentucky, 1974.

For more on Kansas Populism, see:

Clanton, O. Gene. Kansas Populism: Ideas and Men. 330 p. Lawrence: U of Kansas P, 1969.

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