As a young reporter, William Allen White saw both sides of the radical populism that swept his home state of Kansas. He understood the plight of the poor farmer and workingman but disdained the abilities and the motivations of the movement's leaders. In 1895 at the age of twenty-five, after working as a reporter in larger cities, he bought his hometown paper, the Emporia Gazette. He used it to promote the town's fortunes, attract business, and herald the reform wing of the Republican Party. In 1896 he published a scathing editorial against the populist presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan titled "What's the Matter with Kansas?" This editorial brought him national attention and invitations to write for the Saturday Evening Post and McClure's. It also was credited with helping to secure victory for William McKinley over Bryan.

Common Sense and Respectability.

The circulation of the Gazette...