leaving only in 1905 on account of competing research interests. Parson's position at Boston University only occupied part of the academic year, leaving him free to work on other projects and in other capacities for much of the year. He joined the staff of Kansas State Agricultural College in 1897, in the wake of a recent Populist electoral victory in that state and the advent of a new liberal administration at that school. Social reformer Parsons became interested in the ideas of economic rationalization during the Progressive Era of the 1890s. It was a time of great disparity between wealthy plutocrats, often exercising monopoly power over the economy through organized associations called trusts, and a frequently impoverished working class, racked by periodic depressions such as the 1873 event which had cost Parsons his first job. With his characteristic energy, Parsons threw himself into the systematic study of many of the topics espoused by muckraking journalists and intellectuals of the day. A series of books followed, including tomes on monetary reform (Rational Money, 1898), market dysfunction in the communications industry (The Telegraph Monopoly, 1899), public ownership of monopoly industries (The City for the People, 1899), substitution of democracy for oligarchy (Direct Legislation, 1900), and the abuses of the railroad industry (The Trusts, the Railroads, and the People, 1906). In December 1895, Parsons ran for Mayor of Boston, as the candidate for the Municipal Reform Party—"a fusion of prohibitionists, labor, populists, and socialists". He finished third in a field of three, with 0.8% of the vote. In addition to his steady stream of books and pamphlets, Parsons wrote extensively for the periodical press, contributing more than 125 articles to B.O. Flower's progressive monthly, The Arena and other publications. In addition to his prolific work for The Arena, Parsons was named a contributing editor to the social democratic monthly The American Fabian in 1896. In addition to his writing activities, Parsons also emerged as a prominent public speaker, serving as a lecturer for the National Direct Legislation League, as head of the lecture department of the Social Reform Union, and as President of the National League for Promoting Public Ownership of Monopoly. In the course of his activity, Parsons came to be recognized as a national expert on public ownership of utilities. In 1906, he was commissioned by the National Civic Federation to travel to Great Britain to study the incidence of municipal