J. A. Wayland and "The Appeal To Reason"

Julius Augustus Wayland was born on July 30th, 1854 in Versailles, Indiana and began his career in journalism as a printer for the Versailles Gazette.  Initially a staunch conservative, he converted to socialism during the American Progressive Era.  In July of 1895, Wayland moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he started the socialist journal, “The Appeal to Reason.” He moved the journal to Girard, Kansas in 1897. “The Appeal to Reason" used a mixture of articles, editorials, and excerpts from well-known socialist authors such as Jack London, “Mother Jones,” Stephen Crane, Helen Keller, Upton Sinclair and Eugene Debs.  It became the largest circulated socialist newspaper in American history and arguably the most powerful political newspaper in the early 1900s.  At its peak in 1913, it had a circulation of 750,000 copies.