Building a populist coalition in Texas, 1892-1896

Journal of Southern History, May, 2008 by Worth Robert Miller, Stacy G. Ulbig

The Blackland Prairie, which stretches in a narrow strip from the Oklahoma border north of Dallas down to San Antonio, contains the state's most desirable farmland. A smaller, separate strip of Blackland Prairie stretches from about forty miles east of San Antonio to just north of Houston. The main section of Blackland was settled mostly by southern whites, while the smaller section also contained significant mixes of German Americans, Czech Americans, and African Americans. The soil is highly productive and able to withstand heavy and continuous cropping in both areas. Because almost all of this rich land is tillable, farmers tended toward a high degree of specialization in cotton. They maintained smaller livestock herds and grew fewer feed crops. Both Martin and Turner argue that Populism found a cool reception in the Blackland Prairie. (68) But the third party vote in this region in 1892 was only slightly below the statewide average (see Table 4). Here, in this region of highly fertile soil, Populists appeared to be those losing out in the struggle for economic independence. The third party correlation with tenancy was stronger than with farm ownership. But there were no significant correlations between the Populist vote in 1892 and the presence of railroads, which were more numerous here than anywhere else in Texas. (69)

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The Post Oak Strip paralleled the Blackland Prairie to the east. Here the soils were sandy and covered with timber. Most of the farming was done on relatively small, interior prairies that had fairly productive soils. Farmers grew both corn and cotton in this region. Essentially the same tools were used with both crops, and corn cultivation did not compete substantially with cotton for labor. Farms were smaller and farm owners more numerous in the Post Oak Strip. Here, precincts with higher proportions of farm owners tended toward Populism. (70) The third party correlation with tenancy was insignificant. Urban areas were noticeably smaller in the Post Oak Strip. Thus, precinct-level balloting showed little of the rural-urban or railroad-hinterland dichotomy described by Turner.

Rich alluvial Bottomlands of the Brazos, Colorado, and Trinity Rivers cross the Post Oak Strip in a northwest to southeast direction. This was the pre-Civil War plantation region, and it still contained a large African American agrarian population in the 1890s. The Bottomlands contained twelve of the state's sixteen black-majority counties. (71) Here the Populist appeal on the land issue resonated best with southern-born whites, who made up the majority of farm owners in this region. The large black population conversely proved ambivalent toward the third party in 1892. (72)

Between the Post Oak Strip and the Louisiana border lie the Piney Woods. Sandy soil, rolling to hilly topography, comparatively heavy rainfall, and the persistence of timber gave the fullest encouragement to small-scale operations. Small farms, small irregular-shaped fields, small tools, and the use of large amounts of fertilizer characterized this region. Lack of good pasture discouraged extensive livestock production and, thus, feed crops. Here a significant negative correlation appeared between voting Populist and the number of railroad lines serving a precinct. It was weaker, however, than the statewide correlation. Both African Americans and whites born in the plantation South were more numerous in this region. The Populist correlation with farm ownership was weaker in the Piney Woods than in the aforementioned regions. (73) Populists in the Piney Woods were less well established and thus more vulnerable to the economic dislocations of the day.