“The Matter With California”

In the 1890’s Kansas—dominated by Republicans since Civil War days—fell to the control of the Democrat-People’s party. Political passions were fired so high that armed conflict in the capital was threatened. This state of affairs became known as “The Matter with Kansas,” and was then attributed to the combined irascibility of the Populists and the intransigence of Republicans.

California politics is now in a similar situation. Not since 1939 has so conservative an administration ruled the state. Little likelihood exists, of course, for an attack on Sacramento, although armed members of the Black Panther party stormed the Statehouse last May, preceded earlier by the largest protest march in the capital&...