From collection Candidates
Mary Elizabeth Lease was a political activist interested in women's issues, labor and farmer's rights, temperance, and Irish nationalism. Lease was active in public affairs and social reform from the 1870s onward. She was known as an assertive speaker, often rousing her listeners to action. Opponents called her "Yellin' Mary Ellen". In 1888 the Union Labor Party in Kansas nominated her as County Superintendent of Instruction for Sedgwick County. Lease, and all the Union Labor candidates, lost the election. Four years later she announced she was willing to run for the U.S. Senate. Women in Kansas rallied to her support and the Populist magazine Farmer's Wife endorsed her candidacy. Lease ran into opposition from the Populist party leaders as they intended to nominate a Democrat as a favor for support in state elections. Lease did not again run for office, but remained politically active, supporting other candidates and reform causes. She was considered one of the most influential figures in American populism. Lease was often credited as the author of the charge to Kansas farmers "To grow less corn and more hell!". Lease denied being the author, but often stated that she strongly believed in the sentiment.
