James A. Edgerton

James Arthur Edgerton (January 30, 1869 – December 3, 1938) was an American poet, New Thought leader, and political activist associated with the Populist and Prohibition movements. For fifteen years he served as president of the International New Thought Alliance, where he helped organize international conventions and promoted the observance of New Thought Day in 1915. He was the Prohibition Party’s nominee for vice president in the 1928 United States presidential election, running with William F. Varney on a platform calling for strict enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment. His published works included the poetry collections A Better Day and Songs of the People and the philosophical volume Invading the Invisible.

Edgerton was born on January 30, 1869, in Bern Township, Athens County, Ohio. He was the son of Richard Edgerton, an Ohio farmer born in 1828, and Tamar Prudence Vernon, born in 1833. In 1891, Edgerton moved to Nebraska, where he became active in journalism and reform-oriented networks. From 1892 to 1894 he served as president of the Nebraska Reform Press Association, a position that placed him at the center of regional reform publishing and strengthened his experience in editorial leadership and populist advocacy.^[1]

Edgerton issued his first volume of verse, Poems, in 1889, marking his entrance into American literary circles. The following year he published A Better Day, a collection shaped by themes of aspiration and reform. In 1902 he brought out Songs of the People, continuing his engagement with civic and moral subjects through poetry. His work also appeared in newspapers and magazines, including the patriotic poem “The Veterans of ’62; The Boys of ’98,” which was printed in the New Jersey Morris County Chronicle for Memorial Day observances.^[2]

During his period on the editorial staff of the Rocky Mountain Daily News around 1904, contemporary commentary described his writing as among the youngest and sweetest portrayals of everyday American life. Although his poetry did not achieve broad commercial success, it remained closely connected to his philosophical outlook and reform commitments.^[3]

Edgerton was active in the New Thought movement, which emphasized mental causation, spiritual idealism, and the disciplined use of thought in shaping individual experience. On August 23, 1915, during the International New Thought Convention, he designated the date as New Thought Day. At the time, he served as president of the International New Thought Alliance, the organization responsible for promoting and coordinating the annual conventions. In his declaration he stated that truth, once expressed, possesses the power to renew and extend itself, and he characterized New Thought as universal in both principle and application.^[4][5][6][7]

His principal philosophical work, Invading the Invisible, he examined the relationship between mind, spirit, and outward conditions. In that volume he argued that constructive and disciplined thought influences material circumstances and that individuals could bring their lives into alignment with broader spiritual laws through conscious mental effort. The book advanced a position that mental causation holds primacy over strictly material explanations of human experience.^[4]

In addition to writing, Edgerton lectured and edited within related metaphysical traditions, including Divine Science. He described God as an omnipresent intelligence accessible through reason and will, and he linked this conception to ethical conduct and social reform. His philosophical positions informed his broader public advocacy, including his support of temperance, which he framed as consistent with principles of moral discipline and self control.^[4]

During the 1890s Edgerton became active in the People’s Party, commonly known as the Populist Party, aligning himself with its program of agrarian and monetary reform. He served as secretary of the People’s Party National Committee and issued calls for national meetings, including a conference scheduled in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 23, 1897, intended to address party strategy following the 1896 election and debates over cooperation with Democrats. In this capacity he corresponded with party leaders such as Senator Marion Butler and assisted in coordinating national communications.^[8]

In Nebraska he chaired the state Populist committee and promoted the party’s platform, which included free silver, regulation of railroads, and public control of certain utilities. During this period the Populists held the governorship of Nebraska from 1895 to 1901 before losing electoral strength. Edgerton was also nominated for clerk in 1897, reflecting his direct participation in party campaigns. His work within the People’s Party centered on economic reform and criticism of concentrated corporate power. After the party’s decline in the aftermath of its fusion with Democrats in 1896, his political focus shifted increasingly toward temperance and Prohibition, though his earlier experience established him as an experienced organizer within third party politics.^[9]

At the Prohibition Party’s national convention in July 1928, William F. Varney of Rockville Centre, New York,, was nominated for president on a platform calling for strict enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment. Edgerton was nominated for vice president, defeating former Illinois Prohibition State Representative Frank S. Regan by a vote of 68 to 29. His selection reflected his established role within the temperance movement and his leadership in reform circles.^[10]

Edgerton accepted the nomination in August 1928 and publicly reaffirmed support for uncompromised enforcement of national prohibition laws. He also urged that the ticket be withdrawn in states where its presence might reduce Herbert Hoover’s chances of election. Hoover supported Prohibition, while Democratic nominee Al Smith was widely identified with opposition to it. Varney rejected withdrawal, and the ticket remained in the race. Varney and Edgerton ultimately appeared on the ballot in seven states. In California, the state Prohibition organization declined to back its national nominees and instead placed the Republican ticket on the Prohibition ballot line.^[11][12][13]

The campaign emphasized continued enforcement of the Volstead Act and opposition to proposals permitting lower alcohol content beverages. In the general election the Varney–Edgerton ticket received 20,106 votes nationwide and secured no electoral votes.^[14]

After the 1928 presidential election, Edgerton continued his association with the Prohibition Party during the final years of national Prohibition. He remained aligned with prohibition advocates who defended enforcement of the Volstead Act and opposed the growing movement toward legalization.^[1]

In 1937 he became the Prohibition Party nominee for governor of Virginia. In the general election he received 1,106 votes, amounting to 0.6 percent of the total, in a contest won by Democratic candidate Colgate W. Darden Jr. The campaign reflected the party’s effort to pursue alcohol regulation and related reforms at the state level following repeal. In his later years he resided in Beverly Hills, Virginia, where he devoted time to writing and private study.^[15]

James Arthur Edgerton died in his sleep on December 3, 1938, at his home in Beverly Hills, Virginia, at the age of sixty nine, following a prolonged illness, leaving his wife Blanche Edgerton.^[1]