Whats the Matter With Kansas, by Arieh Sclar

We don't need population, we don't need wealth, we don't need well-dressed men on the streets, we don't need cities on the fertile prairies; you bet we don't! What we are after is the money power. Because we have become poorer and ornerier and meaner than a spavined, distempered mule, we, the people of Kansas, propose to kick; we don't care to build up, we wish to tear down.

Give the prosperous man the dickens! Legislate the thriftless man into ease, whack the stuffing out of the creditors and tell the debtors who borrowed the money five years ago when money "per capita" was greater than it is now, that the contraction of currency gives him a right to repudiate.

Whoop it up for the ragged trousers; put the lazy, greasy fizzle, who can't pay his debts, on the altar, and bow down and worship him. Let the state ideal be high. What we need is not the respect of our fellow men but the chance to get something for nothing

• ‘What’s the Matter with Kansas?’, William Allen White (1896)

1. From the passage, is it clear who White would have supported in the 1896 presidential election? Explain your answer.

1. Why is White referring to creditors and debtors in the passage? Provide two specific examples in which the interests of these specific groups impact American politics from 1872-1896.

1. How would a member of the Grange have viewed the passage? Explain.