in 1896 william allen white, editor of the "emporia gazette", got national attention after criticizing william jennings bryan, the democrats, and the populists. he did that by writing an article called "what's the matter with kansas?" white criticized populist leaders for letting kansas go into economic stagnation. he also criticized them for not keeping kansas up economically with nearby states. he said the reason was because their policies were anti-business, and that it scared away economic capital from the state. the republicans sent out hundreds of thousands of copies of the article. they did this to support william mckinley during the 1896 united states presidential election. mckinley won the small towns and cities of the state. however, bryan won the wheat farms and won the electoral vote, even though mckinley won the national vote.