Mary Lease, the Populist, by Arieh Sclar

Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people.It is a government for Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.The West and the South are bound and prostrate before the manufacturing East.Money rules.The parties lie to us and the political speakers mislead us.”

- Mary Elizabeth Lease, The Money Question (1892)

1. What is the purpose and point of view of Lease’s speech?

1. How would Lease’s geographical divide inhibit the building of a political coalition?