Life of John Albert Johnson : three times governor of Minnesota

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THEODORE H. KNi^PPEN

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LIFE OF JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Copyright by Sweet
GOVERNOR JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

LIFE OF
JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

THREE TIMES GOVERNOR
OF MINNESOTA

BY

FRANK A. D,AY

AND

THEODORE M. KNAPPEN

CHICAGO

FORBES & COMPANY

1910

Copyright, 1910, by
Forbes and Company

PREFACE

IT has been a labor of love to prepare this perma-
nent record of the life of our dear friend. We
were so near to him, knew him so well, were so
profoundly influenced by his lovable personality and
his simple greatness, that we may well be accused
of bias. His passing is still so recent that a biog-
raphy of him prepared at this time could hardly be
expected to be critical and exact. Nevertheless, the
demand for an authoritative account of the life of a
man who so profoundly influenced public thought,
who so strongly appealed to the popular and patri-
otic conception of what a public man should be,
made it imperative that some account of his work
be published while recollection of his personality is
still fresh.

We believe that it is our duty to the public to ex-
tend as widely and as soon as possible through this
biography the influence that Governor Johnson
would have continued to exert in person had he
lived. We hope in a measure thus to compensate
for his loss so early, so unexpected — a loss that
those who knew him well realize was nothing less
than a national calamity.

3

PREFACE

We have been assisted by so many persons in
collecting data and have had the cooperation of the
good will and moral help of so many others that
it is in nowise possible to make complete acknowl-
edgment here. We are especially indebted to Mr.
John Talman for his part in preparing and writing
chapters seventeen and nineteen, and to Mr. C. L.
Wagner for his assistance on chapter fifteen.

We shall feel amply repaid for our labor if those
who read this volume, pardoning its imperfections
in view of its purpose, shall be made to feel in some
measure how great and good a man has gone to
his reward.

The Authors.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

INTRODUCTION ii

I. MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT . 13
The Minnesota frontier in the sixties.
The Indian uprisings. The early
settlements. Social conditions.

Transportation. Men taken at
their worth,

II. THE RACIAL INHERITANCE . . 26
The Scandinavian peoples. First set-
tlement in America. The Great
Migration. Concentration in the
Northwestern States. Remarkable
blending of races. Scandinavian
contribution to America.

III. THE IMMIGRANTS 3$

The father and mother. The old
home in Sweden. The struggle in
America. Sorrow and hardship.
Settle at St. Peter. Starting a new
home. Birth of the future gov-
ernor.

IV. THE BOY'S STRUGGLES ... 52

Delivers washing for mother. Good
record in school. Goes to work in
a grocery store. Becomes drug
clerk and general store clerk.
Works for railway contractors.
Head of the family. Ends mother's
washing work. A youthful orator
and omnivorous reader.

5

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

V. THE JOURNALIST 71

Johnson seizes the first great oppor-
tunity. No funds but assisted by
friends. Pubhshes a good paper.
Pays debt. Becomes a power in
the community. " It's a Fact "
column attracts attention.

VI. A WIDER CIRCLE . . . . . . 94

Newspaper work widens acquaint-
ance and activities. Secretary and
president Minnesota Editors and
PubHshers Association. Courtship
and Marriage. Rebuilds old home.

VII. ENTERS POLITICS 104

Country editor becomes state senator.
Makes a political sensation. De-
feated for reelection. First con-
sidered for governor in 1902.
Ideas as to country press.

VIII. FIRST GUBERNATORIAL CAM-
PAIGN 119

How the nomination came. John-
son's characteristic indifference.
Devotion of traveling-men. Dra-
matic episode of attack on Johnson
on account of father's weakness.
Features of the campaign.

IX. GOVERNOR — SUBSEQUENT

CAMPAIGNS 130

Campaign of 1906. Campaign of
1908. Desperate effort to escape
nomination. Popularity greater
than ever. Last triumph.

X. POLITICAL METHODS .... 143
Tolerance and the open mind. Win-
6

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

ning personality. Secrets of John-
son's great influence. Cooperation
with legislature.

XL ACHIEVEMENTS IN OFFICE . . 156
Railway legislation. Insurance re-
form. Strike of iron miners. Tax
reforms. U. S. Steel Corporation.
Royalty and tonnage tax. A na-
tional figure.

XII. THE FAMOUS GRIDIRON DIN-
NER 165

An occasion that made the Governor

famous. Central figure of a great

gathering.

XIII. CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESI-

DENCY 176

An vmwilling candidate. Not am-
bitious for the office. Forced into
the race. Loyal friends. No re- '
grets over outcome. Cordial ac-
quiescence in result.

XIV. PRIVATE LIFE 189

Religion. Wife. Friends. Amuse-
ments. Habits. Interests. Con-
versation. Story telling. Personal
anecdotes.

XV. AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER ... 199
Oratorical method. Most successful
when speaking extemporaneously.
In great demand on the lecture plat-
form.

XVL JOHNSON AND THE TIMES . . 227
Attitude toward the problems of the
day. The tariff. Relations with
Canada. Radical or conservative?

7

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

XVH. PERSONALITY 239

Physical characteristics. A man of
strong sympathies. Active but
even temperament. Great in his
simplicity.

XVIII. ILLNESS AND DEATH . . . .248
Of great vitality and vigor but long
a sufferer. The last hours. Meet-
ing death bravely. Public grief.
The funeral.

XIX. GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S INFLU-
ENCE 259

What it was and might have been.

APPENDIX

PUBLIC ADDRESSES, PROCLAMATIONS AND WRITINGS
TRIBUTES

Fourth of July Address 273

Commercial and Political Integrity .... 279

The Norsemen 302

Railway and Other Corporation Problems . . 308

At Vicksburg Battlefield 319

University of Pennsylvania Commencement Ad-
dress 324

At Shiloh Battlefield 359

Proclamations 373

Message Vetoing the Tonnage Tax .... 382

The Country Editor 389

Editorial Contributions 399

Tributes 405

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

John A. Johnson Frontispiece

Birthplace near St. Peter 14

Mother of Governor Johnson 30

Johnson When a Youth 46

Schoolhouse in St. Peter 62

Where Johnson Toiled When a Boy .... 70

Governor Johnson at Different Ages .... 78

" The Herald " Office at St. Peter 94

St. Peter Scenes no

Governor Johnson's St, Peter Home . . , .126

The Capitol, St. Paul 136

At Home with Relatives and Friends .... 142

Mother's Home in St. Peter 158

In the Country with Friends 174

Political Cartoons 181

Mrs. John Albert Johnson 190

Governor Johnson and Private Secretary Day in

Consultation 206

Portraits of Governor Johnson . . . . ' . . 222

9

ILLUSTRATIONS

Governor Johnson at Fort Snelling .... 238

Funeral Procession in St. Paul 254

The Cemetery at St. Peter ....... 258

Memorial Cartoons . . 406

10

INTRODUCTION

THE Biography of Governor John A. Johnson,
prepared by Frank A. Day, the Governor's
secretary and confidential friend, and by Theodore
M, Knappen, also a close friend, is a work of great
interest and value. The career of Governor John-
son was remarkable ; and the story of his early pov-
erty and hardship, of his manly struggle to support
himself and his mother, of his education and train-
ing for life, of his elevation three successive times
to the governorship in a state strongly opposed to his
political party, of his national reputation which
indicated that he might some day be called to the
presidency of the United States, is a story which
carries with it many a lesson for the boys and young
men of America. He was a man of strong con-
victions and of unswerving fidelity to what he be-
lieved to be right. His delightful personality and
his charming manners — his frank cordiality, his
outspoken maintenance of his opinions while he was
markedly tolerant of the opinions of others, all com-
bined to win for him the devoted attachment of a
multitude of people of all parties, and the mourning

II

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

over his untimely death has hardly been equaled
by the mourning for any other citizen except Abra-
ham Lincoln. His life is a noble examp/e of self-
reliance, industry, honesty, and high purpose.

Cyrus Northrop.
President's Ofhce,

The University of Minnesota^
Nov. 15, 1909.

12

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

CHAPTER I

THE MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT OF THE
SIXTIES

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON was born and bred
on the frontier. At the time of his birth, July
28, 1861, Minnesota had been a state but three years,
and the entire population of the large county in
which his parents lived was only three thousand.
Ten years before it had been without any settled
white inhabitants except missionaries and traders,
and one of the great gathering places of the Sioux
Nation was at the crossing of the Minnesota River,
known as Traverse des Sioux, only three miles
from St. Peter.

It was there that in 185 1 Governor Alexander
Ramsey, of the territory of Minnesota, and Luke
Lea, commissioners representing the United States
Government, negotiated with the Dakotah Indian
bands the treaty which ceded a large part of Min-
nesota, west of the Mississippi River, some twenty-

13

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

one million acres, to the whites. Immediately fol-
lowing the ratification of this treaty, there was a
rush of settlers into the ceded lands, and the Indians
were reduced to a reservation strip extending along
the Minnesota River for about one hundred miles.
The confinement to the reservation, however, in no
way subdued the savage character of the tribes,
and in 1862, when the infant Johnson was only a
year old, Little Crow and his painted warriors
suddenly rushed forth from their reservation, and
with fire and the tomahawk laid waste all western
Minnesota, and attacked and besieged New Ulm,
only twenty-five miles west of St. Peter. Within
a few days over eight hundred men, women and
children were slaughtered by the savages, and
hundreds were taken into captivity. The parents
of the future governor, with their children, fled
in panic from their location in the country to the
little village of St. Peter, then but a few years old.

Johnson's boyhood was passed among men and
women who had suffered from this Indian outbreak,
and from the first the lad was filled w4th love of
danger, courage and adventure.

The boy was affected and moulded by other con-
ditions of the frontier as well as those arising from
savage ferocity. Into the region just vacated by
the Dakotahs, poured emigrants from New Eng-

14

,_; y

MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT

land, the Middle West and the Old World. Life
was hard and crude. Society was unorganized.
The state was politically in a formative period.
Civil War had stirred up political passions, and
many thousands of the best young men of the new
state had gone to the front, leaving their work at
home unfinished. When the future governor was
born, there was not a mile of railway in the state
of Minnesota. St. Peter and other towns in the
Minnesota Valley received their supplies and com-
municated with the outside world by means of
steamboats on the Minnesota River, stage, ox-carts
and wagons. There were no telegraphs, and only
by letter and an occasional newspaper was intelli-
gence received from the great world to the east and
south.

Those who have seen the unharnessed West will
understand the effect on an impressionable and im-
aginative youth of the physical environment in
which Governor Johnson's boyhood was passed.
Eastward of St. Peter were the big woods, a noble
forest largely of hardwood, notable in the local
annals of Minnesota. Westward were those rolling
prairies which constituted then a part of what was
known as the great American Desert. These
prairies were still covered with their native wild
grass, underneath the sod of which was the accumu-

15

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

lated fertility of a million decades. In spring they
were green and flower bedecked; in fall brown
and waving with tall grass. Game was plentiful.
The buffalo and the elk had not yet receded beyond
the western limits of the state. Indian hunting
and war parties crossed and recrossed the prairies.
Bands of traders and trappers came and went.
Trains of Red River carts filed by in the long jour-
ney from St. Paul to Fort Garry in Prince Rupert's
Land, but the great characteristic of the prairie was
its quiet and loneliness, rarely, if ever, disturbed
by man. Lakes and streams were alive with water-
fowl, the prairie chicken abounded in the grass
lands, and in the spring and fall myriad thousands
of swans, cranes, geese, brants and ducks passed
on their aerial journeys with stirring clamour.
Truly, the prairie has its charms no less than the
forest.

As early as the last year of the seventeenth cen-
tury, Le Sueur, representing the Governor of Loui-
siana, had entered the St. Peter (St. Pierre) or Min-
nesota River from the Mississippi at St. Paul, and
had ascended it to the Blue Earth River just beyond
the point where nearly two hundred years later the
village of St. Peter was to be established, and there
erected the fort styled L'Huillier; but in that long
interval civilization had not come to change its

i6

MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT

aspect. The Indians were still there in numbers as
large as ever. They had concentrated a little to
the west of their favorite haunts of a few years
before. Dakotah and Ojibway still fought out their
ancient feud. The land was untilled, and intermit-
tent fur trade, French, British and American, for
upwards of one hundred and fifty years, had pro-
duced no permanent settlements.

Neill, in his history of Minnesota, gives an
account of a trip up the Minnesota River in 1850,
on one of the first steamers to ascend that river.
" The scenery," he writes, " the further we
advanced became more varied and beautiful. Here
there was an extensive prairie, ' stretching in grace-
ful undulations far away ;' there a wide amphithea-
tre encircled by cone-shaped hills, and inviting the
agriculturist to seek shelter for himself and his cat-
tle. Owing to the high tide of water, we passed
quite early in the morning some rapids without any
difficulty. During the day we met with little to ex-
cite us. Now and then we would pass an Indian in
his canoe, who, frightened by the puffing and novel
appearance of the boat, had crouched behind the
overhanging boughs of the weeping willow. . .
In the evening we passed a bluff of sand and
limestone, similar to those so frequent on the Upper
Mississippi, which is called White Rock. About

17

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

twelve miles beyond this we came to Traverse des
Sioux, where we did not stop as we were anxious
to ascend as far as possible by sunset. The wood
we had taken with us began to grow scarce, and a
little distance above this point the boat stopped, and
the crew and many of the passengers began to chop
wood. While engaged in this occupation, some two
or three Dakotah Indians, painted and plumed and
covered with perspiration, galloped up on their
Indian ponies. To pacify them and pay for the
wood, which it was necessary to take from their
lands, the party presented them with some sacks of
corn and treated them to a glass of fire-water, which
was entirely unnecessary. At dusk the boat tied up
in front of a beautiful prairie, elevated some sev-
enty feet above the river; and there those whose
tastes and principles permitted, danced until the heat
and mosquitoes forced them back to the boat. The
view from this prairie was intensely interesting. It
was bounded by a belt of woodland, and upon the
opposite side were slopes most beautifully rounded.
Upon its surface, jutting from the green sward,
were boulders of every size and shape, looking in
the dark as if the cattle had come down from a
thousand hills and were in repose."

Speaking of the return journey, Neill tells of a
stop at Traverse des Sioux, where Mrs. Hopkins,

i8

MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT

wife of Rev. Mr. Hopkins, a missionary of the
American Board, in charge of that station, told him
that the Indians could not conceive of the object
that led the white men to navigate a stream which
was not theirs, and that the children had been in
through the day to tell how terribly frightened
they had been by the steam whistle, and to inquire
whether it was a human being or the boat which
had made such an unearthly noise. . . . "In
the middle of the afternoon we stopped at Six
Village, the largest village of the Dakotahs, about
three hundred warriors, squaws and children were
on the bank eager to see the wonder. As the steam
whistle screeched, it was amusing to see the boys
and girls tumbling over each other in their haste to
escape. The chief soon stepped on board and
demanded a present for the privilege of navigating
the river; he also contended that a canoe had been
broken, but as he did not give the company ocular
evidence of the fact, they did not pay him, but pre-
sented him with some pieces of calico, provisions,
and a box of Spanish green. ... It had
been demonstrated that steamboats of light draught
could navigate the Minnesota, by the removal of a
few obstructions, at all stages of the water, to
Traverse des Sioux, and even to the Blue Earth
River. In a year or more the Dakotahs will make

19

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

a treaty and leave the land to their ancestors, and
then in an incredibly short period, the war whoop,
the scalp dance, the skin lodge, and the canoe of the
redman, will give place to the lowing of cattle, the
hum of children conning their lessons in the school-
house, the neat village church with its spire point-
ing heavenward, and a frugal and industrious
American husbandry."

All this was the condition of the Minnesota fron-
tier only eleven years before the birth of John Albert
Johnson, and so much was it still the unsubdued
frontier that one year afterwards, Little Crow
and his painted warriors scourged the Minnesota
valley as no other white settlement had been
scourged by Indians since the earliest days of the
settlement of French and English in America.

This rough and crude environment was as dif-
ferent as could be imagined from that of some old
community in the East. The men and women of
the little village in which Johnson spent his boyhood
were invaders, strugglers and conquerors. They
had helped in wresting the land from the Indians,
and they were now engaged in conquering it with
plow and axe. The native Americans in the com-
munity were strong and aggressive men and women,
with individuality well developed. Those who
came from foreign lands, though lacking in the

20

MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT

rough and ready adaptability of the American fron-
tiersman, were, nevertheless, brave and strong to risk
the perils of the frontier when so recently from
the peace and security of their old homes.

Life was not humdrum or monotonous. It was
full of incident and action. Men did not stagnate
in the new community or become petty because of
lack of connection with great things. Veterans of
the Indian and the Civil War fired the boys with
tales of martial glory, perilous adventure and hard-
ship bravely borne. The settlers felt that they were
building an empire and playing a great and essen-
tial part in American expansion and development.
Come but lately into a land long thought too cold
and northern for agriculture, they already were
confident they were laying the foundations of one of
the greatest of the republic's commonwealths.
" Our brief though energetic past," said Governor
Ramsey in 1853, " foreshadows but faintly the
more glorious and brilliant destiny in store for us;
nor is prophetic inspiration necessary to foretell it.
. . . In ten years a state — in ten years more
half a million people, are not extravagant predic-
tions. In our visions of the coming time rise up in
magnificent proportions or]£ or more capitals of the
North, Stockholms and St. Petersburgs, with many
a town besides only secondary to these in their

21

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

trade, wealth and enterprise." St. Peter felt that
its chance to become one of the " Capitals of the
North " was as good as St. Paul's. Indeed in 1857
a bill changing the location of the territorial capital
from St. Paul to St. Peter passed the House and
would have passed the Council, but for the abstrac-
tion of the bill and the adjournment of the legis-
lature while it was still missing.

Those men of the early day saw life in large
outlines, they toiled masterfully because they knew
they were making history. Life was good to them,
full of big and stirring events.

The boy who was to be governor of the Imperial
State forty years later was thus inevitably moulded
and bent by western conditions. He was a western
boy, and so became a western man. The American
type is really the western type, and that was John-
son's type. A child of the West, loving the western
land and western characteristics all his life, it is
noteworthy that Governor Johnson's last address of
public importance, that at Seattle in August, 1909,
was a sort of battle cry to western men to rally to
the standard of true Americanism.

The old West was essentially democratic in the
broad sense. It took men for what they were
rather than what their forebears and social stand-
ing had been. The man of action and accomplish-

22

MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT

ment was the only aristocrat the West respected or
tolerated. It was the land of the men who did
things. There was no place in it for the unem-
ployed, rich or poor. This fact was especially fa-
vorable to the development of Johnson the boy. In
an old community with its fixed social distinctions,
its prejudices against newcomers and aliens, John-
son would never have had the chance he had in the
formative St. Peter. He would have been made
to feel that he was not to the manor born — that
he was without the fold of the elect. But in St.
Peter, John Johnson, the child of Swedish immi-
grants, poverty-stricken and miserable, always felt
at home — that he was among his own people. The
community had no ancient scores against him.
It was glad to take him just as it took everybody
else — for just what he was worth. He, at least,
found what his parents came to America to find —
opportunity and a square deal. Thus, there was
no social condition to embitter the boy or fill him
with prejudice. His poverty and troubled boyhood
were the incidents of the kaleidoscope of human
life. Fate might be unkind to him, but men were
ready to help him as he earned and required help.
Johnson never lacked for help or friends. These
facts account for his unfailing optimism, just as
much as the grimness of his early life and the dis-

23

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

asters that overtook father and mother account for
those Hnes of sadness in his countenance that were
always noticeable when his face was in repose.

The great w'orld dawned upon the dreams of the
boy as a free-for-all contest, and with the good fel-
lowship and unconventionality of the West he
played the game with joy, abandon and unconcern.
The free and easy ways of the western community
in which he was born and reared left an indelible
brand upon Johnson. To the last he was open,
unaffected, unpretentious. Externals meant little to
him, and he was ever undismayed by titles and
pomp of office. The American West had taken him
at his worth, and he in turn took everybody else at
their worth. Human life was precious in the early
days of Minnesota. Every man had a distinct value
to the community. There was hardly anyone who
could be dispensed with. This importance of the
human being was always large with Johnson. The
increasing numbers of people in his widening circle
of acquaintance and influence never dwarfed the
importance of the individual to him. Human life,
no matter how disguised, deformed, disgraced or
degraded was sacred and of supreme importance to
this man. The West conferred on him that price-
less gift of appreciation of men, and he repaid it by
making all men with whom he came in contact feel

24

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

that they were, however humble and obscure, of
some real intrinsic value.

25

CHAPTER II

THE RACIAL INHERITANCE

GOVERNOR JOHNSON was the product of
the western American environment acting
upon and being acted upon by the Scandinavian im-
migrants from whom he sprang. It is not neces-
sary to seek out some legendary ancestor to account
for the element of heredity. His racial origin
could hardly be better, and while his family were
the plain, common people of Sweden, they had in
them the raw material which, given the favorable
environment and the opportunity, could without any
miracle be transformed into distinction and leader-
ship. They were, on both sides, of hard-working,
frugal, sturdy stock, — intelligent, literate and self-
reliant; and the lapses of the father and his
departure from the rule could hardly be expected
to affect the son's inheritance from countless gener-
ations.

The Scandinavian races are most intimately allied
with the Anglo-Celtic peoples, and are to-day, as
they have been for a thousand years, a people of
great vigor and a high degree of culture. Sweden,

26

THE RACIAL INHERITANCE

Norway and Denmark have played a large part in
the drama of European politics. In the Viking age
the fearless, blond warriors who issued from those
northern regions overran a large part of Europe,
and their stock was firmly planted in France and
the British Isles. Such names as those of Gustavus
Adolphus and Charles the Tenth suggest their
achievements in a later age. Paucity of population
and remoteness from the main-traveled roads of
commerce and history have kept these northern
nations from being conspicuous in international
affairs in recent times, but they have continued to
give to the world great men in literature, art and
science. They have been in the van of civilization
and social uplift, and popular education has there
attained a stage beyond that of any other consider-
able population of the world; only half of one per
cent, of the Scandinavian population is illiterate.
The people have always enjoyed local self-govern-
ment, and, in Sweden at least, the growth of politi-
cal organization has been very similar to that of
England. The Northmen have always been
characterized by a passionate devotion to liberty.
The strongest characteristic of the Vikings was
their individuality. They were willing to sacrifice
all else to remain freemen. The Viking migrations
and wars were largely caused by the unwillingness

27

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

of these strong men to submit to superiors at home,
and so departing in numbers they conquered Eng-
land and Normandy and created the kingdoms of
Naples and Sicily and were the forebears of those
Normans whose haughty captains humbled King
Harold at Senlac and established in England a
nobility that would not submit to despotism.
Sweden and Denmark have dethroned despotic
monarchs and Norway dared to defy all Europe
for national independence. Individuality, courage,
love of liberty, stubbornness and firmness and de-
termination are the strong qualities of the North-
men. Charles the Tenth was typical of his people.
It is related that in his boyhood he examined two
military plans. One showed how the Turks had
captured a town in Hungary, and underneath it
was written this line : '* The Lord hath given it
to me, and the Lord hath taken it from me ; blessed
be the name of the Lord." Taking the other plan
the boy wrote : " The Lord hath given it to me,
and the devil shall not take it from me."

In most of Sweden the climate is severe, the
winters long, and life for the common people one
of constant struggle. But where nature is hardest
and soil most unproductive men seem to flourish
best. The Swedish peasants were never serfs
chained to the soil, and they twice rose and tri-

28

THE RACIAL INHERITANCE

umphantly claimed their rights with the sword.
In Norway also the elements are stern. " The
ocean rolls along the rock-bound coast, and during
the long dark winters the storms howl and rage
and hurl their waves in white showers of spray
against the sky. The aurora borealis flashes like
a huge shining fan over the northern heavens, and
the stars glitter with keen, frosty splendor." The
people are independent, democratic, individualistic,
venturesome, world- faring. These were the con-
ditions and the human material that bred the Vik-
ings and sent them forth in their dragon galleys
to harry half the world. Similar conditions sent
their descendants of a later time to peaceful settle-
ment in America. Indeed, the Viking age wit-
nessed the discovery of America by the Norsemen.
Near five hundred years before Columbus sailed
from Palos Lief Ericsson had landed on the coast
of Vinland.

From the very beginning of the settlement of
America by the North Europeans the Scandina-
vian countries have contributed their share to its
development. There were Scandinavian settlers
as early as 1630, and the historic Swedish colony
on the Delaware was founded in 1638, only eighteen
years after the landing of the Pilgrims. In this
colony the Swedish language was maintained until

29

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

well into the nineteenth century. Men of the Del-
aware colony have left their mark in American
history. It was John Morton who gave the cast-
ing vote of Pennsylvania for the Declaration of
Independence, and it was another descendant of the
colony, John Anderson, who commanded at Fort
Sumter and met the first shock of the rebellion.
The colony of Christina was the outcome of the
project held nearest his heart by the great Gustavus
Adolphus. As early as 1624 the king who was to
die in victory on the momentous field of Lutzen,
was touched by the religious, economic and social
unrest that turned the eyes of the weary and op-
pressed to America throughout all western Europe.
Had Gustavus Adolphus lived far greater things
might have come of the colony on the banks of the
Delaware. The colony was founded with high and
noble motives and prospered, but had the great king
lived to put the force of his driving genius behind
the settlement, New Sweden might have played as
large a part in the affairs of the New World as
New Holland, New England or New France.
Dying on the field of battle in one of the greatest
of the world's religious wars, Gustavus looking be-
yond the foreground of the world-drama in which
he was acting, bequeathed to Chancellor Oxern-
stierna, " the jewel of his crown" — the project for

30

MRS. CHRISTINE IIADDEN JOHNSON
Mother of Governor Johnson

THE RACIAL INHERITANCE

a new Protestant nation beyond the seas. Thus the
main motive of the Delaware colony, like that of
Plymouth, was a religious one, and the little com-
pany that came to the Delaware in the good ship
Kalmars Nyckel deserves to rank with that of the
Mayflower.

Scandinavian immigration to the United States
continued during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries but did not assume large proportions until
the middle of the nineteenth century. In the fifties
and sixties thousands of the Northmen poured into
the United States, and they continued thereafter to
come in large numbers, the high tide being reached
in 1882 when 107,000 arrived; lately the annual ar-
rivals have been from 30,000 to 40,000. The mo-
tives of Scandinavian immigration to the United
States have been much the same as those that sent
the Vikings faring forth in former times. Irksome
political conditions at home, scant reward for hard
toil, a desire to give their children larger opportuni-
ties, the glamour of American freedom and the fas-
cination of empire-building tempted them to the
long hard journeys in tramp freight ships and the
steerage across the ocean and to the uphill fight in
a new and strange land. Coming from the north,
it was but natural that they should seek the colder
regions of the United States, and so we find them

31

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

largely concentrated in the middle northwestern
states, though well-represented in all the northern,
western and even southwestern states.

Minnesota has received more of the Scandinavian
homeseekers than any other state, and the men of
that race occupy and long have occupied a conspicu-
ous part in every department of human affairs in
that state. It is the state of fair hair and blue eyes,
and the blond type will survive there long after the
brunettes have become dominant elsewhere. In
Minnesota the Scandinavians are considered most
desirable immigrants. Poor men for the most part,
humble, eager to w-ork and to learn and to get ahead,
stalwart and strong, they were from the first prized
in a state where there was much to do. They built
the railways, felled the forests and tilled the soil.
In all heavy construction work they are much missed
in these later times, and contractors and other em-
ployers of human power in large quantities may
often be heard to regret the passing of the " good
old Swedes " for such work. The close racial re-
lationship of these newcomers to the native Ameri-
cans, their universal literacy, their physical strength
and mental ability, their energy and ambition to
rise, have led to an easy and rapid amalgamation.
No other immigrant becomes an American so soon
as the Scandinavian; the American born children

32

THE RACIAL INHERITANCE

rarely know the language of their parents, and in
Minnesota, and in the Dakotas, with all their Scan-
dinavian population, there is only an occasional com-
munity in which the old language survives as the
daily speech. The immigrants, it is true, fondly
cling to the language of Normannaheimen, but find
that English is necessary to a close touch with their
children and the performance of the duties of their
daily life.

The Scandinavians in America naturally see with
a clearer vision what America means to them and
what they mean to America than do other races.
" It is true," says O. N. Nelson,^ " that Rolf, Knute
the Great and Gustavus Adolphus have had, either
directly or indirectly, a great influence on civiliza-
tion. But excepting for the Thirty Years War, the
greatest, and for the human race the most important,
memorials of the Scandinavian people are connected
with the discovery of, colonization in, and emigra-
tion to the United States. John Ericsson, the great-
est Scandinavian-American, was more of a bene-
factor to humanity than either Rolf or Knute the
Great or both together. The emigrants, coming
from the narrow valleys of Norway, the mines and
forests of Sweden, the smiling plains of Denmark,
the rocky shores of Iceland, with hearts of oak and

^ " History of Scandinavians in the United States."

33

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

arms of steel., are building empires on this conti-
nent." The dream of Gustavus Adolphus of a
Swedish nation in the New World was not to be,
but his people have indeed built empires within an
empire in America. It has been said that it is pos-
sible to travel for three hundred miles in Minnesota
without leaving land owned by Scandinavian-Amer-
icans. It is estimated that there are in the United
States more than 2,000,000 people of Swedish de-
scent, and the total population of Scandinavian de-
scent has been estimated at as high as 4,000,000.
In 1900 there were in America one-third as many
Swedes as in Sweden, one-fifth as many Danes as in
Denmark and one-half as many Norwegians as in
Norway. Unlike the recent immigrants of southern
European origin, the Scandinavians are farmers,
and the hunger for land is strong in them. They
become farmers and landowners, and thus by their
occupation emphasize their contribution of steady
industry, coolness, calmness and conservatism to the
American " melting pot."

The northern blood of Scandinavia is proving
strong reinforcement for the Anglo-Celtic blood of
the republic. It serves well to keep the equilibrium
between Teuton and Latin in the great racial blend-
ing going on in America. No other human ma-
terial comes so ready for shaping by the conditions

34

THE RACIAL INHERITANCE

of America. The rapidity of transformation is
simply marvelous. Men and women who cannot
speak English on landing in this country are soon
in the thick of the Northwestern race for wealth
and preferment, acting, talking and thinking as
Americans. It is remarkable that within a genera-
tion the facial characteristics that mark the Scandi-
navian newcomer disappear. The change is often
wrought in the life of an individual. While not
enough time has elapsed for men of Scandinavian
blood to take the leadership in numbers proportion-
ate to their entire population, they have produced
already large numbers of men who are prominent
in business, politics and education. Senator Knute
Nelson, one of the strongest men in the United
States Senate, was governor before he was senator,
and congressman before that. John Lind, three
times member of the House of Representatives, and
once governor of Minnesota and Adolph O. Eber-
hart, the present governor of Minnesota, are among
those who, with the late Governor Johnson, have by
their worth attained state and national fame.
Other northwestern states have also produced many
leaders of Scandinavian origin.

The conditions of removal from the Old World
to the New and from one sort of a civilization to
another have borne hard on the men and women

35

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

from the Northland. Far from home and family
and the restraints of settled relations, individuals
here and there who would have led quiet, humdrum
lives at home, have yielded to vice or become law-
less, and others have broken down under the ter-
rific pressure of American life, becoming wrecks
cast up on the shore of the sea of humanity. Some
observers and students of the interesting problem of
migration and fusion of races now proceeding in
America under peaceful conditions, think that the
result of the strain and shock of transmigration are
shown in inferior stamina in the second generation
in America. The next generation, however, having
become thoroughly adapted to the environment, re-
vert to the stalwart strength of the forefathers.
The peasant women of the human stream Scandi-
navia has poured into the United States are strong,
healthy and vigorous, well-fitted to be the mothers
of men; their families are large, and since in the
Northwest, as elsewhere, the native American stock
tends to small families, the dominant race element
of the future, though American to the core, is
bound to be even more strongly of Scandinavian
origin than now. Such being the case it is reassur-
ing to know that the stock is sound and sturdy.
They are a peaceable people, industrious, frugal and
self-reliant, characterized by moderation and re-

36

THE RACIAL INHERITANCE

straint. Accustomed to self-government at home,
intelligent, inspired by American opportunity, they
take the keenest interest in politics, and have no
disposition to delegate political authority. Popular
government benefits by their coming. The early
comers sent their full share of volunteers to the
front in the Civil War eager to fight for the per-
petuation of the Republic even before they could
speak its language. The coincidence of the Civil
War and the early wave of Scandinavian settlement
in the United States led to their general identifica-
tion with the Republican Party, and in the main they
have ever since stood by this party ; though of recent
years, the Norwegians, somewhat more prone to
change than the Swedes, have become Democrats to
a considerable extent, and many of the Swedes have
followed the leadership of men like John Lind and
John Albert Johnson into the Democratic Party.

It is not possible to take the space to give an ade-
quate idea of the racial conditions, the incidents of
immigration, the fascinating blending of the races,
the contact of the Old World with the New, but
what has been here briefly sketched will give some
impression of the human stock of which John Al-
bert Johnson came, and the forces that were affect-
ing it at the time of his birth and boyhood and that
affected him later despite his Americanism.

37

CHAPTER III

THE IMMIGRANTS

IN the fifth decade of the nineteenth century all
Sweden was filled with unrest. The revolu-
tions of 1848 were not without a profound effect
in Scandinavia. The common people were stirred
by a deep desire for better things. They felt that
they were hopelessly handicapped by the weight of
old and but slowly changing institutions. They
heard from returning friends inspiring tales of the
opportunities offered to thrift, energy and industry
in the great republic beyond the seas. The dis-
covery of gold in California in 1849 served not
only to swell the throng of the argonauts from
Scandinavia, but created a vast impulse among those
who bore the main weight of the social and eco-
nomic institutions to migrate to the New World, pos-
sess themselves of the land that could be had for
the asking and start life anew free from the impedi-
ments of an ancient and fixed order. The unrest
penetrated to the little parish of Refteled, Jonko-
ping Lane (county) in the Province of Smoland

38

THE IMMIGRANTS

and to Gustav Jenson it came as a new stimulus to
hope, as the call to a new and better life.

His father, then dead some years, had been a
small landowner and farmer, and as regards worldly
possessions was of a higher class than most of the
Swedish people who migrated to the New World.
He had several children, and when the estate was
divided or otherwise disposed of, after his death,
Gustav's interest in it gave him an income of only
$7 or $8 a year. Gustav had learned the black-
smith's trade, and learned it well, and was also a
good woodworker, so that the income from the
estate should have meant little to him. Gustav,
however, was indolent, easy-going and much given
to sociability, though he was not then dissipated.
He appeared to his neighbors to be just a good
fellow who lacked ambition and energy. He had
accomplished nothing, and was rather looked upon
with good-natured disfavor by the hard-working
village folk. He was so kind, so generous, so sun-
ny-natured that none could be very harsh with him.
Like many another who has not got on in the world,
Gustav laid his failure to circumstances rather than
to himself. He was persuaded that if he could only
get to America, it would be easy to begin a new
life — away from the old ruts, his boon companions
and familiar surroundings. He was utterly with-

39

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

out funds, but clung desperately to the idea of
getting to America. Among those who were mak-
ing ready to depart for the land of promise were
his friends, Mr. and Mrs. Carl A. Johnson, who
thought rather well of Gustav despite his short-
comings. To them Gustav went with the proposi-
tion to exchange his birthright for a ticket to Amer-
ica. The deal was made, and so when the Johnsons
sailed westward Gustav Jenson was with them.
Carl Johnson, however, never got a penny for Jen-
son's birthright. The amount was small to a man
who soon became accustomed to American stand-
ards of value, the distance was great and the means
of collecting the income doubtful. So, it turned
out that he had really made Jenson a present of
the $50 or $60 he paid for his transportation to
America. Gustav's easy-going habits did not alter
on shipboard, and it is related by members of the
Johnson family that he spent most of his time at
sea in his bunk. The immigrants traveled from the
interior of Sweden to the port of Gothenburg, via
inland waterways, thence by vessel to Hull, Eng-
land, and thence by sailing ship to Boston, the last
part of the journey taking over six weeks.

Chicago was the destination of the immigrants,
and there Gustav tarried a year, finding employ-

40

THE IMMIGRANTS

ment at his trade, and saving a little money. In
the meantime the immigrants heard much of the
rich valley of the Minnesota, which had only re-
cently been ceded by the Indians, where land could
be taken by preemption. So in the spring of 1855
Gustav and Hans J. Johnson, a brother of Carl, and
Hans' wife set out for Traverse des Sioux, which
was then the very outpost of white settlement.
They traveled by rail from Chicago to Galena, III,
and there took a steamboat for St. Paul. At St.
Paul they reckoned up and found that it would take
every cent they had to buy tickets on the steamboat
from St. Paul to St. Peter. Nothing daunted, they
decided to transport themselves. Investing a few
dollars in lumber, they built a rowboat, bought a
barrel of flour and some salt pork, loaded these and
their baggage into the boat and pushed out for St.
Peter. They were going into a new country, Trav-
erse des Sioux was little more than an Indian trad-
ing post and they did not know whether they could
get work there or not. But they had provisions
enough to last them for the round trip, so that they
felt sure of being able to get back to St. Paul. Be-
sides they had $5 in money between them, were all
young and hopeful and they were delighted with the
adventure. The river was high and the current

41

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

was swift; it took ten days of hard work to make
the 150 miles to Traverse des Sioux, but with joke
and song and whistling the time passed quickly.

Arrived at Traverse des Sioux the next thing to
do was to get some land. They found preemption
land not far away, in what is now Traverse town-
ship of Nicollet County. They might have taken
160 acres each, but as they might be called on at
any time to pay $1.25 an acre they feared that the
demand would find them without enough purchase
money if they should file on a quarter section, so,
in the branch land office at St. Peter, they applied
for eighty acres each, and forthwith set about im-
proving it. Gustav's eighty was all prairie but
there was some timber on Carl's land, and from
this wood they took the logs for their cabins. Gus-
tav seemed to have a new energy, and built a more
pretentious house than that Hans undertook. It
measured 14 X 16 and boasted a gable roof of
poplar poles thatched with long slough grass.
There was no floor but the earth. The door was
on the side near one end, and it opened into a little
hall, which in turn opened into the main room.
The same transverse partition that made one side
of the hall also cut off a small pantry or store-
room from the rest of the house. The cabin was
torn down about 1864, and there is now no trace

42

THE IMMIGRANTS

of it beyond an opinion that some of the logs were
used in a granary still standing near by. Gtistav
was not much of a farmer, but he put in some crops
and then built a small shop in which he carried on
his trade. When the time came Hans and Gustav
walked overland to Winona, one hundred and forty
miles, to pay up and get title at the government land
office. Having made this transaction, Gustav Jen-
son, who now began to call himself Johnson (con-
sidering that the American equivalent of Jenson),
was the owner of eighty acres of land in his own
right, a comfortable cabin and was conducting a lit-
tle smithy. It began to look as if the migration had
been good for him. He needed only a wife to
complete his establishment. Through many misfor-
tunes and tribulations the one who was to be his
wife, came at last to Traverse des Sioux.

Caroline Christine Hadden, daughter of Lothrop
and Breta Hadden, was born in Lindkoping, Oster-
gotland, Sweden, March 5, 1838. The father, a
master cabinet maker, also owned a farm adjoining
the village, and was able to provide well for his
family. The local nobility greatly esteemed Loth-
rop Hadden's skill, and for weeks at a time he was
away from home, employed at their castles. Thus
he came, in time, to have more than a local reputa-
tion as a skilled artisan. These business sojourns

43

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

in the homes of nobiHty doubtless gave him gUmpses
of a world far larger than that of the village.
Lothrop was a born mechanic, and his interests and
his industry were by no means confined to his own
trade or to his farm. He planned and built the first
threshing machine ever used in that part of Sweden.
In his odd moments he built an elaborate clock and
constructed a loom. He fashioned a pair of beau-
tiful candelabra, which he presented to the parish
church. One of his diversions was to take a new
piece of cloth, study out the design and fabric and
then imitate it on his own loom. He was a great
reader, and always had a book with him for reading
in spare moments. The family numbered five chil-
dren, besides Christine — an elder brother, three
younger brothers and a little sister. Lothrop Had-
den was a devoted father. His own inclinations,
work, associations and reading had given him a
taste for a larger life than he could hope to at-
tain in Sweden. He was possessed of a longing to
give his children a better start and opportunity in
the world than he had himself. Therefore the mi-
gration fever found him an easy victim. In the
spring of 1853 he sold his farm and his shop and,
keeping the tools of his trade, took passage in May
for America with his family and a sister. The im-
migrants were ocean-borne by sailing vessel and

44

THE IMMIGRANTS

eleven weeks and five days passed before they came
to port at Boston.

Soon after the Haddens reached Boston the fa-
ther was searched out by a gentleman who inquired
whether he was the man who had made a chiffonier
for a certain Swedish nobleman, and on learning
that Hadden was the man, gave him a commission
to build a similar one for him. From Boston the
Hadden family traveled westward to Chicago.
While on Lake Erie their vessel caught fire and they
were barely saved by another boat. Arriving at
Chicago at last, Lothrop Hadden soon fell a victim
to his Old World innocence. He consulted a Swed-
ish interpreter in the government employ in regard
to exchanging his Swedish money for American.
The interpreter said that the exchange could not be
made in Chicago, but that the money would have to
be returned to Sweden for that purpose. So, the
guileless immigrant turned all his funds over to the
interpreter to take back to Sweden with him, he
saying that he was to sail for the old country on
the next ship. Needless to say Hadden never saw
the money — the entire proceeds of his former prop-
erty. The need of remunerative employment was
urgent and Hadden ordered lumber to fill the order
he had received in Boston. It was the year of the
cholera. The dread disease entered the family.

45

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Lothrop Hadden and his good wife succumbed, and
the eldest son and the aunt also obeyed the call of
death. Within three weeks from the time that the
wandering family arrived in Chicago, Caroline
Christine found herself bereft of father and mother,
ignorant of the language, inexperienced and with
three brothers and a baby sister to care for. Her
first thought was that she might sell her father's
tools, but when she went to the Swedish pastor's
house, whither her father had sent them, she found
that they had been left under the eaves of the
church and were ruined by moisture and rust.
Charity, then, was the only resort. The three boys,
Carl John, Andrew Alfred and Lars Rheinhold, and
the baby were placed in an orphans' home, where
Caroline was given employment. A little later the
young girl was taken as domestic servant into the
home of a minister, but she could not stand the
separation from the other children, and throwing
her clothes out of the window one night, stole away
and returned to the orphans' home, and begged
Mrs. Fleming, the matron, to let her stay there with
the little ones. Mustering her courage again, she
went forth to employment in a family of the name
of Beecher, at Michigan City, Indiana. She stayed
there through the winter of 1852-3, but was called
back to Chicago by news of the sickness of the lit-

46

EARLY PICTURES OF JOHNSON WITH HIS FRIENDS

(From tintypes)

THE IMMIGRANTS

tie sister. The heartbroken Caroline arrived too
late — the baby had died. She remained at the
orphanage through the summer and fall, and during
that time the eldest brother was apprenticed to a
tinsmith in Chicago and the two other boys were
adopted by families living in the country near Au-
rora, Illinois. Caroline remained in Chicago during
the winter and once visited her brothers in the coun-
try. In the spring an uncle residing in St. Paul,
invited her to join him, and saying good-bye to the
brothers she took the long journey by rail and boat to
St. Paul. This proved to be her last farewell to the
brothers; for on the way to St. Paul, Caroline lost
their addresses and never saw or heard of them
again, though in later years many efforts were made
to locate them. The immigrant girl was now alone
and helpless; for her uncle had moved away from
St. Paul before she arrived. After a stay of a
year in St. Paul, she proceeded by steamer on the
Minnesota River to Traverse des Sioux, intending to
stay there only a short time, but the river froze
up unexpectedly, and she was compelled to remain
until spring. When she returned to St. Paul she
found that the boarding-house keeper had given
away the trunk which contained all her clothing
and family keepsakes. She had now not a single
token of the past, of the old land of her kin.

47

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

While at Traverse des Sioux she met Gustav John-
son, and returning to St. Peter in January, 1858,
was met with an offer of marriage from the young
blacksmith. They were married February 28,
1858.

Hans J. Johnson was the matchmaker. He told
Gustav that being now past thirty years of age and
having a farm and a home and being well started
in life, he should take a wife. By this time a
Swedish Lutheran Church had been started at
Traverse des Sioux. At the church meetings Hans
noticed a comely, bright-eyed woman, who proved,
upon introduction, to be Christine Hadden.
Previously Christine had worked in the family of
G. A. Brown, a storekeeper at Traverse des Sioux.
Hans told Christine that she ought to be working
for herself, and that the best way to do that would
be to marry Gustav Johnson, who owned a farm,
a house, and was withal a good workman. Chris-
tine was alone in the world and sorrow-stricken,
she longed for a home ; and so the suggestion of
Hans Johnson was favorably received. In the
meantime Carl A. Johnson and his family had
come from Chicago to the settlement, and they
thought marriage would be good for Gustav. The
two were married in Gustav's cabin by the Rev.
C. Cedarstram, of the Swedish Lutheran church.

48

THE IMMIGRANTS

Their pre-nuptial journey was the six-mile drive to
Gustav's farm, and the driver was Matthias G.
Evenson, the first settler on the site of St. Peter,
who had married Sophia Christine Johnson, daugh-
ter of Carl Johnson, both of whom are living. Mrs.
Evenson recalls with clear memory the old home in
Sweden, Gustav Johnson as he was there and later
in America, and it is from her, her husband and
her brother, C. F. Johnson, that most of what is here
recorded about the Jensen or Johnson family was
learned.

For four years the couple prospered and were
happy, and it was in the farm cabin built by Gus-
tav, that on July 28, 1861, the second son, John
Albert Johnson, was born. The Indian massacre of
1862 drove the Johnson family into St. Peter for
safety, and the father, on the plea that he could do
better there than in the country-, sold the farm,
built a little home and opened a shop. Here, too,
the family prospered for a while, and in St. Peter
were born five daughters and another son. But the
mother's respite from misery and woe was to be
brief. In the village there were too many temp-
tations for the father; it was too easy to let things
drift, and he soon started on a downward career
that ended many years later in the county home.

Gustav Johnson, poor, disgraced wretch that he
49

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

was in later years, had good qualities, and there is
little doubt that his great son profited somewhat
from his paternal heredity. From his mother, the
hard-working, long-suflFering woman of many sor-
rows, Johnson inherited an unconquerable firmness
and fixity of purpose that was curiously blended
with an easy-going good nature that doubtless came
from his father. John's good-fellowship, his
lovable social qualities, his vivacity and enthusiastic
nature were his inheritance from the wretched
father, an inheritance of cheerfulness that was
nevertheless always shadowed by a lurking sadness.
There has been a tendency to make the father
appear worse than he was, because his failure
brought so much hardship and humiliation to the
family. There was nothing evil in his nature. He
was a dreamer and talker rather than a performer.
While not well educated, he could read and write,
and loved to whistle and sing and discuss politics
and religion. There was doubtless good material
in the man who could do what he had done from
the time he left Sweden until some years after mar-
riage. But the responsibilities of family life were
too much for him. He could not get ahead, and
as the years went by he became discouraged, lost
his grip and finally became a tramp, a drunkard
and an outcast. Some of his friends think that

50

THE IMMIGRANTS

he was mentally deranged when he finally gave up
the struggle and deserted his family, and they pre-
fer to think of the good-natured, entertaining talker
and jovial singer of the earlier days.

^

CHAPTER IV

THE boy's struggles

AS self-consciousness dawned upon little John
Johnson, he found himself in a sad home at-
mosphere. The father failed as a provider, and as
the family grew his lack of energy became more
manifest. He took care of an occasional job in his
shop and did it well, but was wholly lacking in
enterprise, and the habit grew on him of taking a
cheerful view of life through the aid of drink.
Some of his friends thought Mrs. Johnson was not
a good economizer. A country boy bringing a
coulter of a plow to Gustav for repair, was invited
to take dinner with the family. " There was," he
said, *' a big slab of sponge cake in the middle of
the table, and a fine, big, juicy beefsteak, potatoes
and bread and butter. I don't believe I had ever
eaten beefsteak before. When I told my father
about it, he shook his head and said that Gustav
would yet land in the poorhouse." Certain it is
that so long as the father was active the table
was well-provided, and there was often a friend at

52

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

the board. But this period of comfort gradually
merged into one of want, as the father became
more and more incapable. One day he sold the
shop for $200, put the money into his pocket,
walked down the street, with a pleasant greeting
to Matt Evenson — and was gone for a year. He
returned and went again ; returned once more, a
physical wreck, and as a helping factor in the
family life had to be ignored. Eventually he
reached the lowest depths of misery and helplessness,
and was finally sent to the county farm as an in-
ebriate, where he died.

The father's wretchedness and the mother's bur-
den of toil and care for the family weighed down
the boy's spirits and oppressed his thoughts. Pov-
erty was there with all its blight. The mother, with
iier new chapter of suffering, was not yet beyond
the sorrow of death's shadow. In all she bore eight
children, four of whom passed away in infancy or
childhood, two dying when the poverty of the family
was at the extremest. The daily toil that kept the
wolf from the door was of the hardest kind for
the mother — she was the village washerwoman.
Her best efforts brought but small reward, and the
living was of the scantiest. The children were
poorly clad and scantily nourished. A neighbor re-
lates that she was often invited to partake of a

53

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

meal with the Johnsons, being a frequent visitor
at the home, but declined whenever possible, because
of the limited amount of food. One dish usually
constituted the meal — sometimes potatoes, some-
times bread and butter; ofttimes the cow the family
managed to keep was their sole defense against
hunger. So limited was the food of the family
that it has been thought by some of the neighbors
that the health of the future governor was perma-
nently impaired by lack of sufficient nutritious food
during his early years. The furniture of the little
home was meager almost beyond description. One
pail served Mrs. Johnson as a milk pail, bread pan,
dish pan, and water pail. She baked her bread on a
picked-up piece of sheet iron or an old kettle cover.
There was one table in the house and two or three
wooden benches. There was no such thing in the
house as a bureau, box or chest and only one bed-
stead. It was difficult to get fuel enough to warm
the rooms in winter, and the children as well as the
mother suffered from cold. For years Mrs. John-
son had only one dress, which was her single
garment. It was a sort of wrapper, lined with
flour sacking. Old-timers in St. Peter, like the
Evensons, recall the boy John, hugging the stove
in the winter clad only in a linen blouse,
well worn before winter came. He was four-

54

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

teen years old before he knew the comfort of
an overcoat — and that in a climate where the
mercury often goes well below zero in the winter.
But while the Johnson family lived in abjectest
poverty, it was not squalid poverty. The mother
kept the house spotlessly clean, and what little there
was in it showed to the best advantage.

Neither was poverty faced by the mother and
children in a morose or sullen spirit. They made
the most of what they had. Mrs. Johnson enjoyed
company, and being deprived of a husband's pres-
ence and cooperation, liked to have visitors. The
children managed to go to school, and the mother
was willing to suffer any hardship to keep them
there. John delivered the washing for his mother
and collected it mornings and evenings, went to
school with the other boys, milked the cow, and did
the odd jobs that came along; collected scrap iron
and copper for a few cents a pound, and found
time to play ball and marbles in the summer, and
coast and skate in winter.

One of the jobs that came to him and a com-
panion was a commission to hoe the weeds out of
the corn field of Gibb Patch, an old citizen and
veteran of the Civil War. The boys were to re-
ceive twenty cents a row. They worked up and
down the rows most dihgently, cheering themselves

55

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

for their aching backs and blistered hands with the
addition of twenty cents to their joint assets at the
end of each row. When the work was done — and
it w'as well done — the boys hastened to search for
Gibb Patch to collect their money. Gibb could not
be found at first, and several weeks passed before
he went out to inspect the field. Of course, the
weeds had grown up again by this time; Gibb in-
sisted that the work had been done in a slovenly
manner and announced to the disappointed boys that
ten cents a row was all he would pay. The boys
could do no better, and took their pay at that rate,
but John was boiling over with rage. He con-
sidered that he had been outraged. " Just as soon
as I am big enough," he threatened Gibb, *' I will
give you a good licking for this." It was about the
only grudge that John harbored in his life. One
day, years later, he realized that he was big enough
to " lick " Gibb. " But then," he said, " it would
have been such an easy job, that I did n't have the
heart to do it."

John's school days and boyhood were soon over,
but for recompense it was given him to be a boy
all his life. Between the ages of six and thirteen,
he had attended school in four different buildings,
and had made the most of his opportunities. The
first years of school were passed in a little frame

56

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

public school building, which, remodeled, still
stands, and is used as a dwelling. This building
was at first the edifice of the German Methodists,
and was built in 1862 of lumber hauled overland
from St. Paul by ox-team driven by Henry Moll,
the present judge of probate of Nicollet County,
who was then only thirteen years old. After
the church outgrew this primitive structure, the
town school board found it very convenient to
accommodate the overflow from the regular school-
house. From this little schoolhouse the boy was
transferred to the Livemiore Episcopalian school,
which was then housed in the building that had
formerly been used for worship by the First Episco-
pal Mission Church of the Holy Redeemer. It is
now used as a blacksmith shop. Returning to the
public schools, the future governor was taken care
of in the main school building of that time, which,
moved a mile from its old location, now does
duty as a hide and wool warehouse. All of these
school buildings were moved from tlieir original lo-
cations, and have finally come to stand near each
other.

The fourth and last schoolhouse, built of brick,
and formerly known as the high school, is still in
use, and the Governor's sister, Hattie, is a teacher
there. The last year of schooling, spent here, was

57

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

an important year in the boy's life, for it brought
him under the influence of Elias S. Pettijohn, a
teacher, who understood and Hked the boy, en-
couraged him to study, set him a good example
in and out of school of what a man should be, and
aroused in the boy a thirst for knowledge. To the
last there was an affectionate regard between the
pupil and his schoolmaster, who is now deputy state
treasurer.

" John was one of my pupils in the old brick
school building at St. Peter," says Mr. Pettijohn,
" for one school year and, I think, part of a second
year. I was in charge of this school from the be-
ginning of the school year in 1873 till the December
holidays in 1876. As I now recall the impressions
of John as a student, the first and strongest is as
to his personality. He was a natural gentleman.
I mean that he had an instinctive tendency to be
kindly to and thoughtful of others. He was one
of the brightest-minded boys I have ever known.
Sincerity, honesty, ability and industry were founda-
tion stones in the temple of his mental and moral
life. In his classes and on the playgrounds he was
always wide awake, and ready to do the very best
that was in him. He never mixed his class work
with playground sports, nor carried to the play-
grounds any sentiment other than a fine strong love

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

of athletic sport. There never was any sham in
his entire make-up. He was always and under all
circumstances perfectly natural — gentlemanly, un-
assuming. His conduct and deportment in the
schoolroom, on the playgrounds, and at all other
places was always gentlemanly — fitting perfectly to
the time and place.

" He was quite diffident as to his ability as a
student, an incident of which I now recall. We
had a very lively, wide awake school, and in addition
to the lessons assigned in the text-books I always
placed or had copied on the blackboard some special
work calling for original effort on the part of the
student, and an application by the student of the
principles embodied in the text of the lesson. I
presume that modern methods of teaching make
my work appear crude ; however, that was the best
way I knew of and so used it. The incident men-
tioned happened when I handed John the written
copy and asked him to go to the blackboard and
copy it. He demurred, said he was afraid that he
could not do it as well as it should be done ; he
was diffident and bashful, and, as was perfectly
natural, lacked confidence in himself, facing an un-
tried experiment. I encouraged him to try — tell-
ing him that the mere act of trying under the
circumstances and doing his best would be to him a

59

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

most useful lesson. He went to the blackboard
willingly and copied the work in excellent style and
manner. Each student in the class then copied in
his blotter the lesson from the blackboard. He
spoke of this incident over and over after he became
a noted man, and always with the statement that
no other event in his school life did so much to
develop confidence in himself as this. Ever after-
ward he was always ready and willing to do any
part, or all, of the blackboard work. He developed
into a splendid blackboard writer, and also a fine
rapid writer with pen and pencil."

When Gustav Johnson gave up the fight and
walked out of the village without a word of fare-
well, he brought John's formal education to an end.
The mother was the sole support of the family, and
John, though all but heartbroken at leaving school,
made up his mind that the time had come for him
to go to work. Friends and neighbors, like the
Johnsons and Evensons, helped the family out with
loads of wood and hay and contributions of pro-
visions of one sort and another, and the mother
fought against John leaving school, for she feared
that if he left it would be never to return — and so
it was. The boy made up his mind that there was
no choice for him. And, as always, once he had
made up his mind, good-natured and accommodating

60

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

as he ever was, nothing could turn him from his
purpose. Matthias Evenson, who had always taken
a kindly interest in the family, lending the father
money now and then to carry on his business, and
who with his good wife came to their assistance in
this crisis, agreed with John. He deplored the
necessity of taking the boy out of school, but
advised him to keep his books and study by him-
self. John said he would, and he did. Mr. Even-
son called on Charles J. Colin, who kept a general
store, and asked him whether he could not find a
place for John in his store. Mr. Colin, who is still
living on a farm some twelve miles from St. Peter,
had already taken notice of John. Three years be-
fore he had begun to observe a slim, light-haired,
blue-eyed, bright-looking youngster on the streets,
clad in a pair of blue overalls, a hickory shirt, and
a battered straw hat. Later he learned that the
boy was " Johnny " Johnson, and found that as he
came and went, he was often collecting or delivering
washing for his mother, and that he and his elder
brother, Ed, even helped the mother with the wash-
ing and ironing. There was something trim, quick
and keen about the barefoot boy that made a lasting
impression on Mr. Colin. So he was quite ready
to act on Mr. Evenson's application. Thus it came
about that, at the age of thirteen, John Johnson went

6i

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

to work as all-around help in Colin's store at a
salary of $io a month. His duties were to sweep
out the store, deliver groceries and take care of the
old mare with which John made the round of Colin's
customers. John made good from the start, as he
always did, seemingly without any great effort.
Whatever he did seemed to him to be a good thing
to do. The work in hand was always the great
thing with Johnson, boy or man. Few men were
as little concerned about the future as he; his chief
concern was always the present task.

" After John had been with me a week," said
Mr. Colin, " I knew I had drawn a prize. He
proved to be accommodating, gentlemanly, and was
never ruffled. He had natural ability as a sales-
man, and made friends very fast. In less than two
weeks he knew the stock thoroughly, had developed
into a first-class clerk and was good at anything
he undertook. I would just as soon have him be-
hind the counter as myself. I never hesitated about
leaving him in charge of the store, and I always
knew where to find him. He was always ready for
work and never shirked. My wife and I thought
as much of him as we did of our own children.
When he was at our house Johnny would insist on
helping my wife if she appeared to need any help.

62

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

" It was his custom to take his wages home to
his mother every Saturday night during the two
years he was with me. I noticed that he always
spoke lovingly of her and the children, and he never
complained of his father.

" Twice while I was in the grocery business the
grasshoppers swooped down on the farms around
St. Peter and destroyed the crops. After the
second visitation I went out of business, but before
I closed the store Matt Evenson and I found a place
for John in Henry Jones' drug store, wdiere at first
he was paid the same salary I had given him. We
met occasionally, only at long intervals after I left
St. Peter, but our friendship never lessened. Once
after he became governor, I was his guest for a
part of a day in St, Paul — I tried twice that day to
give him his title in addressing him, but he would n't
have it. ' Call me John or Johnny,' he said, same
as you used to.'

" While he was still my clerk he spent most of
his leisure in reading, though he was full of fun
and frolic, and dearly loved the games of boyhood.
He certainly was an omnivorous reader. He
always slept in the store, and I have found him
many times late at night sitting alongside his cot,
reading by the light of a kerosene lamp, entirely

63

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

absorbed and completely oblivious of his surround-
ings. I often had to remind him that it was time
to go to bed.

" Even when he was only thirteen years old he
was a good speaker. Some say that he developed
his faculty for speaking in the Knights of Pythias
Lodge, which he joined later, but it is certain that
he used to address the boys who would gather in
the store when business was dull. If there were
four or five of them there, and there was nothing
else to do, he would sometimes mount a barrel and
gravely discuss the political issues of the day."

After a time spent in the Jones' store, John en-
tered the employ of Stark Brothers & Davis, who
conducted a general store. It was winter and one
of the firm insisted upon providing him with an over-
coat, the first he had ever had. A boy who turned
all of his salary over to his mother could hardly
afford the luxury of an overcoat, even in a Min-
nesota winter.

The first great triumph of the boy's life was at-
tained when his salary was made large enough to
support the family. With the money in his hands
he hastened home to tell his mother that her days of
public washing were over. " I have never been
prouder of John," said his mother years after, when
he was a candidate for governor, " than I was the

64

THE BOYS STRUGGLES

evening when he came home and told me that his
salary had been raised, and that he would no longer
permit me to take in washing."

In the gubernatorial campaign of 1908, w'hile the
Governor was making a sort of triumplial progress
throughout the state, hailed everywhere as the
greatest of Minnesota's governors, and looked upon
by his people as a coming president of the United
States, one of his party asked him what was the
happiest moment of his life — was it when he was
first elected governor, or was it when men began to
name him for the presidency ?

" No," said the Governor, " the keenest satisfac-
tion I have known in life was that evening when with
my raised salary I went home, and my heart bound-
ing with joy, laid it in mother's lap, and told her
that she would no longer have to take in washing."

Some men might have said that for effect. John
A. Johnson said it because it was true. Between
mother and son there was always the fullest con-
fidence— except that the boy — as he afterwards
confessed — sometimes "went swimming" without
her consent or knowledge.

A few months spent as a drug clerk in Decorah.
Iowa, and a few months more, in 1886-7, ^^ ^
railway construction supply clerk in the employ of
C. G. Larson & Co., railway contractors, were the

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

only absences of any length from St. Peter in the
whole of Governor Johnson's life up to the time of
his first election as state senator. He was with
Larson & Co. from March, 1886, until February i,
1887, but during only part of that time was he
employed at Greeley, Iowa. In the last few months
of that employment he was stationed at Mankato,
which was so near St. Peter that frequent visits
home were possible. Returning to the drug store's
employ in the early eighties he became a registered
pharmacist. The confinement of the store impaired
his health and caused the change of occupation.

John Peterson, a member of this contracting firm,
and now internal revenue collector for the district
of Minnesota, who had known Johnson from his
early boyhood, engaged him for the railway work
at a salary of $75 a month. The young man's
duties were to handle all the supplies and tools
needed by the subcontractors from the company
store, the work extending ten or fifteen miles each
way from Greeley, on the then building Chicago
Great Western Railway. Mr. Peterson says that
he was one of the most trustworthy and reliable
young men he had ever known. " He handled the
business to our entire satisfaction, was correct and
careful, and in good humor all the time ; helping
materially by his cheerfulness and promptness to

66

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

further our work. Later, on the construction of
the Cannon Valley railroad, Johnson performed
other services for us with headquarters at Mankato.
His duties were to look after the requirements of
the laborers and keep track of them, the tools and
machinery, and the teams. It was in that work that
we taught him bookkeeping. Here, as at Greeley,
his service to us was of the highest order.''

These mere dates and places of employment, how-
ever, give little idea of the life the boy led in the
years of adolescence and youth. At home, the days
of poverty and want were over, but there was still
a full measure of care and grief. Two sisters,
twins, were born in 1875, and one of them lived
only three years. Another sister, born in 1873, died
in 1887. The father, after a final effort to redeem
himself, sank into hopeless inebriety, and as an in-
ebriate was sent to the county home, in order to
give the mother and children a better chance in their
hard struggle. The homestead was sold for taxes,
while John was away from St. Peter, and he sent
home the money, $125, to bid it in. By his efforts
the younger children were kept at school. By the
time his salary had reached $75 a month, he man-
aged to retain a little of it for himself, but his
sacrifice for the family forced him to a minimum
allowance for himself. On one occasion a young

67

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

woman with "whom John was '* keeping company "
found fault with his shabby coat, and the young
fellow had to confess that he could not afford a
new one — and the confession cost him his " com-
pany." He did not flinch even from showing his
old coat in public when he sang Sundays in the
choir of the Presbyterian church. He admitted the
need of a new coat, but declared that he would not
have one until he could pay for it. Before John
went to work the family received considerable help
from kind friends and neighbors, but from the mo-
ment he began to draw pay, nothing went to the
Johnson household that was not paid for. The
struggle was still hard, the good friends knew it,
and offered help, but always Mrs. Johnson would
reply that whatever the family got John would pay
for.

Loyalty was one of Johnson's strongest charac-
teristics. He never forgot a friend, but on the
other hand, never tried to remember an enemy.
Throughout these early years, his sense of the de-
mands of loyalty made the family the great con-
sideration. The boy did not have any vaulting
ambition. The duty of the hour and the day and
of the years was to stand by the family, and stand
by them he did. Each new trouble and added ex-

68

THE BOY'S STRUGGLES

pense found him in the breach, consoHng the mother,
cheering up the children, paying the bills.

" On Christmas eve," says his sister Hattie.
" John would be Santa Claus for us all. He would
come home in the evening loaded down with all
sorts of mysterious bundles. Something, first, to
cheer mother's heart. Then gifts for all the little
ones. Among them there was sure to be a good
book for each of the children. And John was just
as happy in the giving as we were in the receiving.
He certainly taught us all the lesson that it is more
blessed to give than to receive. John was more than
a brother to us — he was a father to us all."

When John was working for the railway contract-
ors near Mankato he came home every Saturday
night. " How the children would anxiously wait
for Sunday to come," says the sister, " for we knew
that John would be home. Then we would sit
around the fireside, and listen to him as he would
tell some thrilling tale or sing some of the old
Southern melodies. We — and the neighbor's chil-
dren, too — would sit with tears streaming down
our cheeks as he sang those dear old folk songs."
The quality that made him strike the responsive
chord in all men so long as he lived kept him in
touch with the little children. His heart was full

69

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

of human kindness, and he had a way of getting to
the best side of human nature that was always
one of his elements of strength. Even when he was
in his teens he made speeches at village gatherings
that brought the tears to the cheeks of bearded men.
It must not be thought that John Johnson was a
paragon of virtue. He was full of life and energy,
and like other boys he offended at times by omis-
sion as well as commission. He was no little, sad-
eyed saint. He got into mischief and got out as
best he could. As always he was thoroughly
human. The purpose of life concerned him little,
living was the thing. It was good to live, to enjoy,
to suffer, to run the gamut of human experience,
and living, with him, meant helping others to play
the game just as much as playing his own game.
His humanness was his strength. It was that which
made the tall, thin, awkward, diffident, poorly-clad
boy the life of his youthful circle in St. Peter, that
later made him the life of the village, and later
still the most beloved of governors.

70

J a

o ^

>

p

CHAPTER V

THE JOURNALIST

OPPORTUNITY was looking for John John-
son while he was working on the railroad.
All unknown to him his future was being shaped.
True to his life-long habit of doing the work at
hand, leaving the future to take care of itself, he
was busying himself with his seventy-five dollars
a month position, and filling every nook and crevice
of it. His friends were planning the future. He
seemed always to have friends who looked after
his future. The way he looked after the present
was always a guaranty for other men to plan his fu-
ture. This man's whole life was a vindication of
human nature. He justified friendship and con-
fidence, and he always had it. A half-interest in
the St. Peter Herald was available for sale in the
latter part of 1886. Henry Essler, who owned the
other half, and was the possessor of good judg-
ment of men, made up his mind that John Johnson
was just the sort of man he wanted for editor and
half-owner. He said as much to Johnson one

71

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

morning in December, 1886. " How can I buy a
half-interest?" said Johnson. "I haven't any
money? " " That 's all right," replied Essler, " I '11
get some people you know to buy it for you, if you
will accept the offer." " I don't want to get into
debt to anyone," demurred Johnson. " I 've been
trying to keep out of debt all my life, and I don't
want to begin now." Essler tried to overcome
John's objections, and the latter said in a day or
two he would give his decision. The decision was
favorable, and thus began a partnership that con-
tinued harmoniously for many years. *' John never
gave me a cross word in the nineteen years we were
together," says Essler. " No matter what happened
he was always trying to cheer a fellow up."

Essler took up the financial question with some
of the townspeople, and Major A. L. Sackett, always
one of John Johnson's firm friends, and Matt Even-
son took the initiative in making up a little pool to
transform the contractor's clerk into a journalist.
Dr. A. W. Daniels, faithful friend and family
physician, Joseph Mason, Theodore Knoll and
Jacob Bauer joined with them. The purchase was
made at once, but John remained with the contract-
ors until February i, 1887. The Herald was a
Democratic publication. John was then consid-
«red a Republican, though, like most Minnesota

72

THE JOURNALIST

people, he was a low-tariff champion, and the agita-
tion of the tariff in the eighties had begun to shake
his devotion to the party. It was considered desir-
able to continue the Herald as a Democratic paper.

" John," said Contractor Peterson, as he shook
hands with the young man in farewell, *' how can
you, a Republican, become the editor of a Demo-
cratic paper? ''

'' It may be a step to something better," answered
John.

" And," comments Mr. Peterson, " as events
turned out, it certainly was."

To understand Johnson, the clerk, becoming
Johnson, the editor, it is necessary to know some-
thing of the men and circumstances and self -educa-
tion that moulded the boy through his struggling
years. To begin with, St. Peter was something
more than an ordinary country village. It was a
producer of big men, and through them it kept in
touch with the outer world. The town was
founded by Willis A. Gorman, sent to Minnesota, in
1853, as the second governor of the territory. He
was a member of a company which proposed to
transfer the capital from St, Paul to St. Peter, and
the future city was laid out as a capital. The streets
were made wide, and sites were reserved for the
future capitol and other state buildings. But the

73

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

plan failed through the abstraction of the bill from
the legislative files, and the city of destiny took its
place with a thousand other cities of destiny. Later
St. Peter gave the state three governors before
Johnson's time, viz.. Swift, Austin and McGill, and
many state officials. The first " elegant mansion "
in the Minnesota Valley was built just below the
town by Charles E. Flandrau, pioneer, soldier, old-
time gentleman and jurist. St. Peter lost the
capital but it got the Central Lunatic Asylum of the
state, and that fact made the town headquarters for
the Board of Trustees, eminent men in the state
and politicians. Edward Eggleston, " The Hoosier
Schoolmaster," was there for a while, selling soap
from house to house, and there were a number of
big men, landed by fate in a small town — such men
as J. K. Moore, editor of the Tribune; John and
Harry Lamberton, Lt.-Gov. G. S. Ives, F. A. Dona-
hower, J. B. and A. L. Sackett, Henry A. Swift,
Capt. W. B. Dodd, E. E. Paulding, Major B. H.
Randall, C. S. Bryant, Dr. A. W. Daniels, and
Col. Benjamin F. Pratt. These men were men of
ideas, thought and expression. In his daily work
in the stores, in village affairs and society, Johnson
met them and heard them talk. Many a warm po-
litical debate the boy eagerly listened to in the win-
ter evenings, when the village wise men foregath-

74

THE JOURNALIST

ered at the store and disposed of the fate of the
state and the nation. They were well-read men,
too, and their allusions as they talked stimulated
John Johnson to widen his intellectual horizon by
reading. Mr. Donahower exerted a very strong
influence on the boy in this direction. He started
John's reading with Prescott's *' Conquest of Mex-
ico," which was followed by the " Conquest of
Peru," and the first standard novel, Scott's " Ivan-
hoe," and then followed the steady absorption of
Dickens, all of Scott's novels and every one of
Shakespeare's plays, many of the latter being read
several times.

" Once I started reading," he said years after-
ward, "I read everything I could reach; took the
shelves straight ahead — it was all interesting. I
think I read everything in that attic where an old
town library had been dumped, except perhaps the
blue books, the statistical reports and tables of
logarithms. I was reading one day a book, ' The
Boys of the Order of the White Cross ' — I re-
member it was a red book with the letters B. O. W.
C. in white across the front cover — wdien a teacher
in the Presbyterian Sunday school, Capt. J. C. Dona-
hower, came along,

" He turned the book over and gave it back to
me, saying, ' It is a pity to waste your time on weak

75

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

stuff like that. If you will promise to read two
books I will name, I will pay one dollar and a half
for a six months' subscription to the library for
you.' Of course I promised and started in on his
choice, * The Conquest of Mexico ' and * Ivanhoe.'

" They w^ere a bit difficult in their first chapters,
but they held me from my sleep before I got through
with them.

" After that the thirst for reading was a flood, a
very torrent — I could not get enough. I read
Dickens and Scott ; I read Shakespeare, and de-
claimed the scenes to myself at night, and I think I
got as much pleasure out of it as I derived from
Keene's ' Richard the Third,' and Modjeska's * As
You Like It ' in after years."

It was only a short time before his death that
writing to a young man, who had inquired as to
what books had exerted the greatest influence on his
career, the Governor said : "I presume the great
dramatist exerted a greater influence than any other
one writer because of the delineation of so many-
sided characters. Out of him came the inspiration
to read more. Historical dramas directed me to the
history of England, and Hume and Macaulay nat-
urally followed. Then I turned to France to study
her romantic history; from there to Germany and

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THE JOURNALIST

then back to Rome and Greece, Egypt and all the
Aryan regions. The tendency of the above and
kindred books interested me in the literature and his-
tory of my own country, and the growth of the
appetite for this food for thought doubtless created
a desire to know more of the institutions of govern-
ment here and abroad. All of my work in this
direction must have from time to lime fired me with
ambition and exalted my spirit of patriotic duty.
In other words my increased knowledge of the
world and the men who made its history and affairs
fitted me in some measure for the duties of life."

Thus the boy who washed bottles in the drug
store and sat behind the counter with his chin rest-
ing on his hands, eagerly listening to the discussions
of big topics by the village wise men, listened with a
mind attuned to grave matters and a sense that his-
tory was being made all around him. From these
hard-headed men he learned the trick of practical
everyday argument. They taught him the knack of
putting an opponent to flight by a series of questions.
It is still a tradition in St. Peter, of how the young
man once confronted two traveling men who were
getting all the better of a street argument by the
same method. Johnson turned their own weapons
on them, and they finally fled to their hotel followed

77

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

by a hooting crowd immensely delighted that a sim-
ple, green-looking fellow of their own village had
put the outsiders to flight.

In the letter above quoted in part the Governor
advised his young correspondent to cultivate the
" art of communicating what you know to others."
From the very beginning of his reading and study,
the boy cultivated that art himself. He was nat-
urally diffident and inarticulate, and he labored hard
to overcome these defects. He drove himself to
create and take advantage of opportunities for
speaking, and often through his diffidence made mis-
erable failures of his efforts, but in time he came to
be recognized as the readiest speaker in the village.
With a similar purpose of unfolding himself he iden-
tified himself with everything of pubHc interest
in the village. He joined the Presbyterian church,
sang in the choir, became secretary and was an ac-
tive and helpful member. Later he was a charter
member of the St. Peter Lodge of the Knights of
Pythias, joined the Woodmen and still later the
Mankato Lodge of Elks. After he was governor
he became a Mason. Until much public speak-
ing injured his voice, he was a good singer and
dearly enjoyed singing. Years later in St. Paul a
friend asked him what part he sang in the choir.

78

GOVERNOR JOHNSON AT DIFFERENT AGES

THE JOURNALIST

" I thought it was tenor," answered the Gov-
ernor.

In every county seat of the West the annual
county fair is a milestone in the progress of the
community. Johnson worked for the success of the
Nicollet county fair as if it were his own business.
For some years he was secretary of the association,
and in this work mastered the art of handling men
and getting along with them. He was a pastmas-
ter in settling disputes and dealing with exhibitors
and race men. He could always get a better racing
card than the neighboring fairs. Horse owners
would take their racers to St. Peter because of their
liking for Johnson.

At one fair there were no entries for the " scrub "
running race. An astute horseman conceived the
idea of entering a good horse as a scrub. Johnson
accepted the entry fee, but questioned whether the
race would " fill." " Come around and get your
money back," he advised, " if we don't pull it off."
Other horsemen had the same idea as the first and
came around to enter their fast nags as scrubs.
Johnson took their money but gave them all the
same warning. Each professional regarded the race
as a sure thing. When the entrants came onto the
track they made up the best bunch of race horses

79

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

seen in a St. Peter race in years. None of the pro-
fessionals dared complain, and the secretary chuc-
kled inwardly.

In keeping with his general program of all-around
activity the young man entered the National Guard
in 1883, enlisting as a private in Company I of the
Second Infantry, M. N. G. He became captain and
was honorably discharged after five years of service.
He was again elected captain of the company in
1892, but obtained an honorable discharge after a
few months of service. Company I stood high as
a military organization, and contributed its part to
the notable achievement of the Second Regiment in
taking the second prize in the international regimen-
tal competitive drill held in President Cleveland's
presence in Chicago in 1887.

Thus with wide interests and self-education, John
Johnson, though utterly ignorant of the mechan-
ical side of newspaper work, and knowing nothing
of the process of making " copy," was, after all,
well-fitted for the post of country editor. Henry
Essler was amply able to take care of the mechanical
end of the newspaper and job printing office. Even
there John could help some by main strength. John
knew everybody in the village and surrounding
country, could sympathize with the village loafer,
advise the mayor, play a game of cards in a dull

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THE JOURNALIST

hour, organize a baseball nine, play a very good
game himself, infuse life into a social club, write
gossipy reports of local news, and produce a learned
editorial now and then. Human life interested him
always; the particular aspect of human life before
him was that of St. Peter ; Johnson, therefore, was
intensely interested in everything that pertained to
St. Peter. He knew exactly the point of view of
his readers, he was interested in what they were in-
terested in, he could give them what they wanted.
The paper reflected local life as he saw it and as
he preferred to brighten it. The very incarnation
of good nature and tolerance himself, his paper was
charitable, optimistic, helpful. Just at the start the
sense of his importance as a journalist caused him
to write one bitter article. In this he declared that
Governor McGill in selecting the editor of the St.
Peter Tribune for private secretary had appointed
an incompetent. The new editor of the Tribune
came out with an article vindicating the appoint-
ment and Johnson was convinced that he had made
a mistake. When he was governor, dining one day
with the rival editor of old who had set him right,
he assured the newspaper man that he had never
forgotten the lesson then learned, and that never
after his first month as a journalist had he ever writ-
ten an unkind word of any person. From that time

8i

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

on his editorials never contained personal attacks.
Writing '* A Tribute to My Friend," this rival jour-
nalist of old St, Peter days, P. V. Collins, now pub-
lisher of the N orthivestern Agriculturist, referred to
this incident and added:

" What a noble rule for one buffeting in journal-
ism and politics. How it opened the secret of his
kind, sympathetic personality to confess this to have
been, throughout his seventeen or eighteen years of
editorial experience, the fundamental principle on
which his action had ever been based! And no
man ever had bitterer attacks made upon him — at-
tacks of a personal, shameful, exasperating charac-
ter by men so mean and despicable that they could
sneer half truths that cut so much more keenly than
whole falsehoods. Yet through such bitterness, not
one word of personal retort did John A. Johnson
ever write or speak or permit to appear in the col-
umns he controlled."

It is unusual for the editors of rival papers in a
small town to keep their political and business op-
position from degenerating into personal enmity,
narrow and bitter. But Johnson seems to have been
strong enough and broad enough to avoid that pit-
fall. Mr. Collins is not the only one to testify
on this point. In 1897 Mr. W. E. Cowles bought
the St. Peter Journal, which then had very poor

82

THE JOURNALIST

mechanical equipment, the press being an old Wash-
ington hand press. Johnson understood the situa-
tion — he had worked a hand press himself — and
invited Mr. Cowles to send his forms over every
vi^eek and have them run off on the Herald's cylin-
der press. This invitation was accepted and for six
months Essler & Johnson printed the rival paper,
without thought of sending a bill. Cowles asked
for a bill but Johnson said that he and his partner
were only performing a neighborly act — and did
not expect pay for it. He was finally prevailed
upon, however, to accept $50 for the service.

When Johnson took up his editorial work, the
Herald was printed in an old ramshackle frame
building across the street from its present quar-
ters. One evening, while the proprietors were ab-
sent, the building burned down and all their prop-
erty was destroyed. The rear part of the second
story of the opposite brick building was immedi-
ately secured at the princely rental of $5 per month,
and a new outfit, including a hand press, was in-
stalled. The space was limited, but so was the
business and circulation of the paper. Johnson
never took much interest in the mechanical side of
the paper, but on publication days, it was his duty
as the taller partner to " pull the press " while Ess-
ler applied the ink to it. There was little furni-

83

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

ture in the room and no desks. Johnson wrote his
editorials and local items on the top of an old wash-
stand, which is still a feature of the Herald ofifice.
The new venture, however, proved to be a success
and a fair measure of prosperity came to the part-
ners, resulting in the enlargement of the office, the
installation of a cylinder press and other modern
equipment. Johnson's share of the profits of the
business were such that within a year from under-
taking it, he was able to repay his five backers in
full.

Now, at the age of 27, the son of the village
washerwoman found himself well-advanced on the
ladder of achievement. He was an important factor
and power in the community. To his old hold of
good fellowship and neighborliness he had added the
prestige of editorship and business success. The
boy who had carried his mother's washing, who had
known every pinch and humiliation of poverty, was
now one of the leading men of the same community
which had witnessed all his early struggles and pri-
vations. Absolutely, measured by standards of
achievement in large affairs, this was a small tri-
umph ; but to John Johnson and the village it loomed
large. Measured by their standards it was enough
to turn the head of a superficial young man. But
the young editor was no more spoiled by his achieve-

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THE JOURNALIST

ment than he was afterwards by election to the gov-
ernorship of a great state. In this very first year
of success — after the paper was paid for — John-
son was laid low by typhoid fever. For a time his
life was despaired of, and intestinal complications
developed, which are believed to have been the be-
ginning of the disorder, which, after four opera-
tions, ultimately resulted in his death just twenty
years later.

The Herald, under Johnson's editorial manage-
ment, was not greatly different from hundreds of
country papers. It abounded in the petty items of
village news which are the delight of the metropoli-
tan journalistic humorist. The editor lived the life
of his readers, and it was his business to chronicle
their doings. This petty chronicling was not dis-
tasteful to him — it was human life he was record-
ing, it was interesting to those who were living that
small section of life, and it was interesting to John-
son. There was the usual vein of rural humor in
dealing with the local happenings, that sort of hu-
mor with which friends joke each other about the
little things of daily life, which, of course, is not
appreciated by those who are not of the circle. The
editorial page, as a rule, was made up of paragraphs
and short editorials. Johnson never conceived that
it was his duty as a journalist to be lecturing his

85

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

friends and *' roasting " his enemies. He was not
given to the *' hifalutin " style of editorial, and he
was never obsessed by the idea that it was his duty
as a country journalist to undertake to reform the
world. He conceived that he had done his duty
when he covered the local news field, published a
clean paper of good typographical appearance, and
discussed matters of national import to the extent
and in the manner that would appeal to and interest
his readers. The Herald was a St. Peter, Minn.,
paper, and Johnson, therefore, was for St. Peter,
Minn. He was ready and keen to do all he could
to promote and develop the little city. Every plan
or undertaking to advance the town's commercial
interests, lift its intellectual plane, improve its phys-
ical appearance met with his cordial assistance.

Country editors exchange papers with each other
and watch each other's work rather closely. The
St. Peter Herald soon came to be known by the
publishers of other country papers in Minnesota as
one of the leaders, and as the country editors met
and became acquainted with their new fellow-la-
borer, he gradually warmed his way into their es-
teem and affection, just as he had years before won
his home-folk.

Of course, Johnson had his troubles — what
newspaper man has not? He endeavored to make

d>6

THE JOURNALIST

his paper as amiable as himself, but occasionally he
was bound to rub someone the wrong way. Let a
newspaper man be as wise as a serpent and as cau-
tious as possible, he can never tell what will be the
effect of some innocent paragraph. The country
editor has a harder time in this respect than the
city editor, for he and his paper are one and the
same. The editor's personahty is read into every
item that appears in the country paper.

" You can never tell," said Governor Johnson, one
day, talking about his journalistic experiences,
" when the most innocent paragraph will give mortal
offense to someone. Some years ago there was a
convention of Luxembourgers in St. Paul. Just to
fill up a little hole in the paper I wrote a paragraph
something like this : * The Luxembourgers are
holding a convention in St. Paul. We suppose the
Limbourgers will be holding a convention next.'
Never again did I try to get facetious about Lim-
bourger or Limbourgers. It turned out that sev-
eral of the most influential townspeople were Lux-
embourgers. They took my playful paragraph as a
slap at people from their principality. They with-
drew their advertising from the Herald, stopped
their subscriptions, and when I came up as a can-
didate for the legislature they were among my
strongest opponents."

87

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

When the editor took a journey it was incum-
bent upon him to notify his readers. On departing
for the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, Johnson
wrote : —

" The Herald will be in charge of C. S. Hanscome
during the ensuing ten days, and persons having any
old grievances will please call while he is in charge.
For any of the mean things we have said or done
he will make apologies or amends, and he will also
attend to delinquent subscriptions."

In due time the editor took unto himself a wife —
and this is the way that important event was an-
nounced to his readers :

" MARRIAGE NOTICE.

" Preston-Johnson.

" While this office has not decided to open up a
matrimonial bureau it has given some thought re-
cently to matters that follow in that line. A part of
the staff has enjoyed the delights of being ineligible
to the councils of the N. E. Y. B. [Nineteen Eligi-
ble Young Bachelors] for a couple of years, while
another part has been groping along the paths of
solitude. As procrastination is the thief of time,
we have decided that we shall not put off till to-
morrow what can as well be done to-day, and there-
fore, it may surprise some of our friends to learn

88

THE JOURNALIST

that at four o'clock this afternoon J. A. Johnson,
of this paper, will wed Miss Nora Preston of this
city. The ceremony will be a private one, and will
be conducted in the presence of relatives only. It
will occur at the residence of the Rev. P. Gary, he
officiating. The bride will be attended by Miss
Minnie Ludcke, while the groom will be attended
by E. C. Johnson. The happy couple, and we use
the term advisedly, will make no wedding tour at
present, but in a few weeks will journey to the
Black Hills for a brief visit. They will take up a
temporary residence at the Hotel Nicollet, and after
June I, will be at home to their friends at the pres-
ent home of Mr. Johnson. Of the groom, we have
nothing to say. He will communicate his opinion
of himself later. The bride-elect has been a resi-
dent of St. Peter for some months, in which time
she has endeared herself to all who know her by
those estimable qualities which all admire. If the
future is as bright for the happy couple as we hope
it will be it will indeed be a happy one."

Editor Johnson conducted a weekly column
headed *' It 's a Fact," in which he hit off his ideas
on the passing show in short sentences. This col-
umn though it contained much that is commonplace,
much of purely local interest, and much that is
trivial, gave the editor regular training in saying

89

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

things concisely and pointedly — and sometimes hu-
morously— which shows its results later in his
speeches and addresses. The following are excerpts
taken at random from this column : —

IT'S A FACT —

That no man can lounge into success.

That the platform of a party is like the platform
of a car — made to get in on, but not to stand on.

That the whistle of a locomotive does not always
indicate the size of a town.

That nothing beats a good wife except a bad hus-
band.

That some women are things of beauty and joy
forever; some men are things forever.

That the harvest of life is best when the field is
rocky.

That it is an open question whether the man who
works himself to death really makes a living.

That because a man has a train of thought is no
sign that he has wheels.

That it is good to be frugal, but it is also good
to be just a bit liberal. One quality makes the other
shine.

That truth is stranger than fiction because there
is less of it.

90

THE JOURNALIST

That to pity distress is human ; to reheve it is —
well, little short of being Godlike.

That society leaders who are in the swim seem
to dress for their occupation.

That training will do much for a man, but it has
never taught him to look for a towel before filling
his eyes with soap.

That the reason so many women go into the legal
profession is because their word is law now.

That there seems to be no earthly reason for dis-
covering the North Pole unless it be to avoid future
expeditions.

That gloves are worn at night to make the hands
soft. Is this the reason why some men wear skull-
caps?

That the man has true manhood who, regarding
himself as one of the great family of man, has
broad ideas of his relations to his fellows, is will-
ing to share with them what he may possess, and
labors for the good of humanity with only mod-
erate desires for the gratification of personal in-
dulgences.

That persistence is better than insistence.

That the person who fails after doing the very
best possible has still done well.

That a rejected matrimonial proposal is an ex-
emplification of the decline of man.

91

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

That the abihties of some men are great, but tlieir
liabilities are greater.

That disputes will reduce a wise man to the level
of a fool, but they never elevate a fool to the plane
of a wise man.

That a man is foolish who wastes his time trying
to get even with somebody else. It costs more
than it is worth.

That men sometimes have more respect for their
subordinates than their subordinates have for them.

That to brood over the past is to misspend the
present and jeopardize the future.

That one's success depends largely on what he
does not say.

That rumors and editors differ very materially in
one respect, at least. Rumors always gain cur-
rency, while editors seldom do.

That we would say to those who expect to run
for ofifice this spring that this is tlie time to begin
to blunt your finer feelings.

That vulgar wealth is a repellant thing, but
many prefer it to even a refined, to say nothing of
a coarse, poverty.

While John Johnson, the editor, was agreeable,
complaisant, accommodating and trouble-avoiding,
he could be as immovable as Gibraltar when he

92

THE JOURNALIST

thought there was necessity for a stand. People
would come into the office to protest and argue
against some position the Herald had taken. If the
discussion threatened to be interminable, John would
manage in some way, without giving offense, to
get his hat and drift out of the office, leaving the
debate to Essler or someone else. After awhile
he would appear under the office window and as-
certain by calling to Essler whether the argumenta-
tive ones had gone. If the reply was favorable
John would return to work. If not he would stride
away down the street. This way of disposing of
opposition was characteristic. He did not override
opposition — he wore it out or let it use itself up.
When Johnson decided against anyone the decision
came so gently and gradually that the person denied
could not tell precisely when or how it was done.
He found out in some easy way that he was against
an unalterable decision — and in encountering that
decision he experienced less pain than Johnson did
in giving it.

93

CHAPTER VI

A WIDER CIRCLE

AS a newspaper man John Johnson entered
into a larger circle of friends, acquaintances
and interests. Heretofore St. Peter had been not
only the center but also the whole circle of his life.
Henceforth it was to continue to be the center, but
it was the center from which a circle of ever
lengthening radius was described. Editorship of
the Herald carried with it admission to the Minne-
sota Editors' and Publishers' Association, an organ-
ization of much vitality, which closely knit together
all the better and more enterprising country pub-
lishers of the state. It is and was an organization
which has created and fostered for years many
strong friendships. It has always been notable for
its large number of good fellows of wit, humor and
broad humanity. It was just the sort of a circle
to welcome John Johnson, full of life, enthusiasm
and ideas and highly delighted with his new calling
and, moreover, no bookworm, for all his burning
of midnight oil, but one capable of being one of

94

A WIDER CIRCLE

the boys whenever " good fellows get together."
So John Johnson now had another opportunity to
" make good," and again he succeeded in that easy
way of his — that way of attaining ends without
seeming effort. Four years after becoming an
editor he was elected secretary of the Association,
and was already prominent in Association affairs.
Two years later — in 1893, he was elected president
of the Association.

It was the year of the World's Fair at Chicago,
and the Association had decided to make its excur-
sion for that year a week's visit to the Fair. The
Minnesota Building was to be dedicated on May
i8th, and the editors had timed their excursion to
be present, in response to an invitation from L. P.
Hunt, the ]\Iinnesota representative at the Fair.
For some reason, not fully understood, Governor
(now U. S. Senator) Knute Nelson postponed the
dedication until June ist — and this announcement
was made the day before the editors departed for
Chicago. The editors were greatly disappointed,
but on the way to Chicago President Johnson and
some others conceived the idea of having an edi-
torial dedication of the Minnesota Building, any-
way, leaving the Governor to have the official dedi-
cation at any time that might suit him. As the
editors felt that they had been largely responsible

95

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

for the increased appropriation which made it pos-
sible for Minnesota to have a creditable showing,
the idea of having their own dedication proved to
be very popular. Arriving in Chicago, President
Johnson and a self-constituted committee called on
the Minnesota commissioners to secure their permis-
sion for the exercises. The commissioners, not de-
siring to offend the Governor, consented, then with-
drew their consent, and finally consented again,
upon the announcement of the committee that if the
editors could not get into the building they would
hold their exercises in the street. The editors, be-
ing in the saddle, determined to make the dedication
so elaborate that there would be no other. In the
absence of the Governor, State Senator Keller was
prevailed upon to represent the state, and it was to
him that President Johnson handed the keys of the
building after his address of dedication. The
speech was the best the future governor had made
up to that time. It delighted his listeners, who were
sure that the Governor himself could not have done
better. This address, together with other addresses,
and a program of song, made up such a complete
dedication that Governor Nelson indefinitely post-
poned the official dedication of the building. It was
said that at first Governor Nelson was greatly of-
fended at the usurpation of authority by the editors,

96

A WIDER CIRCLE

but later, appreciating the boldness of the conception
and the excellence of its execution, was delighted
with the audacity which deprived him of figuring
in an official dedication.

In 1896 the Editorial Association published a
history of its proceedings, and the chapter therein
devoted to John A. Johnson shows that his editorial
friends had a good and adequate idea of his capaci-
ties some years before they were understood beyond
that circle. After speaking of the wide vogue of
the " It Is a Fact " column of the St. Peter Herald,
and remarking on Johnson's ability to write good
" stuff," the historian continues : —

" Mr. Johnson is an orator as well as an editor,
and no editorial meeting or banquet at which he is
present fails to find him ' on the list ' as one of
the speakers. It can be added that no more enjoy-
able speech than his is made upon such an occasion.
If he had been a member of the dominant political
party he would long since have attained high politi-
cal position. A credit to his profession, having
gained a wide state prominence in the brief ten
years of his newspaper life, he has ability to win
fame in a wider field, and it will always be a matter
of congratulation on the part of the Editorial Asso-
ciation in future years to point to the fact that John
A. Johnson has filled the position of president."

97

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

But while Johnson was cultivating the wider
field he was not forgetting " old St. Peter," where,
on the occasion of a picnic speech, he had once
declared he would live and die. He continued to
live with much zest the life of the town, and be a
very large part of that life. He was the leading
spirit in the " Nineteen Eligible Young Bachelors "
until he was automatically retired from membership,
as related by himself in the foregoing chapter.
These young bachelors were a gay crowd, and did
not hesitate, on occasion, to spend their money in
giving their friends a good time. It is related that
they once gave a dinner and ball at the Hotel
Nicollet in St. Peter which cost each of the " Nine-
teen " twenty dollars.

Socially Johnson was never handicapped by his
humble and foreign origin any more than he was
in journalism and politics. He always had the
entree to the best society there was in St. Peter,
and there is no manner of doubt that the democracy
and hospitality of the little town contributed much
to that fine and rare confidence Johnson always
had in humanity. People always gave him a
chance ; he always gave the people a chance. To
give some idea of the social and out-of -business-
hours Johnson of St. Peter, it is necessary to go
somewhat back of his entrance into journalism, to

98

A WIDER CIRCLE

a time when he was a very humble human unit.
When John Johnson was clerking in the store of
Stark Bros. & Davis in the fall of 1880 there came
into the employ of the firm a young man from the
farm, D. A. Rankin. The two occupied as bed-
room a little space curtained off in a corner of the
store, and soon became good friends as well as
loyal co-workers.

" Johnnie, at this time," says Mr. Rankin, who
is now a resident of Minneapolis, " sang at the
morning service in the choir of the Presbyterian
church and was librarian in the Sunday school,
whose superintendent was a Mr. Downs. St. Peter
was at this time an ideal country town. Its best
homes were always open to the young man, how-
ever humble his circumstances, if he were known
to be honorable and keep clean company. Governor
Johnson, then but little more than a boy, had many
friends among the business and professional men in
the community : such men as L. C. Lord, then prin-
cipal of the schools, now president of the state
normal school at Charleston, 111., and the late Rev.
George McAfee, pastor of the Presbyterian church,
often came in after the store closed and encouraged
the young man in his efforts to supply the deficien-
cies in his education. A debating society was
organized by ten or twelve young men, including

99

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Johnnie and myself, a room was rented, and individ-
ual desks for members were made out of dry goods
boxes. Regular debates were held, and if it was
not here that the Governor's desire to become a
public speaker was born it was here, at least, greatly
strengthened.

" Often, after the closing of the store, Johnnie
would mount a dry goods box and declaim, while
I acted as audience and critic.

"Of John's fun-loving propensities we were con-
stantly reminded. One time, I remember, John
nearly broke up a very select party in a home near
the park. In some way he secured possession of the
village band instruments, and with his comrades
made such a discord around the house that con-
versation was impossible. The single policeman
was rendered nearly frantic in his efforts to suppress
the serenaders. On another similar occasion, the
boy took all the chairs out of the chapel and
arranged them in two rows around the house of the
party. In each chair he placed a follower armed
with a tin pan, borrowed from a hardware store.
The tin pan brigade kept up such a deafening noise
that the company had to cut short their festivities.

" We were fellow ushers at the Sunday evening
services at the Presbyterian church, and if tiiere
came in a young man with a young lady for the

lOO

A WIDER CIRCLE

first time, the governor-to-be would always solemnly
conduct the blushing couple down the aisle to the
front pew, much to the quiet merriment of pastor
and congregation.

" John's was a sunny disposition. He was
friendly to everybody and had a fine, independent,
manly nature. He was a pure type of that product
of the West and free government which is able to
look any man straight in the eye, and without
ofifense brooks no assumption of superiority. John
always thought that he had a title to the best there
was. I never heard him express unworthy senti-
ments or use foul language."

John, being highly sociable and devoted to good
company, was always popular with the girls of
St. Peter. He had two or three rather alarming
affairs of the heart in earlier years, but it was not
till Miss Elinor Preston came to St. Peter to teach
in the parochial school that he met his fate. Within
a few weeks after the first meeting, it was with
John only a question of whether he could muster
courage to declare his affection and whether such
a declaration would be accepted. Time and time
again he would nerve himself to the supreme test,
only to retreat, in confusion, and have to admit to
himself that he was a miserable coward. His at-
tentions to Miss Preston became so marked and his

lOI

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

calls at the school so frequent that the sister su-
perior thought it was incumbent upon her to look
into the affair a little. So, one day, when John
called for Miss Preston, determined for the twen-
tieth time to put his fate to the test, he was told
that the sister superior wished to see him.

John was alarmed. With a choking sensa-
tion he listened while the sister dwelt upon the
frequency of his calls, the embarrassment his at-
tentions must cause a teacher and the consideration
he as a gentleman owed to a young woman. The
general trend of the sister's remarks was that if
Mr. Johnson was merely having a good time with
Miss Preston he owed it to her to become less
marked in his attentions.

" You have given me the courage," said the em-
barrassed and perturbed Johnson, " to say what I
have long wanted to say. I assure you that my in-
tentions with respect to Miss Preston are of the
most serious nature. I — "

" That is enough," said the sister. " I will send
for Miss Preston."

Miss Preston came, and they started for the car-
riage drive John had planned. But the longer they
drove the less became John's courage — as on many
previous occasions.

102

A WIDER CIRCLE

" What did the sister want to see you about ? "
asked Miss Preston, quite innocently.

Here was the opportunity, but John utterly
quailed and failed before it.

" Oh, nothing in particular," he answered, and
diverted the conversation to the excellence of the
weather and the beauty of the scenery.

At last the drive was nearly over — and John
thinking of the sister, mustered courage to tell of
his conversation with her.

A wedding followed soon.

John took his bride to the Nicollet Hotel, and
then rebuilt the old home, adding a new part con-
siderably larger than the old — there he hoped to
live in happiness with his bride and in contentment
with his good and faithful mother, and well-be-
loved sister, Hattie. The mother had stood by him
and he had stood by the mother. The hard old
days were over forever — all should thereafter be
smooth and sunny for the family.

103

CHAPTER VII

ENTERS POLITICS

BY 1894 John A. Johnson was well known and
liked by all the newspaper men of the state.
This newspaper circle was the beginning of his po-
litical career, though he did not then know it. The
newspaper men, meeting him twice a year, at the
annual convention and annual excursion, began to
feel that there was a good deal in John Johnson.
The Democratic state convention that year offered
him the nomination as secretary of state, but he
declined the barren honor. But when the Demo-
crats of his home county offered him the nomina-
tion for state senator it seemed to be worth the
while and he accepted. He made a good, lively
canvass but was defeated. There is no evidence
that he had any political ambition at this time — a
willingness to serve his people in the legislature
hardly being indicative of any special devotion to
politics. To all appearances he thought a good
deal more of editorial associations than of those
political. He continued to be an active member of

104

ENTERS POLITICS

the Editorial Association, entering with all his char-
acteristic enthusiasm into all its affairs. He was
well content with his work, and continued to put out
a very creditable country paper. He felt that his
position in the community was an honorable and
responsible one. He conceived tliat the country edi-
tor had even more responsibility in his sphere than
the metropolitan journalist in his. While he was
governor he wrote for the Youth's Companion an
article on the country newspaper that brought out
very fully his ideas of the duties and responsibili-
ties of the country editor. That article will be
found in full in the appendix, but these paragraphs
are worth quoting here:

" To last long — to last with liberty and wealth
— is the greatest problem to be solved by the mod-
ern state, and the newspaper is and always will be
in the van of progress. That the moral uplift
everywhere apparent has reached a higher and
more general recognition away from the great cen-
ters of population is a tribute to the power of the
country newspaper. Out in the purer air, away
from the strife and struggle of city life, the people
have more time and better opportunity to measure
the problems that vex and fret.

" The American Union has endured, and will en-
dure so long as liberty lasts. Its institutions will

105

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

grow and flourish, and manhood and womanhood
will reach the highest civilization, because in this
country there is liberty of speech and action, and
every incentive to virtue and honor in the path
our fathers blazed. Good and evil, joy and sor-
row, truth and falsehood will always exist, but the
heart of the great American public has ever yearned
for the better and brighter way. The country edi-
tor is one of the agencies ever at work pointing out
the stars that shine behind the clouds."

In 1897, visiting Milwaukee with the Minnesota
editors, Johnson made a speech that captivated all,
and made at least on€ of those who heard him de-
termine that in him the Democracy had good ma-
terial for a governor. In that year Once A Year,
published by the Milwaukee Press Club, printed an
excerpt from a personal letter written by Johnson
to the editor. The excerpt was preceded by an in-
troductory paragraph in which the editor spoke of
" John A. Johnson, the editor of the St. Peter
Herald, whose witty post-prandial talk at Whitefish
Bay, with its effervescent overflow at the Press Club,
entitled him to laurels that Chauncey Depew migh^
envy." The excerpt follows:

" Permit me to say in this connection that the
Press Club of Milwaukee has entwined its ivy about
my heart and holds it secure in that position, and

106

ENTERS POLITICS

I am constrained to say that if the entertainment
accorded the pilgrim editors from Minnesota is an
index of their chivalry, generosity and hospitality,
it is indeed fortunate that Once A Year is the
horn of plenty. The Minnesota editors, sometimes
styled the ' Hello Bill Company,' have pleasant
recollections of the Press Club and its princely en-
tertainment. And I want to say to you (in a burst
of confidence) that nowhere and at no other time
were the members of that band of strolling minstrels
so royally received as on the day of their star en-
gagement in Milwaukee. We all look back now
and then to the dingy and yet cosy rooms which
you inhabit and think ever and anon (this is not
new with me) that yours must, indeed, be Bohemia.
We have a colony of Bohemians near our own city,
and I state frankly without wishing to reflect upon
my own neighbors that you even outdo the real
thing. We all remember the handsome and genial
ex-governor journalist, with the generosity belong-
ing to those who have held high office, distributing
whole blocks of the city, county and even state to
those of us who cared for such dross. It occurred
to me that such generosity must have been the force
of habit to a man who had dispensed all of the
patronage within his gift, and that he was assort-
ing up a few of the remaining assets of the state for

107

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

generous distribution among the great uncrowned
kings and queens and fourspots of the nation. We
all remember how we proudly declined the prof-
fered gifts and felt that we preferred to take away
the friendship of our generous hosts, believing, as
we did, that the chain of title would be less diffi-
cult to establish; we remember and we can never
forget the beauty of Milwaukee, that charming
queen of all Northwestern cities, with its bustle,
breweries and dill pickles; its majestic buildings, its
beautiful women and all that goes to make a city
great, but first and last in our minds are the boys
of the Milwaukee Press Club.

" I have passed the morning of my life and am
near the summit, where I can look at the land of the
setting sun. Like others who have made a semi-
failure in the world of commerce, I have come to
the conclusion that wealth is not the proper stand-
ard, and my loftiest ideals are not those of Klon-
dike. To me the measure of success is the elevation
of the human race — the bettering of a worsened
race of people; the establishment of a more perfect
community of interest and the success of a political
party that will do as it agrees, and do nothing that
it does not promise to do. Viewing life from such
a view point, is it peculiar that I should value the
acquaintance of people who are able to dispense hos-

io8

ENTERS POLITICS

pitality, above those things in Hfe which we can
not reahze? Perhaps this is not clear to you, but
it certainly is as clear to you as to me, for from a
sociological or biological point of view, I am not
sure of the premises myself. In any event what I
wish to emphasize is that a company of struggling,
yet poor newspaper people, took a holiday from the
squalor of their own environment and went into the
glamour of a great city, and owned it and all it
contained for a day, and at night sailed out over
the blue waters to another land, feeling better be-
cause they left the city behind, but taking away
what was more eternal — friendship of men. The
memory of that eventful day w^ill dwell with us for
a long time. The sun may die out of the sky for
the last time as someone has said before (although
that does n't seem probable now ) , but until then the
memory of Milwaukee will linger as one of the most
pleasing of all our recollections."

So, 1898 rolled round, bringing with it Johnson's
first political success. Again the Democrats nom-
inated him for state senator, and this time he was
elected. Little happened during his legislative ca-
reer, of two regular sessions and one special session,
to stir him up or bring out what was in him. He did
not think that it was his duty to distinguish him-
self by bringing in a pile of bills to die in committee.

109

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

His attitude was rather that of a counsellor. He
was there, he felt, to pass judgment on the various
measures that came before the legislature. But he
made friends — always he made friends. His most
intimate associates happened to be men of the op-
posite political party, and they little thought that
the witty, good-humored, sociable, pleasure-loving
Johnson was one day to make sad havoc with all
their plans. He attained some prominence for his
earnest advocacy of a measure increasing the tax on
the gross earnings of Minnesota railways, but the
only " sensation " in his legislative career came in
the closing days of the first session — in 1899. It
was a sensation that did not seem to have any mak-
ing of a political future in it, either. John Lind,
Democrat, considered by many to be the ablest man
in Minnesota, was governor. Lind felt deeply on
the subject of the annexation of the Philippines.
With all the strength of a strong nature he was
against it. Powerful orator that he is. Governor
Lind never rose to such heights of persuasive elo-
quence as in denouncing what he considered a
flagrant departure from American ideals. The
Jackson Day banquet in 1899 will long be memor-
able in Minnesota for the Governor's pathetic plea
for the Filipinos. Men who never wept before nor
since, and really did not care a fig for the Filipinos,

no

w ij

ENTERS POLITICS

wept and sobbed as the Governor pictured their
wrongs. Governor Lind caused to be introduced
into the legislature a resolution demanding the re-
call of the Thirteenth Minnesota Regiment, then
serving in the Philippines. The resolution was sup-
ported and opposed on strictly party lines except for
Senator Johnson. The mild-mannered senator from
St. Peter took the floor and opposed the resolution
in a speech from which the following paragraph is
taken :

" Deplorable as I believe this war to be, I, for one,
believe that we should join together to uphold the
hands of the government, regardless of the political
color that may be lent to the situation. I believe
the regiment should remain in the Philippines as
long as the Stars and Stripes are liable to insult.
If that be political treason, make the most of it."

It took strong convictions and an independent
spirit to oppose the strong Governor, the first
Democratic governor Minnesota had since Sib-
ley, but Johnson did it, and with no little regret.
The incident serves to illustrate the political inde-
pendence which always characterized him, though
he believed that successful political work must be
done within party lines. He was at once in dis-
favor with strong party men, but the incident did
not outlaw him, nor cause any rupture between him

III

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

and Governor Lind. Indeed, the next step that
Johnson made towards fame was in the speech with
which he nominated Governor Lind for reelection
in the next poHtical campaign. That nominating
speech, caused him to be much talked of for gov-
ernor by the Democrats in 1902, Some rather
obscure work was done on his behalf without his
consent, and if he had permitted it, a vigorous ef-
fort would have been made to nominate him. Even
after the convention was in session and all was mov-
ing smoothly toward the nomination of L. A. Ros-
ing, an attempt was made to get Johnson to make
a speech that would stampede the convention. D.
F. Peebles, of St. Paul, who had heard the Governor
speak at Milwaukee before the newspaper men, was
carried away with the idea that Johnson would be
an irresistible vote-getter. But whether it was
merely that Johnson thought that Mr. Rosing was
entitled to the honor, or whether he felt that there
was no chance to defeat Governor Van Sant, the
Republican nominee, then fresh with the laurels of
his famous fight against the Northern Securities
merger of the Great Northern and Northern Pa-
cific railways, will never be known. At any rate,
it was a lucky decision, for not even Johnson could
have prevailed that year against Van Sant. Little
got into the metropolitan papers this year about

112

ENTERS POLITICS

Johnson as a gubernatorial possibility, and return-
ing to St. Peter to be defeated in his campaign for
reelection to the state senate, he was soon forgot-
ten even by those who had favored him, in the
avalanche of votes that reelected Van Sant gov-
ernor by the greatest majority any governor of
Minnesota had ever had — a record that was to
stand until Johnson himself eclipsed it four years
later.

Democrats were not so numerous in St. Peter then
as they might have been. At a caucus to elect
delegates to a county convention Johnson found
himself and one other person — a man of ample
figure — the component elements of the caucus.
They went ahead and elected the delegates. As
secretary, Johnson wrote a report beginning as fol-
lows :

" At a large and influential meeting," etc.

The " fat party " objected that this was untrue.

" Not at all," said Johnson ; " you are certainly
large, and I, an editor, am influential."

As an editor, Johnson was not much given to long
editorials, and this has been the occasion of some
disappointment to journalists and magazine writers,
who have burrowed in the files of the St. Peter
Herald to find some evidences of the ability which
appeared later in the Governor's public addresses.

"3

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

They forgot that Johnson was a man in change, in
growth. He grew wonderfully from the time he
became an editor until he became governor of Min-
nesota, but he grew even more rapidly after his
election. Environment meant more to the develop-
ment of a man of Johnson's type than it would
have meant to some others. His tendency was to
grow and expand to all the limits of the cir-
cumstances that confronted him, but his lack of a
driving ambition, caused him not to crowd circum-
stances. He had the innate ability to respond to
almost any environment. If he had been made edi-
tor of a metropolitan newspaper he would have
produced profound and able editorials, but the St.
Peter opportunity did not seem to call for them, and
Johnson did not drive himself to produce them.
Yet it must be admitted that what he wrote
was of excellent quality, considering the circunv
stances and the demands upon him. Indeed, they
are quite worthy of reproduction here ; they are
important, too, as showing the Johnson attitude
toward the world which was maintained to the end ."

ST. PETER HERALD EDITORIALS.

What is a cure for gossip? Simply culture.
There is a great deal of gossip that has no malig-
nity in it. Good-natured people talk about their

114

ENTERS POLITICS

neighbors because, and only because, they have noth-
ing else to talk about. Gossip is always a personal
confession, either of malice or imbecility, and the
young should not only shun it, but by the most thor-
ough culture relieve themselves from all tempta-
tions to indulge in it. It is low, frivolous and too
often a dirty business. There are country neigh-
borhoods in which it rages like a pest. Churches
are split in pieces by it. Neighbors make enemies
by it for life. In many persons it degenerates into
a chronic disease which is practically incurable.

One who circulates much among people, with an
attentive ear to expression of opinion in political
matters cannot fail to notice that party ties grow
weaker every year, and that men's votes are more
and more influenced by their preference for particu-
lar men or measures. Party managers cannot af-
ford to overlook this fact. The party that puts up
the best man, and champions the best public meas-
ures most fearlessly, will win. The people are tired
of talk ; they want business.

It ought to be the aim of every father to create
in the soul of his children reverence for the parent.

115

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

To get good results from a boy he must be treated
as though he were something more than a fungus
growth, a wart, as it were, upon the face of the
earth. He must have enough of recreation and
pleasure to keep the vinegar out of his nature, and
no man has the right to deny his children that.
. . . Don't be cross, crabbed and crusty. Open
up the moss-covered chambers of your soul and let
in a little of the sunlight of human kindness, and
a year after take an inventory of the acts that you
are proud of and see if they have not perceptibly
increased.

We have upon one or two occasions been criticised
for saying a kind word about some public man of
opposite political faith. To those who may silentlv
indulge in any such thought, we would say that
we hope the day will never arrive when we shall be-
come so narrow as to fail to recognize merit or pay
tribute to it. Politics and religion are much the
same. Every man has a right to his opinion and
good and true men will be found in every political
party as in every church, and we delight to see the
advancement of such men to office, no matter what
their political faith may be. Personally we hold
to the doctrine of the Democratic Party and hope foi

ii6

ENTERS POLITICS

the triumph of those principles. But love for that
does not create hate for good men who have em-
braced a different creed. We hope at all times to
be governed by fairness, and our fairness will be
shown to an adversary as readily as to a friend.
It would be baseness to act differently — in our
opinion.

Emerson once said in one of his happy talks to
the people: "Men who isolate themselves from
society and have no near and dear family ties are
the most uncomfortable human beings in existence."
Byron truly said : " Happiness was born a twin."
But the phrase, though pretty and poetic, does not
go far enough. We are gregarious and not in-
tended to march through life in either single or
double file. The man who cares for nobody and
for whom nobody cares has nothing to live for that
will pay for keeping the soul and body together.
You must have a heap of embers to have a glowing
fire. Scatter them apart and they will become dim
and cold. So to have a brisk, vigorous life you
must have a group of lives to keep each other warm,
as it were, to afford mutual encouragement and con-
fidence and support. If you wish to live the life of
a man and not a fungus, be social, be brotherly, be

117

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

charitable, be sympathetic, and labor earnestly for
the good of your kind. Your little acts of kind-
ness may often be misconstrued by unworthy per-
sons, but even though others do not understand you,
you will understand and be satisfied with yourself.
Evil-minded gossip, ever on the alert for food to
work upon, will assail you at every opportunity, yet
a self -consciousness of right presents an armor im-
penetrable to the scorpion tooth of slander, and you
may smile upon its vain wrath as you move along
the even tenor of your way.

ii8

CHAPTER VIII

FIRST GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

BEATEN for reelection to the state senate in
1902, Johnson might reasonably have con-
cluded that his political career was over. Yet it is a
curious fact that that defeat made possible his later
triumphs. For had he been elected to the senate in
1904, he would not have been, under the Minnesota
law, eligible for the governorship during his term of
office as senator, which would have kept him from
accepting the Democratic nomination for governor
in 1904. On top of this the Democratic Party was
badly disorganized in Minnesota at the beginning
of the year. The radicals and conservatives had
had a bitter contest over delegates to the national
convention at St. Louis, which ended in the delega-
tion being half for Parker and half for Hearst.
Besides, the overwhelming defeat of Mr. Rosing
two years before had taken the life out of the party.
To add to the trouble there had been a conference
of Democratic leaders limited to those who were
for Parker, which made the Hearst faction angry.

119

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

In an endeavor to close the breach between the fac-
tions Mr. Frank A. Day and others finally got to-
gether in St. Paul some twenty men representing
both parties to canvass the state situation, and try to
agree on a candidate for governor. Before this
Johnson had been in consultation with different
party leaders, but evinced little interest in the sug-
gestion that he be a candidate, and the truth is that
they were not particularly impressed with him. Mr.
Day, however, was firmly convinced that Johnson
would be the ideal candidate. He was of Swedish
descent, he was popular with the country editors,
and he was personally on friendly terms with the Re-
publican senators with whom he had served, many
of whom were dissatisfied with the outcome of the
Republican state convention. But to most of the
other leaders Johnson's brief political career, the
fact that he was utterly unknown to the people of
the state and was not in a position to make a con-
tribution to the campaign fund seemed to be suffi-
cient ground for lack of any enthusiasm for him.
However, nobody else was put forward at the con-
ference of the factions, and when at last a vote was
taken to ascertain the sentiment, all present except
one, who refrained from voting, cast their ballots
for Johnson.

Mr. Day's advocacy of the comparatively ob-

I20

FIRST GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

scure country editor naturally carried a good deal
of weight with the conferees. He (who had been a
fellow editor, a one-time president of the State Edi-
torial Association, twelve years a state senator, pres-
ident of the senate and one of the managers of the
last preceding state campaign) was conceded to be
in a position to know what lie was doing in so
strongly recommending Johnson.

While the conference was in progress Day re-
ceived a telegram from Johnson, at St. Peter, stat-
ing that he had written a dispatch to the St. Paul
Globe which would make it impossible for him to
be considered for the nomination. Mr. Day hur-
ried to the long distance telephone, got Johnson
and persuaded him to withhold the dispatch until
they had had a personal interview. When the vote
was taken Mr. Day had only about fifteen minutes
to catch the train for St. Peter. It was a hot sum-
mer day, a storm was impending, Mr. Day was
tired, and the gloom of the weather seemed to com-
bine with the apathy of the meeting and his own
physical condition to discourage him from his er-
rand. At St. Peter, Johnson, by prearrangement,
met Day at the rear of the train, unnoticed, and
the two hastened to the Johnson home. The storm
had broken with cyclonic fury, Johnson was indif-
ferent, Day was dejected, and altogether it did not

121

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

seem as if the time were propitious for the birth of
an enterprise. However, the two sat down on the
porch of the Johnson home to discuss the situation.
After some commonplaces the momentous subject
was approached.

*' We are going to talk politics, John and the gov-
ernorship, you know," said Mr. Day to Mrs. John-
son, " and I don't suppose you will care to sit up
with us."

"If it concerns John, it concerns me," answered
Mrs. Johnson, " and I surely want to hear it all."

So the three sat there on the porch in the dark,
and talked and figured and conjectured hour after
hour. The state was reviewed by counties and con-
gressional districts, the disaffection in the Repub-
lican camp was carefully weighed, and the conclusion
reached that Johnson had a chance to win, and that
even if he lost he would be a net gainer by taking
the nomination. Johnson stipulated that he should
not be called on for any campaign contribution, and
that the nomination should come to him without
effort on his part. He also stipulated that Mr. Day
should take charge of the campaign. Johnson
wanted to know where the money was coming from.
Mr. Day did not know, beyond the fact that he had
$550 then promised and his confidence that some-
how he would be able to get enough money to make

122

FIRST GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

some sort of a campaign. It was 2 o'clock in the
morning when the editor decided to accept the nom-
ination if it were offered to him, and then he and
his wife walked down to the train with Mr. Day,
little knowing that they had made a decision that
would revolutionize the politics of Minnesota for
six years and give a tremendous impetus to political
independence throughout the West.

The convention was held at Minneapolis, August
30, 1904. Mr. W. S. Hammond, of St. James, now
member of Congress from the Second Minnesota
district, nominated Johnson and he was enthusi-
astically acclaimed as the Democratic candidate for
governor of Minnesota. Still there was little con-
fidence in the outcome, and there was little disposi-
tion to proclaim Johnson as a winner. In fact,
what hope there was at first was of negative nature.
It was based chiefly on the dissensions then exist-
ing in the Republican Party. Mr. R. C. Dunn,
also a country editor and formerly state auditor,
had been nominated for governor by the Repub-
licans after a bitter contest which left the friends
of the defeated candidate, Judge Loren W. Collins,
sore and sulky. The Democrats hoped that John-
son would be acceptable to these dissatisfied Repub-
licans, who were willing to discipline their party if
they could do so without inflicting on the state a

123

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

man not competent for the governorship. The cam-
paign had not gone very far, however, before it ap-
peared that Mr. Dunn, a man of rugged strength
and great personal popularity, would draw strongly
on the normal Democratic vote, and that in order to
win, the Democratic nominee must develop a posi-
tive power that would bring people to him regard-
less of political grievances. Except those very few
who knew Johnson's reserve ability, and marvelous
capacity for winning men, the Democratic leaders
were not aware that they had such a man in their
nominee.

Mr. Day, in compliance with the mandate of the
candidate, was elected chairman of the state cen-
tral committee. He was fortunate in having as
chairman of the executive committee Mr. L. A. Ros-
ing. Mr. Rosing had been the Democratic nom-
inee for governor in the preceding campaign, but
had the misfortune to be opposed to Governor S.
R. Van Sant, whose stand in opposition to the
Northern Securities merger had endowed him with
irresistible popularity in a state wherein were the
headquarters of the two great railway systems that
were to be merged. As secretary to former Gov-
ernor Lind, and as manager of several state cam-
paigns, Mr. Rosing brought to the Johnson cam-
paign an invaluable fund of political experience and

124

FIRST GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

knowledge, of which, with his admittedly great abil-
ity, he made the best possible use.

Johnson started out for a whirlwind campaign.
The Democratic committee almost worked him to
death. No such strenuous campaign of speaking
had ever been undertaken by a candidate for gov-
ernor in Minnesota. In 42 days the new leader
made 103 speeches and penetrated all but ten of the
eighty-four counties of the state. Still weak, from
a third operation for appendicitis, Johnson showed
a surprising reserve of physical strength, corre-
sponding to his mental energy. Often, enduring
great agony, he went without meals, rode on freight
trains, drove across country, sat up all night, yet
spoke with vigor and vivacity at every engage-
ment. In one day he drove 42 miles, traveled
twelve by freight train, spoke three times for a
total of live-and-a-half hours — and that with only
four hours of sleep and two hasty meals.

Reports of a slightly encouraging nature began
to come into headquarters. Johnson's first speeches
were not especially remarkable or stirring. But the
game began to appeal to him. It was a big game,
and winning it would make a humble country editor
governor of the state. His ambition was aroused,
the latent fighting spirit of the Berserkers at last
came to the top. Then he began to make speeches

125

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

that told. He let himself go, but refrained from
attacks on his opponent. The Johnson of the plat-
form became the Johnson that his intimates knew.
He unleashed his enthusiasms and his sentiments, he
gave play to his feelings, he spoke with ardor and
conviction, and he made up his mind that he would
win. He surprised his home people by gravely as-
suring them that he would be elected governor.
They saw he meant it, but they thought his head was
turned.

" What ! John Johnson' do what has been done
but once in forty-four years — win the governor-
ship of Minnesota for the Democratic Party! Im-
possible ! "

But Johnson knew. He believed himself cool
enough, for all the heat of the fray, to see that hi?
audiences in size and enthusiasm were without par-
allel in the history of the party in the state. The
calculating politicians began to notice it, too. Lead-
ers who had been apathetic began to show interest
and come to headquarters. Campaign funds began
to come in, and Mr. Day, who had mortgaged every-
thing he had to start the fight, began to see some
hope of reimbursement.

Then the gods of chance began to light on John-
son's side. Many of the traveling men of the state
had made Johnson's acquaintance in his old clerking

126

FIRST GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

days, and had kept in touch with him after he be-
came editor. The prospect of elevating the humble
village boy of a few years back to the governorship
appealed to them. They became missionaries for
Johnson to the whole traveling fraternity of the
state; and then with their converts, ten thousand
strong, they moved upon every opposition outpost
in the state. The traveling men worked for their
houses for pay and for Johnson for love, and the
unpaid service was better than the paid. The Re-
publican candidate was so unfortunate as to be re-
ported as saying something that reflected on the
traveling men as a class. That made them prac-
tically solid for Johnson. Every train became a
moving Johnson meeting, every hotel a Johnson
headquarters, every store a Johnson working
ground.

Not content with that, the gods of chance in-
spired someone to piit out in the form of affidavits
the wretched story of Johnson's father. Johnson
had dreaded the exploitation of that story from
the start. When it came he was for the moment
overwhelmed. His first impulse was to write a
letter retiring from the campaign. Day sent him a
long telegram from St. Paul — Johnson was then
at St. Peter — assuring him that the affidavits would
not cost iiim a single friend and that the reaction

127

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

would turn it into the winning episode of the cam-
paign.

"What have you to say?" the newspaper men
clamored at Johnson.

" Nothing," he replied, sadly. " It is true."

Rallying from his despondency Johnson went to
St. James the night of the day the attack was
launched, and there made the greatest speech of the
campaign up to that time. His audience was wildly
enthusiastic. The next day at Sherburn, now thor-
oughly aroused, he made an even greater speech.

The half-truth of the affidavits was answered
with the whole truth — the whole sad story of mis-
ery and poverty, a father's disgrace, a mother's
woe, a son's humiliation and sacrifice was told. It
was terrible thus to have laid bare to the world the
family skeleton. But there was no help for it.
Johnson himself ignored the whole affair, but his
friends published the truth, every sad, hard word of
it. The attack was hurled back in defeat. Mothers
wept as they read the story of Johnson's life, men
hastened to tender their support to the man who
had fought all his life against the consequences of
his father's weakness and now had to fight the
story of that weakness.

Here was where the fireside touched politics, and
the home felt itself to have something at stake.

128

FIRST GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

The women do not vote in Minnesota, but that year
thousands of them directed how the vote should be
cast. Instead of being an object of scorn and con-
tempt Johnson became the popular hero. Men who
had been lukewarm or indifferent rallied to his
cause. It was plain that nothing but the pressure
of national political party allegiance could keep him
from the governorship.

" We can give Roosevelt 70,000 majority in the
state and still elect Johnson," said the Democratic
chieftains.

When the votes were counted the Roosevelt ma-
jority ran to 163,000! It seemed as if no individ-
ual popularity or strength could overcome the ter-
rific Roosevelt momentum. But as county after
county came in with Johnson running ahead, there
began to be hope of the impossible. And when the
official count was made it was found that John A.
Johnson had carried the state by more than 7,000
votes.

The son of the broken exile, the son of the wash-
erwoman, was governor of Minnesota!

129

CHAPTER IX

GOVERNOR SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

AS the telegraph ticked off the figures that were
making him governor, John A. Johnson
seemed the least concerned of all those who waited
at headquarters that November night in 1904. He
was philosophically prepared for defeat, but he be
lieved he would be elected. When his election wa?
assured he was as delighted as a boy with a new ball.
but his joy was tinged wdth sympathy for his de-
feated opponent. The cruel way of the world had
made another man's misfortune his fortune. He
took no credit to himself for the victory. He was,
he felt, simply lifted to the crest of the wave b>
forces over which he had no control.

Then came telegrams and letters of congratula-
tion and callers innumerable. The editor began to
taste the delights of greatness. Now comes the
joyous celebration at St. Peter, to which travel the
faithful Democrats and Republican allies from all
parts of the state — many out of pure gladness
some with a calculating eye to the spoils of victory

130

SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

When the governor-elect spoke that night to the
exulting crowd, none within the range of his voice
was so happy as Mrs. Caroline Johnson, the mother,
now bent and crippled \\ith rheumatism, who
watched and listened from a window overlooking
the street. She must, indeed, have felt that her life
had been well-rewarded, and that she, the orphan
immigrant girl from old Sweden, had done her
part in giving to Minnesota a governor. As she
thought of her own obscurity and heartbreaks con-
trasted with her son's distinction she might well
have said with the poet :

" No marshalling troops, no bivouac song.

No banners to gleam and wave.
And oh! those battles, they last so long,

From babyhood to the grave."

Yet this mother, fit to be a mother of warriors,
had left her son's home when prosperity and ease
had come, and he had planned for her last years
happiness and contentment, because she must have a
home of her own. As always in this life there is
something lacking in the sweetest moments so now
to the fortunate son and the old mother, those two
who had loyally and bravely struggled and suffered
together, came the black thought that after all fate
had cheated them. The son had gained a state and

^31

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

in some sort lost a mother; the mother proud of her
son, felt that she had lost him.

Johnson was exhausted from the toils of the cam-
paign, and in no condition to assume the responsi-
bilities of governor-elect. So he went to the South
for a rest. When he returned he was ready for
work. Offices were established at the Nicollet Ho-
tel in St, Peter, which became the Mecca of those
who would claim their reward.

When the time came for him to go to St. Paul,
the Governor succeeded in persuading his mother
and sister to occupy the new home he had built.
And there it was that " mother " died more than two
years later, and thence with the stalwart governor-
son as chief mourner her body was \ rn to Green-
hill cemetery, there at last to lie in peace. Now the
old St. Peter days are gone forever. The Governor
does not know it, but never will St. Peter be his
home again, until he, too, stricken down in his
prime, is brought by a mournful multitude to share
the peace of the grave with the mother.

The day comes when the editor is to be trans-
formed into governor, " Good-bye, Henry," he
said to his newspaper partner, Henry Essler, as he
boarded the train. *' I '11 be back in two years.
Try to keep the subscribers in line, and don't let the

132

SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

ads get away from you. Keep the job work going.
So long! "

So, now to the great white marble capitol on the
hill in St. Paul comes John Johnson, the first gov-
ernor to be inaugurated into office within its walls,
this being done January 4, 1905-

What he did in that seat of authority is left for
another chapter. It need be said here, only that he
justified the fondest hopes of the people who elected
him and lived well up to the warmly applauded con-
duding words of his first message to the legislature :

" We are assembled to-day in the new capitol of
the state. This splendid edifice is a monument to
the energy, prosperity and culture of our people.
Whatever opposition may have existed to its erection
in the past, the people are now proud that its gleam-
ing dome overlooks the capital city of our beloved
state. The building is the property of the state, and
was provided as a place in which should be trans-
acted the business of the people. As their servants,
you and I are commissioned to perform the duties
of our several offices in their interest. We should
here dedicate ourselves to that service, pledging our
zeal, our fidelity and our honest purpose in an en-
deavor to do our duty to the people who have re-
posed in us their confidence and their trust. We

133

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

should build not for to-day alone, but that future
generations may reap the reward of honest, patriotic
effort. If there must be sacrifice, let it not be at
the expense of the state. If we must regard polit-
ical considerations let us also remember that polit-
ical parties are but the vehicles of good government,
and that you and I will best serve but one master
and that master the sovereign people of the state of
Minnesota."

Governor Johnson's infinite capacity for growth
and adaptation served him well. As type-metal,
cooling, expands to fill every recess of the mold, so
the plastic native ability of the new governor dem-
onstrated itself at every opportunity. He soon saw
the difference in methods that must be pursued by a
governor as contrasted with those of a country
editor, and he at once adopted them without in any
way changing his essential self. The people of
Minnesota were delighted with their new governor.
They thought him the ideal executive. Tactful,
courteous, debonair, natural and democratic, win-
ning in face and manner, well groomed, ready with
the right word at the right time, yet withal firm,
decisive, manly, he was simply irresistible.

Again named for governor by the Democratic
state convention at Minneapolis, September 4. 1906
— this time not doubtingly and with misgivings, bui

134

SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

with proud confidence, he entered vigorously on his
second campaign, with his friends taking up the
slogan, " One good term deserves another." While
the event showed that the Republican candidate, Al-
bert L. Cole, never had the remotest chance of being
elected, there were to the necessarily imperfect
judgment of the men in the heat of the conflict some
reasons for apprehension. Powerful Republican
papers which had supported Johnson in the first
campaign, now deemed their party sufficiently chas-
tised and returned to the fold. While there was not
much enthusiasm for Mr. Cole, there was no open
discord in the party behind him — no such opening
for the attack of the opposition as the internal dis-
sensions of 1904 afforded. So the Democratic
management took nothing for granted and made a
i^igorous campaign.

Governor Johnson's " stumping " in this cam-
paign eclipsed his previous record. In seven weeks
he made 119 speeches in 78 counties. If there be
pleasure in authority and eminence, this campaign
must have been one of the most enjoyable periods
in Governor Johnson's life. He was now the popu-
lar hero, and added to his popularity was the pres-
tige of a great office. Immense crowds gathered to
hear all his speeches, and he could not but feel that
he was not only admired but loved by the cheering

135

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

thousands who hung on his every word. The
sweets of popularity were still new enough to him
to leave his taste uncloyed. When the votes were
counted, there was a wonderful demonstration of
Governor Johnson's popularity when unaffected by
the influence of a Roosevelt presidential campaign.
He had 168,480 votes against 96,162 for his chief
opponent, a plurality of 72,318 — the largest ever
given to a candidate for governor in Minnesota.

The second term as governor saw the develop-
ment of Governor Johnson into a national figure
and a presidential possibility. The history of the
second administration and the presidential campaign
are reserved for other chapters. It is enough to say
that the Governor continued to advance in popular
esteem, and grow inwardly as he grew in reputation.
No situation was too difficult for him to manage,
and every seeming cul-de-sac in his career proved to
have an easy exit.

Now we come to the third campaign for the gov-
ernorship — in some respects the most remarkable
of all. By this time the Republican Party was
thoroughly united, and it named as its candidate for
governor, Jacob F. Jacobson, a man with a legisla-
tive record bristling with popular achievements, a
man of the people, nominated amidst great enthu-
siasm in a convention held at St. Paul while

136

SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

Governor Johnson's presidential aspirations were
receiving a severe rebuff at Denver. The import-
ance of little things in politics is well illustrated by
the unfortunate remark which the gentleman who
nominated Mr. Jacobson before the convention
made in putting forward the candidate.

" The worst thing that has ever been said against
him," said the orator, " is that he eats pie with a
knife."

Now it has never been proved that Mr. Jacobson
WPS guilty of this social error, and doubtless the
orator thought the charge would endear him to the
multitude who are traditionally supposed to favor
the knife a_ ..^-ai^'^st the fork. But the remark im-
mediately raised a question in the public mind as to
the candidate's social fitness for the governorship as
contrasted with that of Governor Johnson.

However, the Democrats were at sea. Governor
Johnson had announced that whatever happened at
Denver he would not again be a candidate for gov-
ernor. In making this announcement he had con-
sulted his personal inclinations. He longed to get
back to the serenity and comfort of private life.
With a national reputation as a speaker, lucrative
speaking engagements were crowding in upon him.
He had often said that all a man should want in the
way of income was $5,000 a year assured. He now

137

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

saw an opportunity to amass a fortune that would
yield that income. He had long looked forward to
a tour of Europe. He had been highly honored
by his people. There was little to be gained,
he thought, by another term, and there was a pos-
sibility of defeat. The ideas of some of the Gov-
ernor's political advisers ran with his own tendencies
and desires. They thought it wiser to maintain the
prestige of two successive victories than to risk de-
feat in striving for the third — looking forward to
the national campaign of 1912. Moreover, a man
must always reckon with his wife. Mrs. Johnson
was emphatically opposed to another campaign.
She had no ambitions for her husband's political fu-
ture. Her inclinations, like his, made for the quiet
enjoyment of private life. So, the Governor, re-
sisting the appeals of his official family, the pressure
of a party foreseeing certain defeat without him,
genuine popular appeal, seemingly burned his
bridges behind him by announcing that he could not
accept a third nomination without stultifying him-
self. Every effort was made to change him. At
the last even those political advisers who had op-
posed a third term joined the forces of those who
insisted that the Governor must run once more.
Meantime, by one of those freaks of politics, the
Bryan Democrats of Minnesota, who had so vigor-

138

SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

ously and bitterly opposed Governor Johnson as a
presidential candidate, became the most strenuous
advocates of a third term. The Governor's " or-
ganization " was, of course, enjoined from doing
anything for him, and remained passive, while their
erstwhile opponents lined up county after county
for " Johnson, first, last, and all the time."

As the day approached for the convention in Min-
neapolis the situation was most confused. The
Governor was firm, the party demanded his nomina-
tion, and there was a fear that he would take some
abrupt method of ending the situation that would
leave the party hopelessly demoralized. These were
days of gloom in the Governor's official circle. The
day before, yes, the morning of the convention.
Governor Johnson himself did not know what he
would do, if nominated. No matter how strong
his objections, they who were determined to nomi-
nate him felt that he would have to admit an obliga-
tion to the party that would compel him to accept
the nomination. Governor Johnson's friends had
agreed upon Congressman Hammond as the nom-
inee, and laid their plans to bring about his nomina-
tion. But there was no chance for plans in that
mad convention. Mayor Lawler of St. Paul placed
Govenor Johnson's name before the convention.
Then ensued a scene rarely witnessed outside a

139

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

national convention. For more than an hour a
thousand men cheered, shouted, waved their arms,
raced up and down the convention hall and out into
the streets. They would have Johnson and none
but Johnson. He was nominated.

When the news of the convention's action was
brought to him the Governor was genuinely dis-
tressed. He had most sincerely tried to put the
honor away, he dreaded the ordeal of another cam-
paign, he longed for private life. But the call of
duty was unmistakable. A man owes something to
a party and to friends who had done for him what
the Minnesota Democrac}^ and his friends had done
for Governor Johnson. The nomination was re-
luctantly accepted, against the advice of Mrs. John-
son, who declared that the Governor was the
victim of a conspiracy of his friends. But once
in the contest the Governor was in to win.
Once more he bore the brunt of the battle. It was
a hard campaign. This time the opposition was
more stubborn, more aggressive, more determined
than in the preceding campaigns. The presidential
canvass was on, too, and a well-planned effort was
made to drive the independent Republicans back into
line. In the last days of the contest impartial ob-
servers began to think that it was possible that the
Governor would be beaten. He, however, never

140

SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS

doubted the outcome for a moment. The day be-
fore the election, though worn out with the arduous
work of the campaign, and though suffering sorely
from the old appendicitis wound, he calmly and con-
fidently predicted that he would win by about
30,000 plurality. In fact, he had nearly 30,000
plurality, though President Taft carried the state by
upwards of 80,000. For the third time he had
demonstrated his wonderful qualities as a vote-
getter. It was at least some consolation for his last
as well as his first opponent to know that it was not
their weakness but Johnson's strength that defeated
them. But the victory was dearly bought. The
exertions of the campaign and its hardships aggra-
vated the old intestinal trouble.

But the victory had its reward. Upwards of a
thousand telegrams of congratulation came to the
triumphant governor from all parts of the United
States, Canada, and even from Europe. Hundreds
of these messages hailed him as the leader who four
years later would lead the national party to victory
as he had three times in succession lead the state
party to victory.

And so once more St. Peter celebrates the victory
of her favorite and faithful son. November 12,
1908, every steam whistle in the town is blowing,
bells are ringing and cannon fire a salute of thirteen

141

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

guns, crowds cheer — a tall, over-coated man steps
from the train and, three times governor, John
Johnson returns to his own people. Among those
who welcome him is the little girl with whom he
went to school, now Madame Olive Fremstad.
They talk long over the old days; and their talk
ranges from Gibb Patch's cornfield to the capitol at
Washington and from the school days in old St
Peter to the conquests of the prima donna.

142

CHAPTER X

POLITICAL METHODS

AS in all else he did, Governor Johnson in poli-
tics was a marvel because of his success
without seeming effort or laborious planning or
devious calculating. To the astute politicians who
surrounded and worked so hard for him, he was
long a puzzle. At first, they were inclined to look
upon him as merely a good-natured boy grown into
a man. They did not credit him with either good
judgment or foresight.

His methods were not the ordinary political
methods, and perhaps they prevailed because of
their novelty. It would be a waste of words to say
that he never gave way to considerations of po-
litical expediency, though always he was a cham-
pion of principle as opposed to expediency. No
man ever stayed in politics any length of time with-
out in some degree sacrificing abstract principle to
expediency. Even Lincoln, to whom Johnson has
often been compared, did not hesitate to do the ex-
pedient thing. When a man becomes the leader of

143

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

a political party, or the executive of a great state
his personality becomes multiplex. He can not al-
ways decide and act as the individual man. Yet
in no great matter did John Johnson ever allow the
pressure of the moment to swerve him from ad-
herence to principle. The chief fault he found with
his own party was that, in his opinion, it sometimes
had been too much inclined to take up the expedient
and popular rather than the right. In many of his
speeches he preached this idea, that the party would
never achieve great success until it ceased to run to
fads and stood for principle.

Early in his first term, his advisers discovered
that if Johnson were merely a big boy, he had a
strong backbone. Always open to advice and coun-
sel, always grateful to his friends, it was discovered
that he regarded himself, as governor, as responsible
to an authority beyond his friends — beyond his
party — the people of the state. His was the re-
sponsibility to the people ultimately, therefore, in
the last resort, every important matter must be set-
tled on the basis of that stewardship. This atti-
tude caused much heart-burning at first, and the
Governor was sometimes accused of ingratitude.
But it gradually became known that Johnson was
governor in fact as well as in name.

Governor Johnson had scant love for indirection,
144

POLITICAL METHODS

and he did not believe in playing politics. He was
for measures or against them on their merits, and
devoted no time to the careful weighing of the ef-
fects of his acts as regards partisan advantage or
disadvantage. There was not the slightest trace
of the demagogue in him. He never advocated
anti-corporation measures out of hatred for corpora-
tions; he advocated them because he believed they
were right. He had no hatred of individuals who
in the popular mind are the incarnated devils of cor-
poration oppression. He regarded them as the in-
evitable products of conditions, and did not with-
hold admiration for their creative genius. It was,
perhaps, unpopular for the Governor of Minnesota
to express his respect for that consummate railway
genius, James J. Hill, but Johnson did not hesitate
to do so nor to unveil the Hill statue at Seattle.
Johnson believed in the open, frank way of attain-
ing ends. He did not appear to aim at one purpose,
while secretly striving to attain another. He could
always be located. This course proved to be good
politics with him. The people liked it and gave
him their votes, but he did not follow the policy be-
cause it was good policy. It was simply his way.

He so invariably had the people with him in all
the important things he did that the politicians,
measuring him by themselves, finally came to think

145

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

that he was a master politician, instead of a lucky
boy. They made up their minds that under that
frank, friendly exterior there was a deep, calculat-
ing, plotting mind. But in this they were as much
in error as when they thought he was lacking in
great parts. The truth is that Johnson was so
close to the people that his judgment of men and
events was the best possible barometer of popular
opinion. He did not keep his ear to the ground
with a view to shaping his policy by the probable
trend of public opinion. His judgment simply co-
incided with the public judgment or forestalled it.
As a man of the people, he looked at things as the
composite popular eye saw them. He might have
been wrong, doubtless, he often was wrong, but the
people were wrong with him.

After a while it became evident that even in
purely partisan political matters he had a good head.
When the campaign is on, and the incumbent of
office is a candidate for reelection, it devolves upon
him to play the political game. A man in poli-
tics does not need to make a fool of himself in
order to prove his devotion to principle. There is
a political diplomacy and strategy that a Lincoln
can resort to without proving himself false to the
state or principle. Johnson as a candidate had his
own ideas about the way the game should be played.

146

POLITICAL METHODS

Many times in campaigns he shaped his speeches
and concentrated his attack in a manner directly
contrary to the advice of his closest friends. As
a rule, the outcome demonstrated his political sa-
gacity.

Personality is a power in politics as well as in
society and business. The personality that made
Johnson the well-beloved at home and among the
country editors was a power of strength to him in
politics. Johnson, if he were aware of his mag-
netic personality, never consciously used it. He
was simply irresistible. The party label had very
little power to hold the man who knew Johnson.
When this man got into the little voting booth he
forgot party and voted for the man. Johnson won
men individually and in the mass. It was difficult
for a stranger to talk with him for a few minutes
without becoming an ardent admirer. It was
equally difficult for audiences to escape his endear-
ing personality. He was not a great orator, but
he was a splendid speaker. He spoke simply, nat-
urally, enthusiastically — he won audiences just as
he won individuals.

A close friend of the Governor after long re-
flection on the secret of his popularity came to
this conclusion :

" John is so popular because he is so interested
147

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

in humanity. He is genuinely concerned about
every human being with whom he comes in con-
tact. A man or a woman is not a mere unit in an
immense whole to him. He is able to view each
person's affairs to a high degree from that person's
point of view. Nothing so much interests us in the
world as ourselves. In the highest degree John
Johnson has the faculty of seeing every other man's
life as that man views it himself. The average man
who meets the governor of a state naturally feels
somewhat awed by direct contact with authority.
Therefore when the hesitant caller discovers after
a few minutes of conversation that the Governor of
Minnesota is even more interested in him than he is
in the Governor he loses his timidity, becomes con-
versational and surprises himself by his ease. He
goes away from the Governor's office with a better
opinion of himself and only one opinion of the
Governor — unqualified approval. This natural
human interest the Governor has is reinforced by
his wonderful memory for names and incidents.
The caller is surprised to find that the Governor,
who may have met him once years before, recalls
his name, the occasion of the meeting and knows
many of his friends and acquaintances."

Governor Johnson maintained the dignity of his
office without ceasing to be plain, approachable John

148

POLITICAL METHODS

Johnson. He dressed well and appropriately to the
occasion, and even achieved a reputation as the
best-dressed governor; though when he was first
considered as a possibility for governor in 1904
a prominent Democratic politician advised Mr.
Day to take his discovery out and get him a suit
that was a little roomier and with less tight-
fitting trousers. He was always equal to the oc-
casion, and the people of Minnesota took a cer-
tain satisfaction in feeling that their governor
looked the part. Nevertheless, he was absolutely
without formality or convention in receiving callers.
He was always accessible, and showed no favors.
Yet he could dispose of callers in a limited time
and without giving offense. He was never op-
pressed by his office. Like as not he would sur-
prise a caller by tilting back in his chair and
shooting his long legs up to the top of the table.
Generally he sat on the edge of the office table
when meeting callers. He was restless, and liked
to stride out into the reception room, between calls
or business engagements, on which occasions he
usually made the rounds of all who might be wait-
ing there. As a rule he had something worth while
to say, and awkward pauses were rare. A maga-
zine writer * has given an account of an interview

* Don E. Giffin in The Independent.
149

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

that is typical of the Governor's way of meeting
people :

" A young attorney was showing his fiancee
through the Minnesota State Capitol, and they
stopped to rest a few moments in the magnificent
reception room just outside the gubernatorial cham-
bers. A moment later, a tall, smooth-faced man of
medium build, dressed in a business suit of a green-
ish brown color, came from the inner room with
quick, almost nervous steps. He glanced about him
as he entered, said, * Hello, boys,' to three or four
reporters who were waiting for the adjournment of
the pardon board, and then walked to where the at-
torney and the young woman were standing. He
greeted the former cordially and acknowledged his
introduction to the girl with earnest warmth, which
called forth an involuntary response.

" ' And how do you like the West ? ' was his
decidedly conventional question, on learning that
she was from another part of the country.

" ' Oh, I rather like it,' she answered, ' though,
of course, it is very different from home. I live
in Boston, you know,' with just a tinge of pride
in tone and manner.

" The Governor smiled quietly.

" * Of course, such proximity to great institu-
tions develops an atmosphere of its own in any

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POLITICAL METHODS

city,' he said. ' But do you know,' and here
a broad strong hand made a sweeping gesture,
which seemed to include all points of the compass,
'we have culture out here, too — the culture of
manliness. You will find it in every city, every vil-
lage, every community in the country. We all ac-
knowledge it and admire it, and it is the best kind,
after all. It is what has made this country the
greatest on the globe, and it is what has made Amer-
ica respected wherever true Americans are known.'

" The interview lasted about two minutes, during
which time the girl from Boston scarcely let her
glance wander from the Governor's face. When he
finally excused himself, and disappeared with such
suddenness that he almost seemed to have vanished,
she stood gazing after him for a moment, and then
turned to her companion with the words :

" * Why, I like him. Somehow, I feel as if I had
always known him.'

" Such a man is Governor John A. Johnson of
Minnesota. To meet him is to like him. To talk
with him is to become his friend. To know him
well is to join the ranks of his admirers. He is pos-
sessed of a compelling power which may be personal
magnetism, or may be the attraction of inherent
manliness, deep-seated sincerity that draws to him
everyone with whom he comes in contact. It is

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

impossible to describe, yet it is there and never fails
to make itself felt. Perhaps it lies partly in his be-
lief in men, for his remark to the girl was not a
mere platitude, but the expression of a firm convic-
tion born of experience that has included associa-
tion with many classes of society.

" Perhaps the most effective thing in Governor
Johnson's greeting to a stranger, next to the frank,
direct look in the blue-gray eyes, is that hand-clasp
of his. It is free and hearty, absolutely lacking in
ostentation or condescension, warm with the warmth
of instant friendliness. Hours or even days after-
wards you remember it and can recall the exact
sensation it gave you. If several other persons
are present at the introduction you forget them for
the time being and realize only that you are meeting
John A. Johnson for the first time, and you are even
conscious of a hope that it may not be the last. As
you study his face you see there lines of thought,
of care, which it is easy to believe are the result of a
lost boyhood, an assumption of the duties of life
all too early, according to our standards of child
development."

Governor Johnson dealt with a legislature of the
opposite party in a frank man-to-man, fellow-citizen
way that smoothed his path, even when a pardon-
able effort was made to block him. It must be said

152

POLITICAL METHODS

to the credit of the legislatures that they usually
met him half-way. He was so popular that he
might have been successful with the Rooseveltian
method of dealing with Congress. But that was
not the Johnson way. He got on safe and strong
ground in his recommendations to the legislature,
and then left the rest to that body. His subse-
quent attitude was that he had done his duty, and
it only remained for the legislature to do its duty.

An illuminating instance of the Johnsonian way
of getting along with the legislature is afforded by
the tax commission legislation. The Governor fa-
vored taxation reform and the appointment of a
permanent tax commission. The work of the com-
mission called for the appointment of high-grade
men at good salaries. Naturally enough the Re-
publican legislature hesitated to create three of-
fices for Democratic appointees. Informally, the
Governor caused it to be known that if the commis-
sion were created, none would find fault with his
appointments on the ground of partisanship. The
legislature took the Governor's word for it and
passed the law. The Governor then announced his
appointees. One was a prominent Republican, one
was a Democrat, and one was a professor of eco-
nomics in the University of Minnesota whose poli-
tics was unknown — and all were men of ability

153

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

and fitness for the position. The appointments
were so acceptable that the senate enthusiastically
ratified the appointments, and the house, which had
nothing to do with the matter, adopted a resolution
expressing its satisfaction.

The Johnson methods in politics and affairs of
state were simply the Johnson personal methods ap-
plied to public matters. His theory was that in the
main the average man inclines to do what is just and
righteous, and that, therefore, in the long run it is
more successful to make a straight appeal to the
average man to join with you in doing the right
thing, than to attempt to lead him up to it by some
devious route. Johnson had faith in human nature
and applied it. Johnson, himself, was decidedly
human, and it should not be inferred that any at-
tempt is here made to represent him as being of
such sublimated virtue that he could conduct the
office of governor without any regard for personal
or political affiliations. He was not of that im-
peccable virtue that he could forget the ties of
friendship. Loyalty was one of his characteristics,
and though he made public considerations the su-
preme guide in his conduct he did not find that al-
ways inconsistent with remembering his friends.
This, however, he would not do — he would not ap-
point to any office a man that he believed to be in-

154

POLITICAL METHODS

competent or unfitted for the place. Some unfor-
tunate appointments, he undoubtedly did make, but
in these instances he waived his own judgment and
accepted that of others.

155

CHAPTER XI

ACHIEVEMENTS IN OFFICE

ACTION was the characterizing quaHty of Gov-
ernor Johnson's administrations. He brought
to the gubernatorial office a conception of active
duty. He looked upon the office as that of the
general manager of the state. He sought responsi-
bility, he proposed reforms, he advocated innova-
tions, he infused energy and fidelity into every de-
partment of the state. He felt that a governor
should create duties and manufacture opportunities.
He would have been an ideal premier in a cabinet
government. He realized the defects of our system
of irresponsible government and sought to establish
responsibility by individual initiative. However, he
made haste slowly. As a new governor he thought
himself not sufficiently familiar with the business of
the state to indulge in an inaugural address bristling
with recommendations. Reflecting on his lack of
knowledge of state conditions, he came to the con-
clusion that two years was too short a term for the
evolution of any candidate into a governor and pro-

156

ACHIEVEMENTS IN OFFICE

posed that the term be extended to four years with-
out reelection. The legislature did not act on this
recommendation but the people gave the man who
made the suggestion a term of six years.

The complex problem of taxation was one of the
first to attract Governor Johnson's attention. Meet-
ing cordial cooperation from the Republican legis-
lature, he was instrumental in creating a tax com-
mission, composed of experts and endowed with
large authority, which has accomplished wonderful
results. The assessed valuation of the iron mines
of Minnesota was raised from $32,000,000 to
$190,000,000 and marked progress was made to-
ward an equitable and just system of taxation.
Facing still further increase of valuation the U. S.
Steel Corporation pledged itself, by way of com-
promise, to erect a twenty million dollar plant in
Minnesota.

This problem of taxing the iron mines which sup-
ply the furnaces of the East while depleting Min-
nesota of a great natural wealth was productive of
a remarkable illustration of Governor Johnson's
balance and fearlessness. His three general mes-
sages to the legislature show a groping in his mind
toward some sort of a tonnage tax on ore produc-
tion. And the U. S. Steel Corporation was so con-
vinced that he would ultimately, if continued in

157

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

power, bring about such a system of taxation that
its influence was powerfully used against him in the
last campaign. The Governor did with some re-
serve advise the legislature to consider a royalty tax,
which would, in effect, have been a tonnage tax —
at the same time pointing out that a royalty tax
would not reach mines operated by their owners.
A tonnage tax bill was introduced and passed in
the legislative session of 1909. Outside the iron
regions of the state it was a highly popular meas-
ure — and four-fifths of the people of the state
reside beyond those regions. When the bill was
passed the people of the iron districts were fran-
tic. They considered it a ruinous measure. Three
thousand telegrams were rushed to the Governor
demanding a veto. The remainder of the state
demanded approval. It was a situation that
seemed hopeless for the continuation of the Gov-
ernor's popularity. After due deliberation he
calmly took the unpopular course and vetoed the
bill. He supported his veto with a message which
won instant approval of his course — and thus tak-
ing the unpopular course, he found himself more
popular than ever. It was a w'onderful illustration
of how implicitly the people will accept the judg-
ment of a man in whom they believe.

The insurance reforms of recent years found
158

ACHIEVEMENTS IN OFFICE

Governor Johnson ready to do his part. The affairs
of a large insurance company having its headquar-
ters in Minneapohs were found to be greatly in-
volved during the Governor's first administration.
Through his insurance commissioner, Mr. T. D.
O'Brien, he brought about a reorganization of the
company and a general straightening of its affairs.
Perceiving the necessity of better and more uniform
insurance laws, Governor Johnson was instrumental
in bringing about an interstate conference at Chi-
cago, over which he presided, that adopted a pro-
posed insurance code, which has since been adopted
in many states.

Governor Johnson's influence was a powerful fac-
tor in railway legislation and rate reductions. One
speech of his resulted in a voluntary reduction of ten
per cent, in certain classes of freight rates in north-
ern Minnesota. Other reductions were made by
commission order and legislative enactment, though
the commodity rate reductions ordered have here-
tofore been avoided by litigation. The Governor
took the initiative in the two-cent-a-mile passenger
rate movement. Such a law was enacted and,
though the railways have fought it in the courts, it
is still actually in effect.

Recognizing the many abuses that attach to pri-
vate employment bureaus, the Governor recom-

159

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

mended the creation of a free state employment
bureau, which has proved a great success. In all
three of his administrations, Governor Johnson
steadfastly endeavored to secure better laws for the
protection of workmen and he especially attacked
the common-law doctrine of the non-liability of an
employer for injuries arising from the negligence
of a fellow servant.

In legislation of purely local interest and value.
Governor Johnson's administrations were prolific.

A summary of some of the progressive legislation
enacted at Governor Johnson's suggestion is here
given : —

A broad amendment to the state constitutional
provision for taxation.

An inheritance tax law.

An improvement of the state timber trespass laws.

Creation of a state immigration bureau.

Separate training school for delinquent girls.

Uniform life insurance laws.

Permanent tax commission which is steadily mak-
ing for scientific taxation.

Maximum freight rate schedule.

Two-cent passenger fare law.

Abolition of railway passes and franks.

A reciprocal demurrage law.

A registry tax on real estate mortgages.
1 60

ACHIEVEMENTS IN OFFICE

Increased taxation of sleieping car companies.

Abolition of private banks.

A law facilitating municipal ownership.

Extension of state drainage operations.

Larger salaries for the State University faculty.

Establishment of a state harvesting machine fac-
tory.

As an executive the most spectacular achievement
of his career was his handling of the strike on the
Minnesota iron ranges in the summer of 1907. The
mines had been organized by the Western Federa-
tion of Miners, who sought to extend the labor-
capital war of Idaho and Colorado to Minnesota.
Teofilo Petriella, an Italian socialist, was the organ-
izer. Urged on by his leadership and the fiery ap-
peals of other socialists, sixteen thousand men went
out on strike. Soon a crisis impended. Many of
the miners were armed, citizens were armed and
sworn in as deputy sheriffs, and the mine employes
who remained on duty, likewise armed, guarded
the mine property. The strikers, largely ignorant
foreigners, convinced by their leaders that they were
deeply wronged, were in an ugly mood. The armed
citizens and business men, angered at what seemed
to them a wanton suspension of business held the
strikers in contempt. It needed only a spark to
explode this magazine of hatred and fancied wrong.

161

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

The mine owners and the business men, by tele-
gram, telephone and letter, warned Governor John-
son that unless state troops were dispatched to the
iron mines violence and bloodshed would ensue.
Some of the Governor's advisers urged him to com-
ply immediately with the request for troops. In-
stead of doing so the Governor went to the Range
himself. Without guard or escort, he sought out
the leaders of the strike and told them in plain lan-
guage that if there should be any violence the troops
would be sent, and sent quickly. Perhaps never
before in America was afforded the spectacle of the
governor of a great state going in person to poten-
tial disturbers of the peace, engaging in man-to-man
conversation with them and winning them over to
law and order. They promised that there would
be no violence. The leaders of the other side of
the industrial controversy were seen in the same
personal manner. In one of the Range towns, the
Governor addressed a meeting at which his remarks
were loudly applauded. He sternly suppressed the
applause, saying that he wanted it understood that
he was talking to make himself understood — not
to seek popularity. Returning to St. Paul, the Gov-
ernor issued a proclamation warning all to keep the
peace. And the peace was kept without the use of
a single soldier or the firing of a single shot — at

162

ACHIEVEMENTS IN OFFICE

the cost to the state only of the Governor's trip to
the Range.

Governor Johnson said afterwards that his meet-
ings with the sociahst labor leaders at this time was
of great benefit to him. He learned the point of
view of labor and of the socialist and obtained a
better idea of how those who bear the world's phys-
ical burden look on their task, their taskmasters, and
society.

Throughout his terms in the governor's office,
Johnson was intent on doing his duty. He was
particular in attending to his duties as ex-officio
member of many state boards. In this way he kept
in touch with state affairs and exercised a salutary
influence, even where his powers were limited.
The Governor would never absent himself from an
important board meeting to gratify his own inclina-
tions or to suit his personal interests. At a crisis
in his presidential nomination campaign he abso-
lutely refused to listen to the advice of his man-
agers because to do so would take him away from
an important board meeting. After the meeting he
went merrily to a ball game; — and the presidency
at stake!

This steadiness in doing his own will when he
knew he was right ever kept the Governor far from
demagogy. As a legislator he refused to be a party

163

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

to " pork barrel " appropriations, even when threat-
ened with niggardly appropriations for his home
institution. As governor he vetoed a bill extending
relief to persons who had suffered from the Indian
war of forty years before, though scores of his con-
stituents at home would have been beneficiaries.

Members of the various boards testify to Gov-
ernor Johnson's remarkable ability in analyzing and
solving complex problems. A member of the Board
of Control, himself a man of great industry and
comprehensive mental grasp, said that he marveled
many times at the lucid advice he had received from
the Governor when he had gone to him with some
knotty problem of administration.

The knowledge that there was a man of a dif-
ferent party from theirs in the governor's chair and
that he was making a splendid record, had a stimu-
lating effect on the officials in state departments
over which the Governor had no legal control. Not
to be outdone, they vied with the Gk)vernor in well-
doing. The Republican legislature could not afford
to be surpassed by a Democratic governor. Thus
what might be termed divided responsibility resulted
in Governor Johnson's administrations being the
most successful, progressive and achieving in the
history of the state.

164

CHAPTER XII

THE FAMOUS GRIDIRON DINNER

ONE speech made Johnson a national charac-
ter. His triumphant second election as gov-
ernor of Minnesota caused much talk throughout
the country, but nothing had happened to focus
national attention on him. After that speech was
made he was unquestionably, next to William Jen-
nings Bryan, the most prominent Democrat. The
occasion was the December (December 7, 1907)
dinner of the Gridiron Club, that famous organiza-
tion of journalists at the national capital. The un-
expected, unheralded speech the little-known west-
ern governor then made is declared by the Wash-
ington Post to have had no parallel in political
history, " the nearest being Abraham Lincoln's un-
reported speech in 1856, which made him immedi-
ately the central figure of Western Republicanism."
" With all the disadvantages of an unreported
speech," continues the Post, " there go certain ex-
traordinary advantages. One of them is that as no
one can prove or disprove anything about it, the

165

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

wildest eulogy may cross the continent without
criticism, and nothing that is said about it seems
incredible. The actual publication of Lincoln's
speech in Hay and Nicolay's life of him, a genera-
tion later, leaves one wondering at the effect it pro-
duced, and the legend that grew up about it — for it
was not one of his greatest, nor near as great, for
instance as his ' house divided against itself '
speech."

After outlining the situation in the Democratic
Party at this time, and the frantic search for a
leader that was then in progress, the Post pub-
lished the following as " written by one who heard
the unreported speech of Governor Johnson : "

" At this time, while there was a lackadaisical, ap-
athetic, listless movement for Gray or Johnson or
Harmon or anybody, the Gridiron Club of Washing-
ton invited Governor Johnson, Judge Gray and
many other national leaders to attend one of its
dinners in Washington. The Governor and the
Judge were among those who accepted. There was
only a languid interest in the Governor when he
took his place, not at the head of the table, but at
one of the side tables, and attacked the Gridiron
viands.

" There were 250 guests present, the President of
166

THE FAMOUS GRIDIRON DINNER

the United States at their head, with supreme court,
senate, house, the money kings of the country, gen-
erals, admirals, authors, scientists, governors,
judges, ' among those present.' In the course of
the evening — rather far down the evening — the
Governor was introduced.

" The Gridiron always introduces its speakers, not
with a speech, but with a song, usually addressed to
the prospective speaker, and gently derisive of him.
In this case they sang a song entitled * Poor John,'
the burden of which was that 'poor John' — that
is, Johnson — wanted the nomination, but could n't
have it, because Bryan would n't let him.

" The Governor arose, and the first glimpse of him
in the great dining hall of the Willard somehow
dissipated every tenaciously held idea of the stolid
Scandinavian, the new Alton B. Parker. Before
he had said a word his merry, twinkling eyes and
the genial, friendly face had belied every photograph
ever sent out about him, and the deep, warm voice
that rang out in his first sentence with strange and
happy inflections that made everybody warm to him,
made over John A. Johnson, made him over com-
pletely in a second of time, to those who thought
they knew what he was.

Poor John ? ' he said. * I appreciate the
167

<( (

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

honor ; but don't you think, when you look back at
1896, at 1900 and at 1904, you ought to say " Poor
Bill"?'

" The unexpectedness of it, the additional element
of unexpectedness that was attached to its coming
from ' the stolid Swede,' set the crowd wild. The
president, the speaker of the house, the justices of
the supreme court, all united in one mighty shout
that lasted a minute. Johnson looked out over the
shouting crowd with eyes that danced.

" He was so utterly different from what his ill-
advised press agents had represented him. Tall,
straight, with a sensitive, mobile face that changed
in expression every second, he was as fine-looking
and striking a presence as ever was seen in a din-
ner hall, despite the libelous photographs of his
press agents. His mellow voice, full of unexpected
deeps and shallows, and always so calculated to
bring out of the uttermost every meaning that lay
behind one of his sentences, may not have been the
voice of an orator, but no orator could have made
such an impression on that crowd.

" And remember, it was not the ordinary mass-
meeting audience. It was made up, that crowd of
250, of men to whom oratory was their daily bread ;
men who heard it daily in house and senate until
they were sick of it. It was the most trying audi-

168

THE FAMOUS GRIDIRON DINNER

ence, the most cynical and skeptical audience, that a
man could have addressed.

" It is wholly within bounds to say that no such
hit was ever made before that audience — which is
pretty much the same from year to year — as John
A. Johnson made that night.

" His human enjoyment of the hit he was making
and the surprise he was creating was perfectly ob-
vious in his face and manner as he went on. He
was facing such an audience as, four years before,
the obscure country editor in Minnesota could never
have expected to confront — an audience that is
given to few men to confront ; an audience made up
of the nation's leaders in every walk of life, and
an audience which takes no interest in oratory, even
good oratory — and he was conquering it, establish-
ing his dominion over it, and raising that dominion
higher with every sentence.

" The matter of that speech has escaped from the
mind of the writer. He recalls one occasion when
Johnson, in the midst of a keen, clever eulogy of
Minnesota, enumerated the products in which she
excelled every other state, and concluded, with
a humorous glance at Vice President Fairbanks :

" * And her productid. of artificial ice exceeds
even that of Indiana ' —

" A witticism which brought the Vice President,
169

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

chuckling, to his feet, while everybody else roared
and stamped.

" But the jokes and sarcasms inevitably linger
longer in the memory than the more serious matter
of a speech. To sum it up, it was a fresh, vigorous,
direct, typically western and yet broadly national
review of the political life of the time. The en-
thusiasm of his auditors mounted every minute.
His dehvery was appropriate to the matter — a
slashing, easy running delivery, without a suspicion
of demagogy on the one hand or pomposity on the
other. It was like a western breeze rolling over the
jaded East.

" As the Governor finished and sat down there
was such a scene as had seldom been witnessed in the
Gridiron Club. Speaker Cannon began it. He
leaped up from his place and darted around to
Johnson's table to grasp his hand in both of his.
Hardly a second behind him came Senator Foraker
and then Secretary Root, and after them there piled
up a mass of statesmen, business men, newspaper
men, lawyers and judges, all excited and delighted,
all falling over themselves to scramble for Johnson's
hand.

" Though he must have had self-confidence
enough to know that he would conquer the crowd,
he could not have looked for any such tribute as

170

THE FAMOUS GRIDIRON DINNER

that — a tribute all the more impressive because it
was paid by the leaders of the land, by men who had
hitherto been mere names to him, in most cases.

" Naturally, he was flushed and excited, but he
stood his ground, giving back easy and equable re-
tort to all the witty compliments that were showered
upon him. He sat down, still as genial and as un-
affected as he had risen, though he had had a tri-
umph such as comes to few men.

" Among the guests were many men who were
apathetically hoping for some not too unattractive
candidate against Bryan. They had not hoped for
a real leader ; they had hoped only for a respectable
name. They went away from that dining hall filled
with real enthusiasm for the first time. The name,
the respectable Scandinavian, had turned out to be
a man.

" Charles H. Grasty, then owner of the Baltimore
Nezvs, was one of these men, and he proceeded to
print in his paper such an account of Johnson that
it made the other anti-Bryan men all over the land
sit up and take notice. The rules of the Gridiron
Club forbid the publication of any speeches deliv-
ered before it, and Johnson's was never reported.
This fact added to the Johnson legend. As
Grasty's story went rolling on over the country, re-
inforced by the equally enthusiastic reports of other

171

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

men who had attended the dinner, even the real
brilliancy of the speech was eclipsed by common
report. As a result of it the anti-Bryan men fell
in behind Johnson with real loyalty and enthusiasm
where they had expected to give only a perfunctory
support to the most " available " man.

" Gray, it is true, polled a larger vote than John-
son at Denver, but that was for strategic reasons.
If there had been a real chance to nominate an anti-
Bryan man it would have been Johnson. He was
in training again for 19 12, with an outlook for bet-
ter luck, when he died. His passing leaves a senti-
ment of real regret in the hearts of the men who
that night in Washington were brought up standing
by the delivery of one of the freshest and most
original speeches ever delivered at a dinner — a
speech that made a candidate, and might in three
years more have made a president."

The report of Charles H, Grasty, then of the Bal-
timore News, " which went rolling over the land,"
in the light of subsequent developments is well
worth reading. This is what Mr. Grasty wrote:

"JOHNSON OF MINNESOTA

" After all, Henry Watterson is a pretty good
judge of colts. Six or eight months ago, when it
looked as if the next election would go by default

172

THE FAMOUS GRIDIRON DINNER

to the Republican because of the poverty of Presi-
dential material in the Democratic Party, the Louis-
ville editor announced that he had made a dis-
covery.

" The name of Mr. Watterson's unknown did
not at that time revive the jaded hopes of the mil-
lions of people who have been yearning to get to-
gether on some plan and leadership that would make
effective an opposition in this country. In our ad-
miration of the brilliant and picturesque qualities of
Henry of Kentucky we had all forgotten that almost
feminine instinct of his about men. And so when
he mentioned the uninspiring name of John Johnson
most of us hardly took the trouble to recall whether
it was in Minnesota, Iowa or Dakota that the
Republicans would not always be sure of winning
against a popular Democrat of Swedish extraction.

" But Mr. Watterson knew. From his editorial
observatory his shrewd and eager gaze had swept
every horizon. Thus, while all the rest were sub-
mitting themselves in reluctant resignation to a
third-time Bryan, the cunning hand of Watterson
plucked from the hitherto mediocre mass of Demo-
cratic officialdom the man of hope.

" At the psychological moment, when the mighty
Republican Party is divided against itself, and when
Bryan has just left us with a fresh impression of

1/3

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

his mastery of the situation and our own helpless-
ness, Governor Johnson appears on these coasts. It
is the first time he has been seen in the presidential
limelight.

" He attended the Gridiron dinner. He made a
speech. A barnyard rooster never goes through
that experience without losing his tail feathers. A
mere prairie phenomenon would have been ex-
ploded. A demagogue would have been found out.
Any word of buncombe would have made the grid-
iron sizzle.

" A new man has arrived. Cannon saw him and
jumped across the table to greet him. Foraker
wrung his hand. Harry New, Republican chair-
man that he is, ran to meet the man coming from
Minnesota to greater things. Roosevelt-Taft edi-
tors like Nelson of Kansas City pressed around
him. And as for Democrats — men groaning under
the Bryan yoke and looking for deliverance — they
fairly went wild.

" Here is a Democrat without demagogy. A
leader whose head is not in the clouds. A sober
thinker with the saving grace of humor. A right-
doer whose temperature is perfectly normal. A
man of action without strenuosity. A young man
of seasoned judgment. A man of the people who
looks well in evening clothes. The possessor of

174

THE FAMOUS GRIDIRON DINNER

that greatest gift of the gods, sense — which means
judgment and taste — but all the while a virile son
of the West with every red corpuscle intact.

" This is not one man's enthusiasm ; it is the
unanimous verdict of a set of men trained to size up
other men and cold-blooded to the point of cynicism.
The Supreme Bench of the United States is not less
subject to emotion than these singed cats of journal-
ism. It is something to be a Democrat who is a
two times winner in a strong Republican state, but
that does not matter so much to them. They rub
elbows and sit at meat with president, cabinet
ministers, ambassadors and all the rest. But John
Johnson, modest, self-poised, keen witted, clear-
minded and good to look at — coming to Washing-
ton with an official record behind him without a
flaw at a time when every eye is straining for
Democratic timber — well, they all think he will
do."

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CHAPTER XIII

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

SCARCELY had the shouts of triumph, with
which Governor Johnson's smashing second
victory was received, died away before men began
to whisper that here was presidential material
for the Democratic Party. Many leaders and
editors in different parts of the country almost
simultaneously began to talk about the victory-get-
ting young governor of Minnesota. One of the
first to pin his faith to the northern vote-getter was
Mr. J. C. Hemphill, editor of the Charleston, South
Carolina, News and Courier, and Mr. Hemphill
was as faithful as he was early. From the moment
he began to urge Governor Johnson he was con-
stantly faithful.

In the spring of 1907, Henry Watterson, the
famous editor of the Louisville Courier- Journal,
took up William J. Bryan's announcement that if
the Democratic Party could find a man who stood
true to the guns in 1896, who could get more votes
than Mr. Bryan was likely to get, the national

176

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

Democratic convention should nominate him, and
announced that in case Mr. Bryan meant to decline
the Democratic nomination, he could name the man
who would unite the party and probably carry the
election. " And," continued the Colonel, " he does
not live east of the Alleghanies or south of the
Potomac and Ohio."

At once there was a great flutter of curiosity
throughout the country as to the identity of Henry
Watterson's " dark horse," as he came to be desig-
nated. At length it came to be understood that Mr.
Watterson had in mind Governor Johnson, and
finally in the American Magazine for October, 1907,
Mr. Watterson said :

"If you will acquit me of any purpose to set up
for an oracle or to pique the public curiosity, I do
not mind telling you that it was Governor Johnson
I had in mind. Mr. Bryan, you may recall, had
declared in a speech, that if the party could find a
representative man, who might get more votes than
he was likely to get, it should make him its pres-
idential nominee. Mr. Bryan's friends were every-
where saying that he did not desire the nomination.
Upon these hints I spoke. I said that I knew of
such a man — a dyed-in-the-wool regulation Demo-
crat, and — as both a concession and an answer to
Mr. Bryan's rather proscriptive requirements, I

177

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

added that he did not live either in the despised East
or the ignored South.

" I did n't blurt his name for the reason that in the
first place I was not undertaking to play Warwick
— I wanted Mr. Bryan to play Warwick — and
second that any suggestion coming from me would
be at once black-balled by that very considerable
but unthinking body of extremists and visionaries
who seem to want to reduce the Democratic Party to
Mr. Bryan and themselves.

" There are myriads of Democrats like myself
who are sick and tired of all this. We are not un-
friendly to Mr. Bryan, though we reject some of
his gospels, and we agree that the campaign of 1904
was in many ways illogical. We would have done
with factionism.

" It happens that I have known Governor John-
son for many years, and have watched his career
with interest. He is a most exceptional man, both
in character and ability; a steady-going, level-
headed man, who thinks first and acts afterward; a
man who does things worth doing, nothing vision-
ary or fantastic about him. He is as typical Amer-
ican in his personality and in his working methods
and in his mental processes as may be found among
the rich progeny of the Scotch-Irish to which the
country owes so much of Scandinavian origin,

178

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

next after the Scotch-Irish high upon the racial
honor-roll, whence we have drawn so many of our
statesmen and soldiers. That means that he could
not fail to prove as he has already proven a great
vote-getter. He has not been mixed up in any fac-
tion fight. He comes from the right quarter.
Even as Lincoln emerged from obscurity to take
the helm, it seems to me that this man might, so
like Lincoln in his simplicity and modesty as well
as in his hard up-hill antecedent experience."

Colonel Watterson never retracted this estimate
of Johnson, but he did later, after Johnson had be-
come a recognized candidate, declare that the " dark
horse " had been entered too late to get the nomina-
tion in view of Mr. Bryan's evident disposition to
want it for himself.

In fact it was not until March, 1908, that Gov-
ernor Johnson could be considered as an active can-
didate. For months he and his friends were over-
whelmed with letters and delegations and visitors
from almost every state in the Union, urging him
as the one hope of salvation of the Democratic
Party to become a presidential candidate. Various
causes are assigned for the delay in definitely bring-
ing Governor Johnson before the people. In the
first place the Governor did not believe himself to
be of presidential calibre. He liked and admired

179

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Mr. Bryan, and hated to think of himself as a can-
didate in opposition to the twelve-year leader of
the Democracy. The Governor's friends could not
persuade him to get into the race. Besides, some of
them were of the opinion that the Governor would
have a better opportunity of securing a nomination
if the announcement of his candidacy were made
late in the day. Their idea was that had the
Governor been brought into the field a year or nine
months before the convention his boom would wear
itself out early in the day. It was found out later,
however, that this apprehension was not justified,
for when Governor Johnson was formally put for-
ward as a candidate it was found that his chances in
many states had already been foreclosed, owing to
the prevailing opinion that Mr. Bryan would be the
only candidate. At last, however, the Democratic
State Central Committee of Minnesota, on March 6,
formally sponsored Governor Johnson's candidacy
by means of the following resolution :

" Governor John A. Johnson has twice brought
victory to the Democracy of Minnesota. During
his incumbency of the office of governor more re-
forms have been instituted and more remedial legis-
lations adopted than during any period of time in
the history of our state. He has been controlled
only by the public interest. His mentality, restless

1 80

MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL ""^ ' »■ "^'^Sgt*'' e^SfiCL

rnc. OLD 4TORV riTj owcc moke.

POUTICAL CARTOONS

i8i

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

energy and sound judgment united with his unim-
peachable integrity make him the embodiment of
the best spirit of the West, an ideal American
citizen. Confidently believing that his nomination
as the candidate of the party for the presidency
would bring to our support the electoral vote of all
the states east of the Mississippi Valley, and thus
secure national triumph, we respectfully present to
the Democracy of the nation the name of the Hon.
John A. Johnson as candidate for President of the
United States, and recommend the Democrats of
Minnesota that they cause his name to be presented
to the national convention at Denver for nomina-
tion."

Even then Governor Johnson would not admit
that he considered himself a candidate. His
friends, however, were determined to enter him in
the race, and immediately after the state committee
had adopted the resolution above quoted, they be-
gan to put out feelers and take scouting trips to
various sections of the country, and finally on
March 2^, Governor Johnson wrote to Swan J.
Turnblad, publisher of the Szvedish-American Post
of Minneapolis, in response to a letter from that
gentleman, saying :

" I do not believe that any American citizen
should be an active open candidate for the nomina-

182

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

tion to the presidency. Matters have progressed
so far, however, it seems to me that I should at
least say in answer to your interrogation, that if
the Democratic Party of the nation believe me to
be more available than any other man and feel that
by nomination I can contribute any service to the
party and to the nation, I should be happy to be
the recipient of the honor that it would confer.
I am not unmindful, however, of the high honor
which has been paid me by the people of Minnesota ;
and if the Democratic Party of the state desires
to present my name to the next annual convention
I am sure I would have no objection, but even if
Minnesota should be the only state to declare for
me at that time I should feel that the distinction
was one of the greatest that could come to me."

Mr, F. B. Lynch, who had been treasurer of the
Democratic State Central Committee through both
of Governor Johnson's gubernatorial campaigns
and between whom and the Governor there had
grown up a very intimate friendship, took charge of
the national campaign in Governor Johnson's be-
half, and opened headquarters at the Grand Pacific
Hotel, Chicago, in the latter part of March. From
that time on an energetic, active, organized fight
was made to secure Governor Johnson's nomination.
At first the effort met with much encouragement,

183

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

and only those who were intimately associated with
it know how near it came to success. There were
several occasions when the result really trembled
in the balance. The plan of campaign of the
Johnson managers was to secure the greatest pos-
sible number of uninstructed delegations to the
Democratic national convention, the idea being
to make that convention a body of genuine dele-
gated authority. It was felt that a convention of
unpledged and uninstructed delegates, calmly
reviewing the field, having in mind the best interests
of the party, desiring a candidate who could unite
the factions and who would probably bring success
in the election, would choose Governor Johnson as
the leader.

The effort in Governor Johnson's behalf re-
vealed the fact that the great majority of the party
leaders in all sections of the country felt that to
nominate Mr, Bryan for a third time would invite
defeat. On the other hand most of the leaders
finally came to the conclusion that, in view of Mr.
Bryan's attitude and evident desire for a third
nomination, there would be so many irreconcilables
among his followers that there would be little hope
of electing even so popular a man as Governor
Johnson. So, reluctantly and regretfully, as men
giving up a golden opportunity, they gradually gave

184

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

their support to Mr. Bryan. So, some weeks be-
fore the Denver convention it began to be plain that
there was little hope for Governor Johnson's
nomination. State after state, which his managers
had good reason for believing would be for him,
sent delegations instructed for Mr. Bryan. It
was determined, however, to make a game fight for
the Governor to the last, and the contest was car-
ried on till the last minute at Denver. Over-
whelmed and without hope, Governor Johnson's
supporters, headed by the solid delegation from his
ow-n state, stood loyally by him to the last. They
made a clean, dignified, earnest campaign, and
sought to exclude all personal bitterness. They
were loyal Democrats, earnest in their belief that
they had the ideal candidate for the party leader,
but were not there to rule or ruin. Governor
Johnson's name was placed before the convention
by Congressman W. S. Hammond of Minnesota,
who had tw^ice nominated him before state con-
ventions, in a strong and dignified speech, at the
conclusion of which the Governor was given a
demonstration of personal popularity rarely, if ever,
accorded to a defeated candidate. For more than
half an hour the great auditorium resounded with
the cheers of the Governor's loyal adherents.
When it was all over they accepted the result in

185

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

good spirit, as did the Governor himself, who im^
mediately telegraphed Mr. Bryan as follows:

" Please accept my heartiest congratulations on
your nomination, and the splendid personal victory
which it implies. You will have no more earnest
supporter than I, and I hope to be permitted to
contribute to your success and that of the party."

In the state campaign Governor Johnson demon-
strated his loyalty by saying in his speech :

" We are in the midst of one of the most
momentous political campaigns in the history of our
country, made so by reason of new political lines,
by reason of differences in the various political
organizations, and because of the peculiar situation
in regard to platforms and candidates. The
Democracy of the nation and state come to you in
this campaign with platform and candidates which
need no apologies. In fact we come to you with a
national platform and candidate, which in our
judgment, challenges comparison. In my judgment
there has never been in the history of American
politics so wide a division in the matter of political
declarations as that wdiich exists between those of
the Chicago and Denver conventions. ... In
contradistinction to that (Republican) platform
adopted, we ask you to consider the platform
adopted by the Democratic Party at Denver — a

i86

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

platform that has not been challenged successfully
by any of the great newspaper organs of the op-
position, and proud as we are of our platform we
come to you with just as much pride in our national
leader, W. J. Bryan. You must admit the purity
of his life, the earnestness of his purpose and the
dominant fact that he has sought for what he be-
lieves to be the good of the masses."

The direction of the national campaign in Minne-
sota was in the hands of Mr. F. B. Lynch, as na-
tional committeeman, and no state leader gave Mr.
Bryan more loyal support than Mr. Lynch, who had
been Johnson's pre-convention manager.

It is a fact that the result at Denver was not the
least disappointment to Governor Johnson. He had
never been a willing candidate. He had never had
any confidence that he would be nominated, and it
had been almost impossible for his managers to get
him to support their efforts to any extent. Time
and time again he refused to accept invitations to
speak or make tours that could be construed as
being in the interest of his candidacy.

Those who had so loyally supported Governor
Johnson for president were not cast down by the
defeat at Denver. They had more regret on ac-
count of the party than on account of the Governor.
They felt that they had offered the party a candi-

187

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

date who could have won victory. Then, too,
Governor Johnson was a young man and four years
did not seem long to them to wait. The Governor's
wonderful victory in the state contest in 1908 added
to his renown, and his admirers everywhere felt
that it was practically certain that he would be
named for the presidency by his party in 191 2.
Great hopes were buried with him.

188

CHAPTER XIV

PRIVATE LIFE

GOVERNOR JOHNSON was without an
overmastering ambition. This is not the
flattery of a biographer anxious to make a demi-god
of his subject. It is not contended that he was un-
mindful of the applause of the multitude or con-
temptuous of power and distinction, but with him
one thing led to another. He had no permanent
ambition for distinction, no lust of office. He
found his chief enjoyment in private life. His
wife, his books, the theater, a few friends, outdoor
games, fishing, and, latterly, automobiling were his
chief engrossments. His wife was his chum and
companion. She had even less political ambitions
for her husband than he had for himself. She was
furious over his third nomination for governor and
with vivid indignation accused the Governor's
friends of a conspiracy to nominate him against his
will!

Baseball was one of the Governor's hobbies. In
his youth he was an excellent player himself, and

189

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

once deliberated long over an offer to enlist as a
professional ball player. He followed all the games
of the big leagues, and few " fans " in America
were more familiar than he with the names and
records of the leading players of baseball. He was
also a great lover of football and rarely missed the
games played by the University of Minnesota
eleven.

He loved nature and outings in the fields and
woods. It is characteristic of his gentle nature,
though, that he never hunted. He could see no en-
joyment in killing bird or animal, and was proud of
the fact that he had never killed for sport. Yet he
was extremely fond of fishing — especially trout
fishing.

Soon after his third election as governor he pur-
chased an automobile, and took much pleasure in
running it himself. Only a short time before his
death he made the trip to St. Peter from St. Paul
in his automobile. The roads were bad and the
journey was very tedious. On the return to St.
Paul, though far behind his schedule and late for an
engagement, the Governor insisted on further delay
to help a stranded machine.

The theater, especially classic drama and grand
opera, had a great hold on Governor Johnson. He

190

MRS. JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

PRIVATE LIFE

and Mrs. Johnson were regular attendants at all
good plays to be seen in St. Paul theaters.

The Governor abhorred formal banquets and
course dinners, but he was at his best with a few
gathered around the table. He was a zestful diner,
and delighted in good things to eat, friends to talk
with and a fragrant cigar to smoke. Whether it
was the extreme deprivation of good things in his
youth or not, it is certain that when he was able to
have good things he enjoyed them with the gusto of
a boy. As a conversationalist he was at his best at
such times. He liked to talk of men and events,
indulge in reminiscences and tell stories of real life
as he had seen it. He was not a teller of stock
funny stories, though none enjoyed a good story
more than he.

Being a newspaper man he always had a fondness
for " the boys." Many of his appointees were
newspaper men. He keenly watched the local
newspapers of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and would
often notice and comment on a " scoop." The
newspaper men had the run of his office. He was
always accessible to them, and enjoyed their confi-
dence to such an extent that he often advised with
them concerning matters that were not ripe for pub-
lication. Sometimes he would restlessly stroll into

191

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

the press room in the capitol, sit on the corner of
the table, swing his legs and inquire ; — " Well,
boys, can I do anything for you ? "

Childless, himself, Governor Johnson passion-
ately loved children. He would hardly pass a child
without stopping to play or chat. The mxcmory of
his own restricted childhood was always with him
and prompted him to take every opportunity to
brighten the life of any child who came his way.

One day a small lad intent upon meeting the Gov-
ernor, whose life story had fired his imagination,
stood in the corridor of the capitol and asked of
every man who passed :

" Please, sir, are you the Governor? "

Most of the legislators and officials who passed
scarcely gave the wistful boy a glance or answer.
His lip quivered, but he stuck to his post.

A tall man, with a smooth face, hurried by, and
after him the waiting boy sped the same question.
Quickly the big man turned and taking the child by
the hand, asked :

" What do you want to do wnth the governor? "

" I want to shake hands with him."

"And who are you?" asked the tall man, with
sympathetic smile,

" I am Herman Hauenstein, of New Ulm."

" All right," said the stranger. " You come
192

PRIVATE LIFE

along with me, and I will take you to the governor,"
So, taking the hand of the little fellow, the tall
man, took him down the corridor, bought him some
candy, and then revealed himself as the governor,
while Herman grinned and blushed with delight.

In each small boy, the Governor saw himself of
other days. He knew the boys — and because he
knew boys he knew men. Perhaps, in giving a lift
to each boy who came his way, the Governor was
doing honor to the memory of a young woman from
New England who taught him his letters and helped
him master the English language in his first school
in St. Peter. She first noticed John because of his
tendency to tardiness. An explanation followed.
The boy in his broken English explained that he had
to get up at five o'clock every morning to carry
water and help his mother wash. The little hands,
red, chapped and sore, told the story and aroused
infinite compassion in the teacher's breast ; the thin
little body and the tattered clothes told more. From
that time little ** Yon Yonson " had special personal
attention from that teacher. After school hours
she gave him special instruction in pronouncing and
reading English.

This recalls the fact that, though Swedish was the
first language the boy learned, the schools and daily
associations early made English his favorite lan-

193

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

guage, and by the time he was a man grown he had
no facihty in the use of Swedish, though he could
always understand it. Even when addressing
Scandinavian audiences he was compelled to use
English.

The State of Minnesota does not provide an ex-
ecutive residence, and, being without children, Gov-
ernor and Mrs. Johnson during their years in St.
Paul resided in apartments in a family hotel. But
a few months before his death he had made up his
mind to reside permanently in St. Paul, and had
purchased a home at 586 Lincoln Avenue. He had
taken much pleasure in superintending the decorat-
ing and furnishing of the new home, but was not to
live to occupy it. Li St. Peter, after his marriage
he rebuilt and enlarged the boyhood home, and later
built a small modern home after a plan that Mrs.
Johnson had clipped from a magazine. The build-
ing of this little home was a great delight to the
happy couple, and they passed a number of con-
tented years there — Mrs. Johnson " doing her own
work," becoming a famous cook, caring for her
flower gardens, in which John so delighted — living
the sane, simple country life of man and maid hap-
pily wedded. In those good days, it is related,
they once visited St. Paul to buy some fine rugs for
their little home. The salesman displayed a mag-

194

PRIVATE LIFE

nificent Persian rug, which captivated John, quite
ignorant of rug values. Before he asked the price
he had obviously shown his preference. " Only six
hundred dollars," said the salesman. John could
not have been any more surprised if the salesman
had said six million dollars. " Well," he said, " if
you can give me two exactly alike, I will take them."

Governor Johnson was not a business man. He
had little liking for buying and selling. Living
modestly, he was able to save something from his
salary of $7,000 a year as governor.

Governor Johnson was for many years very
active in the Presbyterian church at St. Peter and
was an occasional attendant at church after coming
to St. Paul.

One of the most striking characteristics of Gov-
ernor Johnson w^as his perfect candor and lack of
dissimulation. Interviewers were often amazed at
his frank admission of ignorance. He never made
a pretense of knowing or understanding. He was,
through his frankness, a disappointment to many
with whom he would have stood higher had he re-
sorted to deceitful devices. He did not pretend to
be a repository of knowledge or wdsdom, and noth-
ing amused him more than the disappointment of
the occasional " journalist " so fresh from college
th.at lie did not discriminate between knowledge and

195

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

power, when he found that there were scores of
names of modern economical and sociological
writers of whom Governor Johnson had never
heard. The same test would have disqualified Lin-
coln.

The Governor loved the simple, the true, the hon-
est. The simple life, as he saw it lived by an old
couple at Sarnia, Ontario, made a deep impression
on him, and he often referred to these good folk in
his conversation and at least once in public — a
reference that gave them the great distinction of
their lives. In that speech delivered at Detroit,
May 3, 1908, the Governor said:

" When I think of wealth and the curses that go
with it there always comes to my mind the picture
of Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs of Sarnia.

" I met them during a tour of Canada three years
ago wuth a party of Minnesota editors. To-day I
have forgotten the great men I met, the statesmen
who strove to make our stay in Canada an enjoyable
one, but always to my mind comes the memory of
Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs.

" I had never seen a peach orchard, and when we
reached Sarnia and was told that the fruit grew in
abundance about the town I expressed a desire to
see an orchard. A friend drove us to the Gibbs
homestead, a short distance from town.

196

PRIVATE LIFE

" The old gentleman welcomed us at the gate, was
told the request of Mrs. Johnson and myself, and in
his simple way expressed his gratification at our
coming. We left the carriage and walked around
the house. But he would not start for the orchard
until ' mother was there.' She was as sweetly sim-
ple as her husband, and like children we all wan-
dered through that orchard, the boughs laden with
the luscious fruit. We feasted until it seemed I
should never wash to eat again, but when we re-
turned to the house Mrs. Gibbs invited us to ' stay
to tea.' Now, we did not want any tea, I hardly be-
lieved I could drink a drop, but I knew that if we
refused they would be heartbroken. So we stayed
and further enjoyed their hospitality.

" After our tour through Canada, during which
prime ministers and the highest statesmen of the
government did us honor, we returned to Sarnia to
embark for Duluth.

" I was hurrying up the gang-plank, a suit case in
either hand, when an old gentleman said : ' Good-
bye, sir.' * Good-bye,' I said without turning. But
when I reached the deck Mrs. Johnson called me
and said : ' There are Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs down
there on the dock.' Then I remembered who it was
that had spoken to me and I hurried down to shake
their hands,

197

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

" To-day it is the picture of the sweet-faced old
couple, happy in their beautiful home, the recipients
of God's bounteous gifts, that lingers in my mind.
I can see them hand and hand in their peach or-
chard, passing the twilight of their lives, when the
heroes and master men of their land are to me but
meaningless names."

Governor Johnson would have been a knight-er-
rant had he lived in olden times. He had the true
American devotion to and respect for w^omen. He
was never tainted with the modern idea that equal
rights for women mean deprivation of privilege for
the weaker sex. He felt that women were entitled
to special consideration at all times, and that it
should be both a duty and an honor for a man to
protect not only one woman but all women. He
was most considerate of all the women and delega-
tions of women who came to the executive offices.
He never made any concealment of his belief in
w^oman suffrage, and yet for the mannish woman
he had nothing but contempt. It was doubtless his
chi\'alric reverence for women that kept his life
and his thoughts so pure. He never had any pa-
tience with foul stories or suggestive allusions.

John A. Johnson was a success in private life,
quite as much as in public. The spirit of human
service actuated him in both fields.

198

CHAPTER XV

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

GOVERNOR Johnson was at his best as an
extemporaneous speaker. The stimulus of
the necessity of saying something creditable seemed
to open reservoirs of thought and memory that were
not ordinarily open. ]\Iany times after delivering a
part of a set speech which pleased neither him nor his
auditors, he would throw away his manuscript or
forget his lines and plunge into an extemporaneous
talk that would electrify his hearers. He could not
get himself into what he carefully prepared. John-
son's greatness was not in thought but in personality,
and the personality disappeared through the medium
of the typewriter. But when he thought as he spoke,
he became to the public what he was to his friends,
only better, because the inspiration of the situation
lifted him to a plane of eloquence and charm that
was not reached in the ordinary routine of his life.
He was amazingly adept at saying the appropriate
thing, and at converting some little incident of the
day or the occasion into the theme of his remarks.

199

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Thus it happens that the best speeches he made are
not recorded. There was no manuscript of them,
and they were delivered, for the most part, on oc-
casions when there was no stenographic report avail-
able. But where such reports are available they
are found to be disappointing. The reader who was
auditor does not find in the record all that he got in
person.

The frank, engaging manner, the revealing eyes,
the delightful smile, the characteristic gestures, the
rich, resonant, sympathetic voice are not recorded.
All these established a sympathy between the speaker
and the audience that counted for more than was said.
He seemed to be able to suggest thoughts and recol-
lections and flights of imagination that set his listen-
ers aglow and gave them a sense of satisfaction and
approval. He had a way of saying rather innocuous
things that made a deep impression on his hearers.

On one occasion when he was addressing a large
audience, the electric lights, which had been splut-
tering and dwindling for some time, finally went out.
As they died down the Governor stood with uplifted
hand, looking at them, and as they ceased he stopped
talking. A moment later the lights flashed out again
with the Governor still standing in the same attitude
of command.

200

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

" I did n't think I could do it ! " he exclaimed, and
the audience laughed and applauded as if he had
given them a bon mot of extraordinary brilliancy.

American political audiences do not, as a rule,
interrupt speakers, but Governor Johnson was very
successful in parrying attacks made on him in that
way. On such occasions the conciliatory, soft-man-
nered Johnson gave way to the hard-hitter. One
time he was addressing an audience on the wisdom
of direct legislation. He gave it as his opinion that
every voter is or should be qualified to pass directly
upon legislation affecting himself and the public.

" Now," he asked, " is there any man here who is
prepared to admit that he is incapable of governing
himself?"

" Here is one," yelled a man in the rear of the
hall

" Well, my friend," said Johnson, " over in my
town the state benevolently supports an institution
where unhappy unfortunates like yourself are ten-
derly cared for."

Speaking at a Jefferson Day banquet in Louisville
in 1908 Governor Johnson made a speech which was
most enthusiastically received. He was tired and
listless and thought himself doomed to make a fail-
ure. A minute before he rose he did not know

201

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

what he would say. Then, happening to recall one
of the Louisville ladies he had met during the day,
he began : —

" Kentucky has made a very serious impression
on me more than once, though my visits to this great
state have been very recent. After a short time in
my incumbency of the office of governor, it was my
great good fortune to entertain in the capitol of our
state a great host of beautiful and brilliant ladies
from the commonwealths of the country, the Feder-
ation of Woman's Clubs. After the delights of that
evening had begun to pass away, I began to think
and try to recall the various persons whom on that
occasion I had met, and I came finally to this con-
clusion : I remembered particularly three of the
delegations which came to Minnesota on that oc-
casion, and were included in the reception at the
capitol on that night. One was the Massachusetts
delegation, one was the Texas delegation, and one,
God bless them, was the Kentucky delegation. I
remembered the Massachusetts delegation because
they were intellectual and brilliant ; I remembered
the Texas delegation because they were as handsome
as any women I had ever seen, and I remembered
the Kentucky delegation because they were as intel-
lectual as Massachusetts and as handsome as Texas."

Of course that audience of Kentuckians was
202

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

wildly delighted. They clapped their hands, cheered
and yelled. The effect on the Governor was instan-
taneous. He was inspired, the rest was easy, and
with enjoyment in his task he proceeded easily with
a speech that was received with breathless interest.

Like all governors, Governor Johnson was called
on innumerable times to make speeches at conven-
tions, and all kinds of gatherings, local, state and
national. He finally got to a point where most of
such invitations bored him. He disliked to make the
" welcome-to-our-city " talk which was so often ex-
pected of him, and his secretary was often disturbed
for fear the Governor would give offense by de-
clining such invitations and forgetting some that he
had accepted. The Governor was aware of the sec-
retary's concern. One day the Governor was sched-
uled to welcome some fraternal society state gath-
ering. He told his secretary that he thought he
would not fill the engagement.

" But you have promised."

"Well, telephone them that I can't come, if you
want to, but anyway, I am not going."

Soon the reception committee arrived. The Gov-
ernor could not be found anywhere in the capitol.
The secretary was wildly excited — the committee
said the meeting was waiting. He rushed to the
telephone, called up the hall and sent word to the

203

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

chairman that the Governor would soon be there.

And at that very moment the Governor was ad-
dressing the audience.

One kind of speaking Governor Johnson delighted
in before all others. He loved debates, and was
never quite so keen and full of life as when taking
part in a public discussion, where the speakers rise
in their places and talk at each other. His success
in this kind of speaking was remarkably demon-
strated at the second conservation congress at Wash-
ington, and made him the figure of central interest
there.

Governor Johnson's fame soon made him in great
demand as a speaker, and he was overwhelmed with
invitations from Maine to California. Some of
these he accepted, though many of them he declined
because of the press of pubHc business. But he
liked these opportunities to meet non-political audi-
ences and get away from partisan discussions. He
enjoyed meeting new people and seeing new places.
He saw in this work an opportunity for a career
after he had retired from politics.

Mr. Charles L. Wagner, the well-known lyceum
manager, who arranged Governor Johnson's lecture
tours, contributes the following concerning the Gov-
ernor's platform experience:

" For several years and especially the year pre-
204

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

ceding the last campaign, there was a great de-
mand from the general public to hear men of the
hour. The magazines were very active ' making
men ' with each issue. The public at large was
clamoring to hear them, and as a lyceum manager
I was very anxious to satisfy the public. Not only
for financial reasons, either, for I had become very
much interested in the great reform work that was
being done all over the country and was pleased to
note a general awakening of all classes. The de-
mand for public men came first from the rural com-
munities, where people have time to read everything,
and still think for themselves, instead of allowing
their favorite newspaper to do it for them — com-
munities where the people look upon a series of
lectures as the great 'events of the long winter sea-
son and where the Chautauqua thrives and really
becomes as intended by Dr. Vincent, the great Sum-
mer School of the common people. Such men of
power and prominence in the public eye as the Hon.
Wm. Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, Governor J.
Frank Hanly of Indiana, Gov. Jos. W. Folk of Mis-
souri, Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin,
and others, had led the way in the lecture field, and
after his second great victory in Minnesota my atten-
tion was called to Governor John A. Johnson.
I had first become interested in him through his sad

205

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

life's story. Then a talk with Mr. Bryan con-
vinced me of the power of Johnson's personality —
the most valuable asset a public speaker can possess.
I wrote him repeatedly and was always politely but
firmly refused. He never gave any particular rea-
son for not wanting to lecture but always led me
to understand that if he had ever thought of it the
time had not yet come. Finally, after the Hon.
Henry Watterson placed him in the public eye as a
possible Democratic candidate for president, I again
urged him to lecture, and asked for a personal in-
terview and not another positive refusal. I was
delighted to be summoned to St. Paul by wire and
met Governor Johnson for the first time, in his office,
in early February, 1908. We covered the lyceum
field thoroughly in our convei^ation for about an
hour and I tried to prove to him its great possibili-
ties from every view point. The public believed
Minnesota had a great governor and the public
wanted to hear him. Naturally I believed in satis-
fying the public. Incidentally I told him of a re-
mark Senator Tillman once made to me; that a
public man could not live honestly on his salary
alone, and hence was forced to do something else
unless he had a competence to live upon or some
other source of revenue beside his salary as a public
servant. Lecturing, at this time, w^as the easiest

206

Copyright by Sweet

GOVERNOR JOHNSON AND RRIVATE SECRETARY DAY
IN CONSULTATION

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

and best way to make money enough to enable a
man of ideals, and of high purpose, to serve his
people honestly and creditably. I felt I must have
Governor Johnson for the season of 1908 and 1909
and I presume I grew somewhat enthusiastic over
the prospects both political and financial. He sat at
his desk for fully five minutes in apparent deep
thought, then arose, walked around and sat on the
edge of his desk, a favorite position of his, as I
learned during later visits. With a smile fairly
illuminating his sad face, he said : * Well, I guess
it 's " up to me " — I must either lecture or never get
rid of you.' We discussed terms and I told him
I felt he was worth the highest price that was being
paid, $200.00 a lecture. This was entirely satis-
factory. In fact, he seemed to care less about the
financial side of it than any other public man I had
ever met, though he saw the great opportunity of
laying aside a little money and an opportunity for
travel after his tenn of governor was ended. He
told me then he was not a presidential candidate,
simply in the hands of his friends * whom,' he added
again with that strange sad smile, * are very fond
of me and I fear over-estimate my strength and
ability.' He also said he would not again run for
governor and I know he meant it.

" Governor Johnson began his platform work with
207

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

a lecture, or rather a talk on ' The Majesty of the
Law ' and a few weeks later decided to add another
title, ' Landmarks of Liberty.' He seemed to see a
wonderful opportunity in the lecture field and made
it a serious matter, showing more a desire to do good
and give value received, than to simply enlarge his
place in the lime-light, and make money out of it.
He had a great fear of not being able to give the
public a satisfactory message and realized that he
would be judged by other men on the platform. At
the commencement of our arrangements he said:
' If I fail to " make good " at any place, if I feel
the audience is not pleased, or the committee has
lost money, and I will know it if it so happens, I
shall go quietly to the committee and return the
fee. You will not lose b}' it. I will send on your
commission, but I want to be square with the public,
with the committees and with you.'

'* I was surprised to find how much he knew about
the lyceum movement and in the course of our con-
versation he told me he had once managed a lecture
engagement in his home town of St. Peter, for our
bureau. The attraction was the Hon. Henry Wat-
terson, with his well-known lecture, ' Money and
Morals.' It seems that the college there had failed
to sell enough tickets to guarantee this lecture and
had decided to drop it. So great was Governor

208

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

Johnson's desire to hear Mr. Watterson, he went
from store to store and sold enough tickets to guar-
antee the lecture. Years after he became Watter-
son's famous ' dark-horse.'

" From the beginning of our arrangement I disa-
greed with the Governor's secretary, Mr. Frank
A. Day, regarding the lecture. Mr. Day felt he
should take time to write a lecture, preparing for it
thoroughly. But the more I saw of Governor John-
son the more I felt certain he should not lecture but
simply * talk ' to his public. He had a way of
always saying the right thing and was always the
center of any crowd. Mr, Day and I clashed on
this point frequently and the Governor once said :
* If I fail to prepare an address, Frank has nervous
prostration; if I do prepare it, you have it.' I
think, however, Mr. Day now agrees with me.
The nearest the Governor ever came to failure was
with a prepared lecture at Armour Institute. He
saw the effect on the audience, which was largely
one of students, threw aside the manuscript after
thirty minutes of trying to interest them, gave them
his usual talk and the evening ended in enthusiasm.
In other words, he put himself into the work and it
landed over the footlights. He was a most win-
ning personality, and he was always at his best
when in close touch with the public. He was not

209

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

an orator, he always spoke in a conversational tone,
but had the power to become confidential with his
auditors, and each man felt he was receiving a per-
sonal message. I do not mean to convey the im-
pression that Governor Johnson could not prepare an
especial address; he could and did on many an
occasion. But a lecture was quite a different mat-
ter, the test of the man being greater. He was
given an hour and half before a mixed public and
in that hour and a half must satisfy hero worship-
ers, people of idle curiosity, and people who fairly
dared him to *make good.' In each town he
would be judged by that one appearance and the
public must have the best possible view of him.

" His first lecture was given at Houghton, Michi-
gan, second at Detroit and the next night I heard
him at Ann Arbor, where his success was the most
pronounced. This was particularly gratifying, for
the University of Michigan gives its students the
finest course of lectures available. Men who sel-
dom appear on the platform accept the invitation to
Ann Arbor, and I was delighted with the pronounced
success of * my new find.' During that day
Governor Johnson was interviewed by Mr. Lin-
coln Steffens, and his description of the meeting
was most interesting, and I am sure Mr. Steffens
will confess that after it was over he was as much

210

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

interviewed as interviewer. Governor Johnson had
a gracious way of getting the best out of the other
fellow and that is saying a great deal in a case with
Mr. Steffens, who is considered one of the best men
in the literary world to ' find out things.'

" The lecture field appealed to Governor Johnson
and from the very first he was as enthusiastic as a
boy with his first pair of red-topped boots. He en-
joyed meeting people, he felt the broadening influ-
ence of this non-political, non-partisan touch with
the big outside world and looked forward to a year
of travel and talk at the end of his second term.

" In a letter to me as early as March 30, 1908,
he wrote : * I have your letter giving the engage-
ments made for Chautauqua work. These meet
with my concurrence in every way but I am of the
opinion that it would not be wise for me to under-
take any more engagements for the summer than
you have already arranged for me. I certainly do
not want to discourage you in the splendid work
which you have done, and which has been far
beyond my expectations; but in view of my visit
to Washington, which will consume a week, my trip
to Shiloh, which will consume ten days more, and
my visit to Lindsborg, Kansas, which will take three
days, you have cut out enough work for me during
the summer time so that a vacation is absolutely

211

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

impossible. I shall make no conditions as to the
work next year. I shall be willing to tread the
wine-press as often and continually as you and your
patrons deem it necessary.'

" The demand was so great for Johnson's ap-
pearance that over one hundred applications for
lecture dates were refused during the coming sum-
mer. We had already arranged dates through our
bureau offices for the coming winter season, and the
bookings finally reached the enormous sum of $30,-
000.00, a tour extending from Coast to Coast, be-
ginning with scattering dates during the last few
months of his second term as governor, and then a
continuous tour from January 5th, 1909, to May
ist, 1909. He planned then to go to Europe with
Mrs. Johnson for the months of May and June, re-
turning in July in time for the summer Chautauqua
work.

" I shall always feel that had this programme been
possible he would be with us to-day and we who had
been honored with his beautiful friendship, would
have our friend ; the nation would still have another
of the type of statesmen it needs so much — a type
which is rather scarce at present. But it was not
to be, and he had nothing to do but accept the
inevitable.

" During March and April, 1908, Mr. Lynch con-
212

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

ducted a splendid campaign for his much-beloved
friend and the demand to hear him in Chicago was
universal. Invitations poured in upon him and one
of the hospitals wanted him for a benefit in Orches-
tra Hall, but for political reasons it was thought
best he should not give a public lecture in such a
strong political center until after the Denver Con-
vention. The lady in charge of the hospital was
the kind of a woman to whom ' no ' meant noth-
ing. She had made a sensational and therefore
financial success of the lecture by Senator Tillman
the previous year, and feeling that Johnson was the
man the people now wanted most to hear, she per-
sisted in calling upon me every hour by 'phone or
in person for a date for Governor Johnson. She
even met him on his way through town, and he only
escaped a positive promise to come through friends
coming to his rescue, and his hurried assurance that
he would write. In a letter dated May 7, he
says : ' I will not be able to give the hospital
lecture at this time. I regret this very much indeed

and because I realize how insistent Mrs. must

have been. You can say to her that I hope to give
her this address sometime this year. . . .
I will do nothing to conflict with the dates you
have made in the South for next year. As I
said before, I am willing to tread the wine-press

213

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

freely next year. I am looking forward to it.'
" Our contract for the winter season to follow
was made subject to the Denver Convention. In
middle June, when presidential possibilities were an-
nounced in the morning papers, dropped in the
evening issues, and forgotten entirely the next day,
Mr. Walter Wellman, in the Record Herald, an-
nounced Johnson for vice-president. As a part of
a letter on business, and our letters were always
part business and part personal, I wrote him : ' I
see Wellman is announcing you for vice-president.
Don't let that happen. That is the one thing the
public would never forgive. H you cannot be
president this time, they will need you four years
from now.' He replied : * It won't happen, I
would rather lecture for you, and hope nothing will
prevent that.' I quote this to show he did not
seriously expect to try to procure any nomination
at Denver.

" The Governor was very conscientious in his pub-
lic speaking, and always anxious about results.
After his first Chautauqua appearance, he wrote : ' I
have just returned from Ottawa, Kans., where I
had a delightful day. Had an audience of about
4,000. They seemed to be pleased with me. I
certainly was with them.' A few weeks later,
after several engagements in as many states, he

214

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

wrote: 'I had a very delightful week and spoke
to large audiences in every case. I certainly had
occasion to feel pleased with my reception at all
the places, and hope that the public were as well
pleased as myself. The managers and patrons
were very kind in their comments, and so I have
every reason to believe that the engagements were
satisfactory from both sides. I would be very
much pleased to hear from you at any time should
you have heard from them directly. If at any time
criticism comes to you, I should be most happy to
receive that, because I am as anxious as anybody
to build this lecture into one which will be emi-
nently satisfactory. I feel from the start made,
that the work is going to be very agreeable in every
way. As a matter of fact, the whole situation
pleases me much.'

" In closing a letter dated July loth, 1908, the
Governor says : ' You doubtless have already been
informed of the Denver Convention, which I can
confidentially say to you, is perfectly satisfactory
to me in its action. I have accustomed myself to
look forward to next year's work with a great deal
of pleasure and delight, and now nothing can possi-
bly interfere with it.'

" In late July he writes enthusiastically of his
lecture tour, which even the Denver Convention did

215

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

not interrupt. From Oklahoma he sends word:
* I have had a perfectly delightful time down here
during these few days, although two appearances
daily, with night travel, has made it quite a task. I
have found a fine lot of people; learned many
things, and have certainly got as much out of the
people in this section as they have got out of
me.' The demand for him in the Southwest had
been so great that we had to book him twice a day
and his success was so unusual that every town
without a single exception asked for return-dates
the following summer.

" By this time the political situation in Minnesota
became critical — very critical to our lecture bureau.
A race for the third term as governor was urged
upon Johnson and he had repeatedly refused. We
had a year's engagements booked ahead and it was
certainly a serious matter. He was the main at-
traction in 150 lecture courses, and every committee
began to quake and each quake gave our bureau a
jar. A telegram asking me to meet him came, and
at that meeting we decided there was but one thing
to do; cancel three engagements to give him time
to get back to St. Paul to prevent his own nomina-
tion. After a day at home he wrote, under date of
August 19 : 'I was sorry indeed to have to
cancel those engagements but it was imperative, and

216

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

even now, after all I have done and after all my
positive declarations, it appears this morning that
they were all futile, and that the Democratic Party
in convention, this afternoon, proposed to nomi-
nate me in spite of all my protest and all my dec-
linations. I have never been in a situation so
embarrassing as this, and have never been in one
which has brought me more real grief. I appreci-
ate the great compliment my Democratic friends
are bestowing upon me, yet nothing they could do
would be more disagreeable to me than to renomi-
nate me for this office. I have repeatedly informed
them that I would not accept the place if nominated,
and felt bound by that declaration, but even that
does not seem to be of any particular avail. The
whole thing has made me very unhappy indeed. I
had considered the future absolutely settled, and
was so delighted with the prospect, that this new
arrangement staring me in the face disconcerts me
very much. I still hope, however, to avoid the
nomination. I shall leave here Thursday night for
Hillsboro, Ohio, to resume the tour, passing through
Chicago Friday, when I shall certainly drop in to
see you.* He was nominated, finished his Chau-
tauqua tour September first and plunged into a
heavy campaign. We were forced to cancel all
October lecture engagements, several of which he

217

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

particularly wanted to fill. He wrote : * It would
be a great political mistake to fill any dates just be-
fore the election, even were I physically fit, and I
find I must cancel the dates for early November. I
have just gone through the most strenuous cam-
paign in my experience, having made up to date
more than one hundred speeches, some of these be-
ing in tents and in the open air. My voice is abso-
lutely gone and I am scarce able to dictate this
letter to you. I have been obliged to cancel a
speaking engagement which I had made for the
last three days of the campaign. The contest here
has been a hard one indeed. I have; had the oppo-
sition of most all the metropolitan papers, the great-
est political organization I have ever had to contend
with, and in addition to these, every great corpora-
tion, including the , whose officers have spent

money like drunken sailors, and who have used
every means at their command to encompass my
defeat. The fight on my side has been made
single-handed and alone ; that is to say, by my-
self and by my few official and personal friends.
I think we have whipped the enemy; but this will
be determined in a few days. Many times dur-
ing this contest I have found myself almost hop-
ing that I would lose the fight in order that I
might get into our lecture business next year. Of

218

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

course, my sober judgment told me I was wrong
in any such conclusion as that, and when my sober
senses again took possession of me, I went into the
fight with more vigor than ever. I realized that the
victory this year under the circumstances, and
against the combined opposition of almost every
potent element in this state, will be the most phe-
nomenal thing, not only in my political experience,
but in the history of American politics. I am al-
most in a state of nervous collapse and prostration,'
"The morning after the election I wired him:
' Congratulations under protest ; I almost wish you
had been defeated.' He replied: 'Sometimes I
almost feel as you do, but once in the fight — and
you know how it came about that I was in — I
simply had to win. The result, of course, is very
gratifying and if you knew all the circumstances
connected with the contest here in Minnesota, you
would appreciate the magnitude of the victory.'
Following the election he attended a great home-
coming at St. Peter. His illustrious fellow-towns-
woman, Madame Olive Fremstad, of the Metropoli-
tan Opera Company, was also a guest on this occa-
sion, and I have always regretted not attending that
affair. He wrote me : 'I want to introduce you
to my people as the man who made me lecture.' I
know many of his friends, and all those who op-

219

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

posed him, had objected to his lecture tours, and it
had been made a campaign issue. So it would have
been a great joy to me to tell them they were sub-
jects for congratulations, for having at last one man
great enough so that the other states wanted to see
him and hear him. Johnson now belonged not to
one state, but to the nation.

" His health forbade filling most of the November
and December bookings, and in January, 1909, the
legislature was again in session and he was needed
at home. The people all over the country were
clamoring for him to fill his engagements. It was a
sad and serious day for the bureau and for this
popular governor. He wrote once : * I have a
nervous chill every time I see a letter from a com-
mittee.'

" He felt more than unusual regret in canceling
his New England tour. He had planned to take
Mrs. Johnson with him, anticipating a great deal of
pleasure. He knew that New England was not a
prosperous lecture field, and that booking a lec-
ture at a large fee in Boston was to a bureau an
unusual event, so he felt sure that they wanted
him and he was anxious to go. New Eng-
land committees were not very patient, for as soon
as they found there was some doubt as to his com-
ing, they wanted him more than ever. Had they

220

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

known the real state of his health as I knew it, I am
sure they would have been more patient.

" One man who had several engagements arranged
was inclined to be unruly, ridding his system of his
anger in violent letters, both to the Governor and to
the bureau. Gov. Johnson wrote, under date of

Dec. 28th : ' I trust Mr. will be able to see

the matter in its proper light. I notice that he has
said to you that they would only consider Mr. Bryan
as a substitute for me. Can you not possibly secure
Mr. Bryan to fill the dates ? This certainly would be
a happy solution of the situation, because of the in-
definiteness of the future. I notice they threaten suit
and all that sort of thing, and because of this fact I

have written Mr. , asking him to send me a bill

of what he thinks would cover the actual loss. I real-
ize that it is most unfortunate that the matter has
come as it has, and no one has felt the gravity of
the situation more keenly than myself, but, as I
wrote them, it is physically impossible to do any
public work now. Besides, conditions have arisen
here which I am sure will make it absolutely neces-
sary for me to stay in St. Paul practically every
day during the legislature and give attention to my
official duties.'

" But even the newspaper accounts of his physical
inability to even read all of his own message to the

221

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

legislature did not satisfy committees. To add to
his troubles Mrs. Johnson became ill, was in the
hospital at Rochester for weeks, and so the season
wore on; thousands of people who had hoped to see
and hear this popular man were doomed to disap-
pointment. At no time did he want to leave the
state or neglect his duties as governor, but he felt
obligated to the people at large for plans that had
been made a year ahead and had been forced aside
by his reelection.

" He filled quite a few engagements during the
summer season of 1909, and delivered his last lec-
ture August 29th, at Urbana, Illinois, Chautauqua.

" The more I saw of Governor Johnson the more
I thought him a really great man — a man of the
Lincoln-mold, always simple and direct, with a
face sad in repose, a sense of humor, fascinating as
it was irresistible, a smile that was a benediction.
He was as full of enthusiasm as a boy of twelve and
during the time when Mr. Lynch wanted him to
meet prominent political friends in Chicago, just
prior to the Denver Convention, he surprised us all,
and I fear gave some alarm, by carrying me off to a
baseball game. I liked this true test of his great-
ness; he was big enough to play occasionally. I
have often been asked if I thought him ' presiden-
tial timber,' and I reply: 'He would have been.'

222

Copyright by Moffett

Copyright by Sweel Copyriglit by Moffett

PORTRAITS OF GOVERNOR JOHNSON

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

He was one of those rare men who step into public
life only once in a generation, a man who, Lincoln-
like, would be equal to any task given him, even
though he had made no especial showing in that di-
rection before.

" He was not a * lime-light player,' to use a
slangy theatrical phrase, which a long lyceum ca-
reer has found useful. He was modest and retir-
ing. He always wanted to know people, but did
not care to be known. He did not care for demon-
stration in his honor, but was always appreciative
of any attention. I had to urge upon him the great
necessity of notifying his committees in advance of
his coming. He replied : * I took it as a matter
of course they would expect me unless they heard
to the contrary. I simply governed myself accord-
ing to the time-card you furnished me. However,
if it is necessary I will wire them train and time of
arrival.'

" He was often a good mixer, and often rode on
trains for hours, conversing with men who never
even guessed his identity. Last summer, while on
a Pullman en route to an Iowa town to lecture at a
Chautauqua, he was talking insurance with some
fellow travelers. Three young college students
joined the circle. They found him a most enthusi-
astic advocate of insurance, and they even went so

223

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

far as to accuse him of being an insurance agent.
One of the students said : * You 're the best ever ;
you will try and write us up before we leave the
train.' Judge of their surprise as the train stopped
at the crossing, a mile out from the Iowa destina-
tion. Two members of the local committee came
in, one offered his hand, and presented his friend
to Governor Johnson! The boys were speechless,
and, with a merry smile of * Good-bye,' Johnson
said: *H you ever come to St. Paul, boys, come
over to the capitol and I will write you up for sure.'
And he left the train amid the cheers of a large
crowd who awaited his coming.

" He was always ready for fun and took a great
chance at being severely criticised and certainly mis-
understood. During the Hearst Presidential Con-
vention at Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Governor John-
son wired me to meet him at the station, for he
had a three hours' wait. I suggested in the spirit
of fun that we attend the Hearst convention.
'Wonder if we would be discovered?' he asked.
The session had begun, so we took the chance, and
enjoyed the greatest discord our famous music hall
had ever heard. He was not discovered, but I
tremble to think of what might have been ! I saw
glaring headlines in my dreams for a week to come.

" I saw Governor Johnson for the last time at his
224

AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER

closing lecture in Urbana. He had stood the sum-
mer well. He was full of life and hope and
seemed to feel sure of a successful outcome of
the hospital experience which was to follow
"within a fortnight. On tlie train coming back to
Chicago we met Mr. Bryan. Until that day they
had not met since the campaign, and I am sure
it was the meeting of friends. Mr. Bryan left us
at Kankakee and we came on to Chicago. Governor
Johnson talked most of the time enthusiastically of
the future. I was planning a trip West with a re-
turn via the Canadian Pacific. The Governor had
made that trip during the summer and wrote out
notes for me of his journey, giving places to see and
people to meet. He died while I was on this trip.
The news came when I was almost in sight of Mt.
Hood, a mountain he loved so much, standing there,

* on a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, with a
diadem of snow.' He was with me in spirit all
through the great Northwest — for he was a gen-
uine product of that Northwest — all the way back
through the mighty mountain ranges of Canada,

* where rolls the Oregon and hears no sound, save
its own dashings.' I recalled his appreciative de-
scription of Glacier, in the mighty Selkirks, stand-
ing out against the cold Canadian sky, towering
above all others, imperishable as his fame. He

225

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

was a real son of the soil — the magnificent type
of man that has made this wonderful Empire of the
Northwest. He early heard its call and heeded it.
He could truly say :

" These are my people, this is my land
I feel the throb of its secret soul,
This is the life I understand,
Savage and simple, sane and whole."

" He was the most fearless factor in Minnesota's
great political struggle. Since Lincoln, there has
been no gentler memory of our times."

226

CHAPTER XVI

JOHNSON AND THE TIMES

GOVERNOR JOHNSON was a true child of
the age. He was in touch and sympathy
with the universal unrest that characterizes the be-
ginning of the twentieth century. He took the
world optimistically, as it is, but he knew that it
was a world about to be remade. Never did he
think that the evolution of mankind and of human
relation and organization had culminated. He
looked forward to the abolition of war and the
reign of universal peace, as between nations, and
he believed that in a coming time human society
would be so reconstructed that every man would
have a full chance and a " square deal." As a rule,
successful, self-made men are inclined to think
that the present organization of society is well-
nigh perfect. It seems to them that what they
have done others can do. Johnson never under-
estimated the value of talent and energy in the dis-
tribution of this earth's goods, but he firmly be-
lieved that under the present system, there is too

227

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

much privilege, too much scope for chance for
those who are equipped for the fray, and Httle or no
chance for those lacking in equipment. He be-
lieved that democracy had but begun its work, that
with all our progress the great mass of humanity
has not yet a fair chance. He admired the suc-
cessful, but he was compassionate for the unsuccess-
ful. He knew full well the slight difference be-
tween the two. But his patient nature taught him
to be prepared for a long wait for the golden age.
He knew how slowly through the centuries, inch
by inch, mankind has struggled forward, and he
had no thought of allowing himself to be soured
or dejected by the birthright of wrong and misfor-
tune and vice that he saw all around him. He ap-
preciated the importance of the point of view, of the
attitude of the human unit toward life in making
for happiness or unhappiness. A favorite saying
with him was : —

" This world is not so bad a world as some would like to

make it.
But whether good, or whether bad, depends on how you

take it."

Socialism never appealed to him, because it in-
volved a program — and Johnson had a horror of
reform programs. He was at one with the genius

228

JOHNSON AND THE TIMES

of the English-speaking race, which is always chiefly
concerned with the problem in hand. He believed
in reducing the ancient citadel of wrong and in-
justice, by taking it apart and gradually building a
new edifice to take its place. He understood the
overwhelming conservatism of the bulk of mankind,
the imposing human inertia old as the ages, which
is ever the despair of the wholesale reformer. He
believed in making haste slowly in reforming legis-
lation, because he knew that in no other way could
effective reforming be done. Yet he would take up
individual reform measures of the most highly
radical nature, and stoutly champion them — as,
for instance, the initiative and referendum. And
he believed that the people must be ever active to
hold what they gain, and to gain what they have
not. The battle of reform must always be waged
vigorously, he held, but it must be fought according
to human nature. Thus it was that Johnson was
often correctly classed as a radical-conservative,
paradoxical as that sounds. He was radical in his
ideals and his objectives, but conservative in his
undertakings. Yet Johnson, himself, had little of
the racial conservatism. He was always ready
for the new and better. He was a genuine demo-
crat of democrats. He hated pretension, snobbery,
aristocracy. He believed in men, and cared noth-

229

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

ing for external trappings. This belief worked out
in him a curious contrast. He was modest and dif-
fident, and yet he had such a good opinion of him-
self as a free born American citizen that he would
not have fawned or cringed to anyone for any
favor — and he detested any cringing by others to-
wards him.

In politics Johnson attached more importance to
men and measures than to parties. His first
marked interest in politics was as a champion of
Samuel Tilden to his boyhood comrades. His next
great personal political attachment was to James G.
Blaine, and it was in that period of hero worship
that he was considered a Republican. Later in life
he was an ardent admirer of Theodore Roosevelt,
and he never permitted his own party affiliations to
stand between him and expressions of admiration
for Roosevelt, though he thought that a republic
could easily have too much of such a man. Yet he
was a man utterly unlike Roosevelt. He would
have been a strictly constitutional president, and yet
he would have accomplished things and had the peo-
ple with him. He considered that the historic devo-
tion of the Democratic Party to states' rights was no
anachronism. Conceding that changing conditions
have made necessary national action where formerly
state action was sufficient, and admitting that con-

230

JOHNSON AND THE TIMES

stitutional construction may be very broad, Johnson
nevertheless maintained that the modern tendency
was to load the federal government up with work
that it could not properly do. He believed that the
only way to maintain democratic institutions is to
keep the people working the machinery and exer-
cising themselves in the use of authority. The
more done at Washington the less done at home;
the more political exercise for congress the less for
the constituent. In other words, he believed that a
government as much decentralized as consistent
with nationhood and national efficiency was the
surest pledge of popular liberty.

It was the tariff that made him a Democrat, and
he never for a moment thought that the tariff ques-
tion was settled in America. He believed that there
was an intimate connection between our high tariff
system and the great commercial combinations and
monopolies, and he believed also that the excesses
of high tariff had corrupted the nation. The tariff
system, as he saw it, resulted in the enrichment of
the few at the expense of the many by a sort of
legalized but unrighteous transfer of wealth. He
understood the seeming menace of the great cor-
porations as well as anyone, but he considered that
so long as the high tariff wall stood to protect do-
mestic extortion against foreign competition, much

231

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSOxN

anti-combination legislation was about as effective
as Canute's royal will in staying the tide. The in-
flated, unearned prosperity that rose up behind the
tariff wall, Governor Johnson regarded as largely
responsible for the reign of graft. Had he been
raised to the presidency he would have been an ad-
vocate of tariff reduction to a straight revenue ba-
sis. His conception of the importance of the tariff
question is here given in his own words : —

" It seems to me that the slogan of the Demo-
cratic Party in the next campaign and in every suc-
ceeding campaign until the question is settled should
be a revision of the tariff. A most thorough re-
vision, mind you, for it is on this point that I disa-
gree with the President of the United States. 1
believe that the tariff, more than any other cause,
has a direct bearing on the trusts, and places a bur-
den, direct and indirect, upon the people, benefiting
no general class and productive of good only to a
privileged few."

Living in a northern border state, tariff discus-
sion naturally caused Governor Johnson to think of
Canada not a little. He thought that what might
be called our tariff treatment of Canada amounted
to criminal folly. He believed in continental free
trade — " the peaceful consolidation of the conti-
nent from Panama to the Arctic Circle." This pro-

232

JOHNSON AND THE TIMES

gram did not necessarily mean the annexation of
either Canada or Mexico. He would have estab-
lished free trade from the Canal to the polar re-
gions, and left the question of political integrity to
care for itself. He believed that a correct attitude
toward Canada on the tariff question during the last
half century would inevitably have led to the union
of the two countries. All things considered, he
would have judged that advisable, though he
saw some common benefits arising from the main-
tenance of two independent democracies in North
America. The main thing, to his mind, was that
these people, essentially American, essentially the
same, should have the blessings of free and unre-
stricted commerce. He fully understood the poten-
tialities of Canada, especially western Canada.

Governor Johnson was a keen conservationist.
He attended President Roosevelt's first conference
of governors and also the second. At the first were
almost all the governors, at the second were only a
few. The Governor made it plain that he was for
conservation, not as a politician, but as a man, as a
citizen. Speaking at the second conference, he said
at one time : —

" My own opinion is that proper conservation
consists in the proper exploitation and proper de-
velopment, rather than to discontinue use, as, for in-

233

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

stance, in Sweden, where the amount of iron ore
that can be mined is limited to 5,000,000 tons a year.
We want all those things to use, as we need them,
but we must properly exploit and develop them. If
the work is to be done it must be done scientifically.
It has always been my opinion that this problem is
not a politician's problem at all, but that it is an en-
gineer's problem. I realized this morning, as I
looked at this conference, and as I have watched it
from the time I came into this room, that the poli-
tician is going to eliminate himself from this con-
servation work, and that the plodder, the man of
whom the President spoke yesterday, using him as
a type of man who sits at his desk and works over-
time without any pay or any hope of ever getting
any, is the man who will have to take it up and carry
it on.

" I remember at the conference last spring at the
White House all the governors of states were there
who could be present. Some of them came in to
look over the premises to see whether it was really,
after all, a desirable place to live at some time in the
future. Having satisfied their curiosity, a great
many of them are not here now."

" You are still here," someone, interrupted.

" And always will be," answered the Governor,
" on such an occasion."

234

JOHNSON AND THE TIMES

" Many of the conferees," he continued, " having
met in the White Plouse were satisfied with one ex-
perience, and then the poHtician, having satisfied the
public as to himself, and having satisfied himself as
to the public, left the work to go to someone else —
and there is not that manifestation of interest that
was displayed a little while ago, but it is going to
grow just the same. This movement, if I under-
stand it, is bigger than the conferees, it is bigger
than the conference, it is bigger than the govern-
ment, it is bigger than the nation itself. I am of
the opinion that we shall all live to see the day when
history will write it into its pages as the greatest
achievement in the record of the nation's present
chief."

At both of the conferences Governor Johnson
laid much stress on sane conservation, the conserva-
tion of use as opposed to the conservation of hoard-
ing. He had some apprehension that the movement
might go to an absurd extreme, that would deprive
the nation of the full use of its resources.

Returning to Minnesota from the second confer-
ence, the Governor undertook to put into practice in
his state the idea of conservation of resources. He
recommended to the legislature the creation of a
new state bureau or department in which should be
centralized the control of the public lands, forests

235

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

and mines, that they might be wisely administered,
used and conserved. He reinforced his recommen-
dation by the interesting statements that through
lack of a proper conservation policy one iron mine
worth $15,000,000 was lost to the state and that the
state timber losses by fire and trespass would
amount to enough to pay all the expenses of the
state for a generation.

Patriotic as he was, Governor Johnson was not
a jingo and was opposed to over-sea expansion.
He disliked ,the cultivation of the military spirit,
viewed with apprehension the tendency continually
to increase the strength of the standing army, but
believed in a powerful and efficient navy so long as
other countries were intent upon building up great
armadas. He regretted the decline of the Amer-
ican merchant marine, but was opposed to efforts to
rehabilitate it by means of subsidies. He thought
that the right kind of navigation laws would accom-
plish the purpose. He believed in a federal income
tax.

As to the perplexing question of the great corpo-
rations and combinations, he was disposed to hold
that they were the natural outgrowth of economic
forces, and that while their abolition by law was
impossible they should and could be subjected to
such rigid control as would make them servants of

236

JOHNSON AND THE TIMES

the common good. He was opposed to state owner-
ship of railways but advocated the municipal owner-
ship of public utilities.

In the course of his five years in the governor's
office, traveling widely, attending many important
national gatherings, he met many of the big men of
the nation. He warmly admired Governor Hughes,
of New York, whom he considered an ideal type of
public servant. He was a warm admirer of W. J.
Bryan, and that admiration was not quenched by
the presidential contest — in fact, he was genuinely
reluctant to permit his name to be used against Mr.
Bryan in that contest. He formed opinions and es-
timates of the great men he met, which were not
always those held by the general public. He liked
to analyze them and seek out the explanation of
their greatness, and his intimates were often enter-
tained by character studies of the famous men he
had met. In securing from Andrew Carnegie large
financial assistance for Gustavus Adolphus College
at St. Peter, and later at the conservation confer-
ences at Washington, the Governor became rather
intimately acquainted with the " iron master," and
the latter's preference for Governor Johnson was
very marked. He made no secret of his belief that
the Governor was of presidential material and pos-
sibility.

237

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

It would not tally with the facts to say that Gov-
ernor Johnson was profoundly learned with respect
to the great problems of the day. His mind was
not given to detail in study or thought. This was
a defect resulting, possibly, from the brevity of his
routine education. He had little training as a
student. His reading had never been carefully
planned. He read omnivorously and absorbingly,
but not as a student. The laborious massing of
facts he was content to leave to those who were
equipped for the task. They could supply the am-
munition, but there was a field for men of action
who could pick out the salient facts and supply the
energy and the leadership for the conflict.

238

CHAPTER XVII

PERSONALITY

TALL, lean, sinewy, angular, nervous in
movement, Governor Johnson, for all his
foreign blood, was of the American type. Deep
lines, radiating from the eyes, were one of the most
notable facial peculiarities. They were at once sig-
nificant of character and a badge of honor; for
they had been deepened by moral and physical
suffering borne with all the uncomplaining patience
of the Stoics. These lines, too, were indicative of
qualities of shrewdness and intense observation,
which were part and parcel of temperament and
habit. He was looking, learning, listening, every-
where, all the time. He had wonderful eyes, of
clear blue-gray; eyes full of sympathy and kindness,
but eyes of penetration and search. No pretense
could pass undetected and unscathed the intense
scrutiny of his directly aimed, concentrated regard.
The voice, full-toned, resonant, manly, supple-
mented the glance. It won all who did not succumb
to the winning eyes, and the ingenuous smile, which

239

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

somehow, seemed to tell the Governor's vis-a-vis
that he was being curiously examined, weighed and
estimated behind that good-natured face. Just as
it was impossible for him to conceal his own nature,
so it seemed impossible for another to conceal his
true nature from the Governor. In talking to him,
you felt that whatever you really were, known or
unknown to yourself, this man of the kindly voice
and the sympathetic eye would arrive at an exact
estimate of you.

Because of his furrowed face, his angularity, his
height (over six feet), his slight stoop, the lurking
sadness of the face in repose, and the tragedies of
his boyhood, Governor Johnson was often likened
to Lincoln. Their sympathetic, tolerant attitudes
toward the world added to the likeness. Each had
found the world sad, but each dearly loved to laugh.
Johnson, however, differed from Lincoln in the
exuberance of his spirits. He took a lively delight
in play and in living; his sensations were never
blunted; life was always fresh to him, he never
experienced lasting ennui.

" He loved men, revered women and adored
children." Thus did one of the newspaper editorial
writers, picturing his character a day or two after
his death, summarize much of the truth about
Governor Johnson. It was at once tribute and

240

PERSONALITY

explanation. That one in public life could occupy
toward his fellow-beings the position implied in this
pregnant remark, accounted in large measure for the
powerful hold which the Governor had obtained
upon all who were interested in and observed him,
whether from personal contact or from repute at
a distance. All, young and old, trusted him.
None ever regretted the trust, for he was always
true. Fidelity and steadfastness informed all his
friendships. He was ever the firm friend, the sym-
pathetic and charitable adviser. He seemed to have
taken into his inmost heart and adopted as a rule
of guidance, the splendid principle enunciated by
Pope : —

" Help me to feel another's woe,
To hide the faults I see;
The mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me."

To assist others in every possible way was as
natural to him as breath-taking. He remembered
the plain girls at the dances in old St. Peter, and he
did not forget the weak and helpless when he was
governor. As he was leaving St. Peter to assume
his gubernatorial duties a tiny girl friend petitioned
him : " When oo get all froo being governor will
oo come back here again and play wiv me?"
When, on that sad day, his body was carried to

241

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

the capitol to lie in state a little girl pushed her
way between the stalwart soldier guards to beg
to be allowed to look at the face of the " kind, tall
man who gave me candy almost every day."

Governor Johnson was possessed of a remarkably
even nature. He was never known to indulge in
an outburst of rage. On the rare occasions when
he did become angry, the only outward symptoms
were a transient paleness and a nervous plucking
at his finger tips.

He was full and bubbling over with sentiment,
practical as his views of life were, and the human
sorrows, miseries and tragedies that came before
his attention were suffered by him in some measure
as if they were his own. He was so human that all
human woes seemed to be his by sympathy.
Thomas Lawson tells elsewhere how he moved an
audience to tears by his account of an exercise of
the pardoning power. The incident itself is worth
relating for its pathos.

Came one day to the governor's office a young
woman, sad-faced and with a look as of one
haunted.

" Governor Johnson," she said, " I am a liar.
For five long years I have lied to my children, lied
to hide their father's weakness and sin from them.
I have told them over and over again that father is

242

PERSONALITY

far away on business, and that some day he will
come back to them. And, oh, how those children
long for their father. And now, at last, I have
promised the children that their father will be home
at Christmas time. Oh, Governor, I have lied so
many times for their sake and his, help me to make
the promise come true."

The husband and father was in prison for em-
bezzlement, and the pardon board had referred the
application for pardon to the Governor. Every
particle of that poor woman's misery, the Governor
felt himself. Only one answer could he give.

" Madam, you shall lie to those children no more.
Your husband shall spend Christmas with them," he
stammered, and when his secretary entered the
office a few minutes later the tears were still stream-
ing down that kindly face.

There was a strong poetic vein in the Governor's
composition. Nobody can read certain passages
of his writings, notably his holiday proclamations,
without noticing this, but he kept it in strict abey-
ance, probably from prudential motives, realizing
that the cold world looks askance upon him of
poetic temperament.

Patriotism was a passion with Governor Johnson.
He loved America, with all her faults, even as Walt
Whitman did. He had the fullest confidence in

243

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

the American people, believed with all his soul in
" the invincible republic," looked to her to redeem
humanity, and was superbly confident that she
would triumph soon or late over all foes, foreign or
domestic. And yet this man was the son of immi-
grants. What a wonderful and compelling answer
to all who fear the humble, hopeful peasants that
throng to America from all lands! Some of
Governor Johnson's best traits were undoubtedly
due to his Swedish blood — such as his freedom
from anger and irritability, his patient, uncomplain-
ing endurance in suffering and in all manner of
adversity, his unflagging devotion to duty. His
were the most sterling attributes of the Scandi-
navian race, plus the energy, optimism and success-
winning characteristics of Americanism. In him
were blent the best of the Old World and the New.
A memorial speaker observed that the dead
governor performed small duties as though they
were great ones. This was literally true. Every-
where — in ofiice and home — he was methodical
and painstaking, though his nature was easy-going.
All the details of domestic as well as business and
official life were reduced to a system of scientific
invariableness and accuracy. He was prompt and
punctual and performed the most trifling duties at
the proper time. But outside the line of duty, he

244

PERSONALITY

let his love of ease have its way. He refused to
be overwhelmed by the duties of office or deprived
of the pleasures of private life.

" The Great Governor," as the people loved to
call him, was an intense lover of books. Reading,
and the best sort of reading, was a passion with
him, and he had the advantage of a very retentive
memory. He had in the highest degree the editorial
faculty of getting instantly at the heart of an article
or book, no matter how voluminous. Even Daniel
Webster did not surpass him in this knack, so
useful to the publicist, no less than to the plodding
newspaper man. He was thus from wide reading
and retentive memory able on many occasions to
correct loose and reckless statements of men whose
educational advantages had far exceeded his own.

To his newspaper training as well as to a natural,
ready comprehension, the Governor owed his ability
to " stage up " any situation, to grasp intelligently
any legal or administrative proposition, no matter
how complex and difficult. So quick was he in
arriving at an understanding of any case in hand,
and so ready in forming a wise conclusion, that one
would suppose that he had made a life study of the
particular branch of knowledge under which the
pending problem fell. Therefore when the at-
torney-general, the insurance commissioner or any

245

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

of the officers of the state government had occasion
to confer with the Governor on some unusual and
important subject, there was no necessity for elabo-
rate explanation, no exhaustive or exhausting ex-
penditure of words. Johnson always saw the point
at a glance. No one ever had reason to apply to
him the rebuke, his namesake, the lexicographer and
literary dictator of the eighteenth century, once
administered to a questioning dullard : " Sir, I can
give you information, but I can not supply you
with an understanding." The Governor's mind
was given to traveling faster than that of the person
he was conversing with. He foresaw what the
other man was going to say, and often restrained
himself with much difficulty from finishing the
statement himself, but he was a model listener.

Governor Johnson was deeply religious. The
world was always wonderful to him, and from his
wonder he always turned to the eternal question:
" What does it all mean — Whence does it all
come ? " As the years went by, he found no special
creed worth while, though he believed in the
churches and the work of the churches. But with
an implicit faith in an all-controlling Goodness
and Greatness there was for him the religion of
daily life.

" I believe," he often said, " that if I try to do
246

PERSONALITY

right I shall have all the essential attributes of a
man."

If, as the poet says, " He prayeth best who
loveth best all things both great and small," Gov-
ernor Johnson's prayers were piled deep around the
Throne of Mercy. He was at peace with his God.
He went into the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
knowing full well the chances, but with the peace
of one who fears not and trusts much.

His was a simple, unspoiled nature. Fearless to
do the work that was set before him, he always
underestimated his capacity. Because he was so
unassuming, others, even his intimates, likewise
underestimated his ability, even when the marvelous
reserve power and intelligence had been demon-
strated over and over again. His election to the
governorship came to his simple nature as if it were
a dream. Surrounded by cheering, delighted thou-
sands of his fellow citizens he said then to an old
friend :

" Why, I always supposed that men who rose to
such an office as this were men who were different
from the rest of us ; I tliought they must know a
whole lot more than we do. But I 'II do the best
I can."

34f

CHAPTER XVIII

ILLNESS AND DEATH

IT was characteristic of Governor Johnson's life
of action and achievement that in the blaze of
discussion over his Seattle speech and President
Taft's reply thereto he should suddenly determine to
undergo a fourth operation for an intestinal trouble.
As long ago as 1897, the Governor had been oper-
ated on for appendicitis. A second operation fol-
lowed a few years later, and in 1904 he was oper-
ated on the third time. The third operation was
for an intestinal adhesion somewhat similar to the
malady which took him to the hospital the fourth
time.

On Monday, September 13, 1909, the Governor
said good-bye to his friends and accompanied by
his wife went to Rochester, Minnesota, where all
his previous operations had been performed by the
Drs. Mayo.

He had put off the operation as long as possible.
For several years he had from time to time suffered
great agony, and the repeated recurrence of these

248

ILLNESS AND DEATH

paroxysms of pain warned him that he must not
longer procrastinate.

He put a light aspect on his approaching ordeal.

" God be with you,'' said a friend who met him
at lunch the day of his departure for Rochester.

" Oh ! don't put it so seriously," replied the
Governor. " I am used to this sort of thing, and
I regard a stay in a hospital as a vacation. I will
be well enough to read within a few days and then
I am going to break my record. The last time I
was in the hospital I read fourteen books. Why,
tlie best chance I get for reading nowadays is when
I am in the hospital."

At the same time — in Carling's restaurant in
St. Paul — John E. Burchard, a warm friend, said
to the Governor :

" I w'ould gladly go to Rochester in your place if
I could."

" You would be foolish, John," was the Gov-
ernor's reply. " I am used to these operations. It
will be over in twenty or thirty minutes, and I do
not even dread it. It will be much easier for me
than for you."

As the Governor sat at lunch he held something
of an informal reception. He was alert and
vivacious and full of the joy of life.

He walked back to the capitol with Mr. Day,
249

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

dropping into a department store on the way, where,
after his democratic fashion, he chatted with the
young women clerks in lively mood.

On the way from the capitol to the restaurant
Mr. Day remarked to the Governor that something
of a political revolution seemed to be in progress
in the nation, and that as the Governor would likely
be laid up something like five or six weeks he
(Day) should know the Governor's attitude as to
the presidential talk.

" I don't see how I can keep out of the race,"
was the answer. " You know I have never been
anxious for the office. The candidacy will largely
take the pleasure out of my life and I am honestly
indifferent but at the same time, I suppose the
pressure will be such that I will be eventually forced
into the race."

Further, in a guarded way the Governor ad-
mitted that the chances were that the pressure of
the presidential candidacy would force him into a
fourth term as governor.

The Governor had not been back at the capitol
half an hour before the dreadful pains returned.
Mr. Day called an automobile, rode with the Gov-
ernor to his hotel and bade him good-bye — the last
good-bye. On the way to Rochester the Governor
had another attack of severe pain.

250

ILLNESS AND DEATH

Monday night and Tuesday, September 14, the
Governor spent resting at the home of his old
Rochester friend, Tom Sulhvan. Tuesday evening
he was taken in a carriage to a room in the south
wing of the hospital, fronting on a splendid pros-
pect of green sward and trees. When Mr. W. W.
Williams, a newspaper correspondent, called on
him at 8 o'clock that evening, the Governor was
sitting in an easy chair reading a book.

" He might," says Mr. Williams, " have been
doing the same thing in his own home for aught
of difference there was in his appearance or in the
true ring of friendship in the kindly, familiar voice,
with which he bade me welcome to the room.

" * Glad to see you, old man,' he said. * How
long are you going to stay ? '

"*Oh! probably a day or so after your opera-
tion,' I replied, ' just long enough to pull you
through all right. You know we have to keep
pretty close tab on you national characters.'
Whereat we both smiled.

" There was no thought in either of our minds
of the black shadow that was already creeping over
the horizon, and that was so soon to rob Minne-
sota of her best beloved native son and governor.
I am positive that at that time the Governor had
no idea that the operation would prove serious, and

251

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

his air of absolute confidence in the outcome dis-
pelled any misgivings that I may have had. We
were old friends and we talked intimately that
evening of the great changes that had come in his
life since we had first become acquainted fourteen
years before, when he was the publisher of the
St. Peter Herald and a member of the state senate.
At that time I was a legislative reporter for the
Pioneer Press, and we became close personal friends
before the session closed. At last our talk turned
to the coming ordeal of the morning. The Gov-
ernor talked about it in a thoroughly impersonal
way, just as he would have done had it been some
other person and not himself who was going under
the knife of the surgeon.

" * I have been through three of these affairs, you
know,' he said, ' and Mrs. Johnson has not yet
entirely recovered from the effects of one last win-
ter, so I do not fear it as one would who had never
undergone an operation. I remember very well the
first operation. How I dreaded the thought of the
anesthetic! I feared the outcome, but this time I
have absolutely no fear. I know that I will sur-
vive the anesthetic and that the operation will not
prove serious. I will probably be here two or
three weeks, and will then be back at my desk in the
capitol. The only thing I regret is the fact that I

252

ILLNESS AND DEATH

will be unable to be in St. Paul when President
Taft arrives, to participate in his reception. I had
willed it otherwise, but that severe attack on Sun-
day warned me that I must at once take steps to
secure relief. In fact I guess I put off the opera-
tion longer than I should have.' "

" When it was known the next day that the opera-
tion had proved exceedingly dangerous and that its
outcome was in doubt, Governor Johnson gave rigid
instructions to the surgeons that I was to have all
the information concerning his case from day to
day that arose while he was in a critical condi-
tion."

Governor Johnson was taken to the operating
room in the hospital at 8 130 Wednesday morning.
For nearly three hours he was unconscious under
the anesthetic and for two hours and ten minutes
he was uninterruptedly under the surgeon's knife.
The duration of the operation was extraordinary.
Dr. William J. Mayo performed the actual opera-
tion in constant consultation with his brother, Dr.
Charles H. Mayo. The Governor was their per-
sonal friend and if such men could or would have
done more for one man than for any other they
would have done it for the Governor. They found
complicated conditions to deal with. There was a
deep-seated abscess and a baffling adhesion of the

253

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

intestines. The surgeons were dismayed and pro
foundly apprehensive.

" It was one of the most remarkable and suc-
cessful operations of its kind," said an eminent
Italian surgeon who was present, " but I did not
believe that the Governor would survive."

The Governor's first request upon returning to
consciousness was for his wife. " Tell Nora I
want to see her," he said, and Mrs. Johnson was
at once summoned from an adjoining room, where
she had remained during the operation.

The Governor rallied so bravely from the effects
of the anesthetic and the operation that at 3 o'clock
that afternoon Dr. W. J. Mayo said that he had
hope that the Governor would recover, although the
operation had proved far more complicated than
had been expected.

The first set-back came at 10 o'clock that night,
when Dr. C. F. McNevin, one of the house physi-
cians, who had been detailed on the Governor's
case, was horrified to find his distinguished patient
in a serious sinking spell. He could not detect the
pulse, and promptly resorted to extreme measures.
The Governor rallied and when this crisis was past
the indications were very hopeful. Thursday,
Thursday night and up to 3 o'clock in the after-
noon of Friday there was marked improvement.

254

:*«*S'

FUNERAT. TROCESSION IN ST. PAUL

ILLNESS AND DEATH

That evening he had another severe sinking spell,
but from that time until the afternoon of Monday,
September 20, he seemed to be on the road to
recovery. However, because the nature of the op-
eration made it impossible for him to take any real
nourishment, he was gradually growing weaker.
On Monday, however, he w-as able to take and re-
tain some broth, and as the danger of peritonitis
was then past, it was hoped that the crisis was over.
About 2 o'clock in the afternoon, however, a rapid
fluctuating pulse with sub-normal temperature in-
dicated the approach of another collapse. As the
hours passed and there was no rallying, all hope
was abandoned.

The Governor's brother, Fred W. Johnson, and
his tW'O closest personal friends, Frederick B. Lynch
and Frank A. Day, were summoned. All through
the sad hours of that fatal night the two friends
waited in the hospital, hoping against hope. The
Drs. Mayo, Dr. E. S. Judd, their principal assistant.
Dr. McNevin and the nurses, Mrs. Johnson and her
friend, Miss Margaret Sullivan, were at the bedside
nearly all of this time of despair. For hours at a
time Dr. McNevin stood by the bed gently waving
a palm leaf fan that the Governor might enjoy a
breath of fresh air. He expressed a feeling of
intense fatigue. No one told him that his last

255

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

hours had come. He silently struggled for life,
but in some way it was borne in upon him that the
struggle would be in vain. Raising himself, he
caressed his wife on the cheek and said :

" Well, Nora, I guess I am going, but we have
made a good fight."

He said no more, but from time to time feebly
stroked Mrs. Johnson's cheek and indicated his
consciousness at other times by a tender pressure
of the hand.

At 3 :25 o'clock in the morning of Tuesday,
September 21, the Governor died.

Never was such general grief known in Minne-
sota. Not since Lincoln's death, perhaps, has the
death of a public man been a personal grief to so
many.

" Yesterday," said one man, " there was brought
home the body of my brother, dead in the Philip-
pines. I loved that brother, but I think it no shame
to say that my grief over the Governor's death is
fully as great."

Men and women wept in public. A dense gloom
settled down upon the whole state. Day by day
the people had prayed and hoped for the survival
of their good governor. They could not believe
that he had been taken from them. Dead in the
zenith of his strength, in the flower of his fame,

256

ILLNESS AND DEATH

with great things to do and the genius for them —
it could not be God were so unkind!

The body was that day brought from Rochester
to St. Paul, soldiers stood in silent guard that night,
and all day Wednesday it lay in peaceful state in
the great white capitol, where for so many years
the Governor had been the center of life and action.
All day his faithful friends tramped by the bier.
Fifty thousand persons were in that sad procession
of farewell and their passing wore a path in the
stone.

The next day, Thursday, a special train conveyed
body and mourners to St. Peter. Governor Eber-
hart proclaimed it a day of mourning. The whole
state stopped to mourn — all business was stayed.
In some degree the whole nation mourned. The
war ships in New York harbor dropped their flags
to half mast, the telegraph wires were crowded
and the mails congested with expressions of grief.
Hundreds of memorial meetings were held through-
out the land. Everywhere it was sadly realized
that the nation had lost a leader of hope and
strength.

Funeral services were held in the Presbyterian
church, where the Governor had been a regular at-
tendant for many years. The little city was over-
whelmed with grief. Trains brought thousands of

257

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

mourners, and the country folk came in carriages
and wagons for forty and fifty miles around. From
the church, all that was mortal of the great governor
was conveyed with solemn procession to quiet
Greenhill cemetery, there to rest beside the mother.

258

CHAPTER XIX
GOVERNOR Johnson's influence

ALTHOUGH Governor Johnson never held any
national official position, and was not even
recognized at the time of his death as a national
political leader, though considered the probable
nominee of the Democracy for the presidency in
19 12, his influence was felt throughout the country
and will continue to be felt for a long time. Had
he lived there is little doubt among those who knew
and appreciated him that he would have exerted
a most powerful influence on the future of his
party and the nation. Had he attained to the presi-
dency, his remarkable executive and administrative
qualities, and his faculty for leadership would prob-
ably have effected the welding together of all the
conflicting elements in the Democratic Party, and
under his leadership, that party would have given
the country a demonstration of constructive states-
manship. There is little doubt that Governor John-
son's fame and influence will, like Lincoln's, increase
with the years, and will continue a powerful, whole-

259

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

some, moral force for an indefinite period. Perhaps
the most notable influence that his career has already-
exerted was the giving of a mighty impetus to the
cause of independence and non-partisanship in our
nation. Governor Johnson was a Democrat, but he
was not a blind partisan, and he always held the
public good superior to party good. His election
to the governorship of Minnesota, a Republican
state, three times in succession had a great effect
in promoting political independence and liberality
throughout the West.

Of course, there is a natural and pardonable
tendency on the part of those who were closest to
the Governor, and knew him best, to be prejudiced
in his favor in attempting to pass judgment on his
work and influence. He was so dear to his own
people, and his death so profoundly saddened them,
that it is hard for one of them cold-bloodedly to
interpret the true meaning of his character, and to
attempt impartially to outline the channels through
which his permanent influence will flow as the
generations go by.

Governor Johnson's phenomenal success as
leader and administrator was due to a rare com-
bination of excellent qualities. Many others were
as able as he. Others were as patriotic. Others
were equally gifted with hard, common sense.

260

GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S INFLUENCE

Others were as honest and sincere. Others were
as shrewd observers of pohtical tendencies. Still
others were as magnetic. But in few men have
all these characteristics been so happily blended.
He made wise and skillful use of his gifts. Never
did he lead men astray. Never did one regret hav-
ing submitted to his guidance.

The Governor's wondrous faculty of leadership
never shone more conspicuously than during his
relations with three legislatures overwhelmingly
controlled by his political opponents. Their coun-
cils were divided, their allegiance split up among
several party chiefs. In Governor Johnson, never
a bitter partisan, always the urbane, always the
sympathetic, always the force raised to potency by
the genius of levelheadedness, these men found a
leader whom. Democrat though he was, they could
follow without loss of self-respect, of dignity or of
consistency. They observed that his advice was
mainly sound and reasonable, and uniformly en-
dorsed his principal recommendations. It was a
thing without precedent in Minnesota political an-
nals, but it came to pass and the whole state was a
gainer. At times some member of the majority
would become restive and protest against this
strange acquiescence in the wishes of the Demo-
cratic executive ; but when the time came for action,

261

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

all were found in line. Perhaps the result was due
partially to the imminence of sundry unhappy half-
hours with constituents had the lawmakers departed
from the path of wisdom simply because a minority
governor had blazed the way.

Governor Johnson's capacity for public affairs
was elastic. He had not half reached its limits
when struck down. In no crisis was he found
wanting. In no delicate situation did he ever fail
to do exactly the right thing at the right time.
More than once conditions of peril and difficulty
arose and his friends viewed the outcome with mis-
giving. They wondered how the Governor would
solve the problem. The solution always came with
the occasion. He was always equal to the problem.
He met and overcame it with skill, wisdom and
surprising success. Then the friends would ex-
claim : " Why, that was the most natural way to
adjust the trouble! " True: but Governor Johnson
was the only one to whom it had occurred in time.
The most celebrated instance of this constant readi-
ness, this dependable application of adequate reme-
dies for acute danger, was his settlement of the
great strike of iron miners in Northern Minnesota,
when he packed his grip, went to Hibbing and
Duluth and in a few hours saved the state from the
horrors of virtual civil war. Whenever adjust-

262

GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S INFLUENCE

ment was needed Governor Johnson exercised it to
the general satisfaction of all parties, and as by-
magic all grounds for bitter feeling were swept
away. Of all the dispensers of patronage the state
has ever known, he was the only one capable of the
miracle of sending disappointed officeseekers away-
swearing by him instead of at him. He was a
wizard of administration.

It was by means of one of the most vigorous
assertions of the independent spirit, one of the most
notable instances of widespread repudiation of party
ties and claims, to be found in political history that
the modest country editor was placed in the gov-
ernor's chair. His two reelections, with his whole
general line of conduct in the office distinguished
by a surpassing excellence of appointments, and the
cordial and patriotic cooperation of Republican
state officials, fostered and cultivated the idea of
merit before partisanship in public office to a de-
gree never before attained in any state of the
Union. This idea is destined to growth and per-
petuation. The people like it. They will have more
of it before they will have less of it. They will
tolerate no retrogression. They have put their
hand to the plow and will not turn back. When
on that melancholy September day, under the half-
masted flags of the capitol, the new governor,

263

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Adolph O. Eberhart, the Republican, announced
that he would carry out the policies of his Demo-
cratic predecessor, he paid a magnificent tribute to
the worth and memory of the man whose departure
had plunged the people of Minnesota into the pro-
foundest depths of mourning that had ever been
their misfortune to fathom. Such a thing would
have been impossible anywhere twenty years ago.
What better evidence of the universal recognition of
the integrity of purpose, the purity of motive, the
sincerity of endeavor, the righteousness of ideals,
of the lamented Johnson could have been addressed
than this declaration of the new governor and its
hearty popular indorsement?

To the many thousands in and out of Minnesota
whose hopes were centered upon the elevation of
Governor Johnson to the presidency, whose senti-
ment was finely expressed in concrete form by a
Republican paper, — " He was the hope of the best
in both parties," — his premature end was doubly
distressing. Try as they would to console them-
selves with words of philosophical resignation, some
degree of bitterness at this cruel decree of untoward
destiny intensified their disappointment.

Let us consider for a moment what might logic-
ally have been expected had this favorite son of

264

GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S INFLUENCE

Minnesota been elevated to the chief magistracy of
the nation. In Washington, as in St. Paul, he
would have proved equal to every demand upon his
peculiar powers. To begin with, supposing his
party should at the same time or during his term
have secured control of both branches of congress,
Johnson would have brought about a complete
union of the Democratic factions, and been instru-
mental in bringing them unitedly to bear upon the
business of government. He would most assuredly
have succeeded where Grover Cleveland failed, and
Cleveland was a great leader of men, but lacked
Johnson's marvelous tact in dealing with them.
This welding of the antagonistic elements in a great
party would have been accomplished by Johnson
without a sacrifice of principle, and without a sur-
render of the right in the shape of questionable com-
promise.

Johnson would have proved a great president,
worthy of the worthiest of his predecessors. The
public interests would have been protected jeal-
ously, the national welfare advanced, and this coun-
try raised to a still prouder height among the na-
tions, while all the time the vast machinery of gov-
ernment would have run on smoothly, harmoniously
and without friction. Great as was the loss to Min-

265

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

nesota in this man's death, the loss to the nation
was infinitely greater.

The true greatness of Lincoln did not dawn upon
the world until after he had left it. Even now we
have not a full perception of that grand character,
nor will this come till far in the future. So will it
be with Johnson. If Lincoln is immortal, so is
Johnson. The field to which the activities of the
Minnesota governor were confined was much more
restricted than that of the apostle of emancipation,
but the sphere of his influence will expand with the
years. There is now something of a partisan feel-
ing when Johnson is measured by his own genera-
tion; but the time will come when Republicans will
forget that Johnson was a Democrat just as Dem-
ocrats are forgetting that Lincoln was a Republican.
Ill would it be for any people that failed to cherish
and make the most of the example of so illustrious,
so unique a representative. The school text-books
will be enriehed by the absorbing, elevating story
of the poor son of an impecunious Scandinavian im-
migrant who won his way to national renown over
obstacles that would have been fatally dishearten-
ing to a soul of less heroic mold.

It is a matter of testimony that one of the most
fruitful sources of inspiration to the Republican

266

GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S INFLUENCE

state officials from 1905 to 1909 was the ever-pres-
ent realization that in the governor's office sat a
man who every hour of every day addressed his
best, earnest efforts to the service of the people
in utter disregard of all political considerations.
They knew him worthy of emulation, and each
worked fortified by a determination to exert his
powers as a public servant in the same spirit that
animated his chief. The result was the most har-
monious, efficient and popular administration that
Minnesota has ever enjoyed.

It is inconceivable that the beneficent results of
a record like this should fail of appreciation, and be
lost to posterity. The good of Johnson was not
interred with his bones. The world cannot afford
to lose so precious a legacy of achievement in state-
craft as this. Too seldom does high official station
boast an incumbent whose efforts for the common-
weal are put forth with like intelligence, conscien-
tiousness and success. The record of Johnson will
be treasured and utilized as inspiration and guide
till republican government is no more.

In the seventeenth century a great " White
King " came down from the north, and at the head
of his Swedish army swept across Europe, battering
down every force that dared oppose until the fatal

267

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

field of Lutzen at once crowned the glory and ter-
minated the triumphant career of Gustavus Adol-
phus, the Sword of the Reformation.

In the twentieth century another " White King "
came down from the north and moved across the
American continent in conquest of human hearts
till checked untimely by the inscrutable mandate
of the Sovereign Terror.

Gustavus was the embodiment of the principle
of Force. Johnson was the incarnation of the prin-
ciple of Love. The age of Gustavus was of sterner
mold and less enlightened than this, and men were
wont to bend only to the might of military power.
The time is now approaching when we can say :

" Fold up the banners, smelt the guns ;
Love rules, her gentler purpose runs."

Every day are we coming to realize more and
more the truth contained in the little essay of the
late Henry Drummond, " The Greatest Thing in
the World," that the most potent weapon, the most
considerable force, in the universe is Love. Too
many there are who cannot yet see this, or who,
seeing, lose sight of it; but it will be understood
universally some day. Johnson knew it, not as a
matter of study and deliberation, but as a matter
©f intuition, of involuntary revelation. It was his

268

GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S INFLUENCE

nature to bestow as well as to receive this vital es-
sence of the gospel of the Prince of Peace. And
his life achievement was greater than that of Gus-
tavus.

269

APPENDIX

Public Addresses, Proclamations and Writings of

Governor Johnson

Tributes

FOURTH OF JULY ADDRESS

PORTIONS OF A SPEECH DELIVERED AT RED LAKE
FALLS, MINNESOTA, IN I9O4

IT has been said that there is nothing new under
the sun. That may or may not be true, but
one thing is certain; there is only one kind of a
Fourth of July, and we do not want it changed.
On this day we do not want to know of art, science,
literature. We want told again and again the
story of the Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill and
Valley Forge. We want to hear of Washington.
Stark, Putnam, Ethan Allen and the other heroes
who won the right to immortality. During the
remainder of the year we can talk of the tariff, the
banking system and the currency question. To-day
there is one, and only one text — the Declaration of
Independence. We want to know what it was, who
uttered it, who secured it and what brought it to
us. There is scarcely need to go into detail.
Every schoolboy knows the story. Every man and
woman ought to know it as they know their alpha-
bet. And yet we like on this day to talk of the

273

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

cruel wrongs practiced by the mother country upon
the colonists; how they grew weary of their
wrongs; how our forefathers burned with righteous
indignation and declared that all men were created
free and equal; how they threw off the yoke of
oppression ; how they were ready to fight for free-
dom and willing to lay down their lives for it.

Then, too, we love to read and think how it was
all brought about; how the Minute Men sprang up
day and night and made war upon the invading
foe. We love to dwell upon the heroes at Benning-
ton and Bunker Hill, at Ticonderoga, Concord and
Lexington, and the other battlefields where honor
was w^on and independence established. The world
has no parallel to it in all its history. Rome had
her heroes, Greece had her men who fought for
their homes and their country. Romantic France
had her revolution which stands out in the sky of
history like a lodestar. Poland and Switzerland
reared their Tells and Kosciuskos, but in no country
and at no time was freedom bought at such a cost
as ours, nowhere w^as it gained against such odds,
and nowhere was the result so complete, so last-
ing and so extensive. It must have been a divinity
which shaped our ends. The god of destinies was
arrayed with Washington, with Paul Jones, with
Adams, Franklin, Randolph, Henry and Jefferson.

274

FOURTH OF JULY ADDRESS

There was never such a congress as the old Conti-
nental Congress and never such patriots as those
who fought for the independence of America, never
such a country as America.

There was a time when statesmen were patriots —
when politicians were patriots. Changes have taken
place in our economic system. From the continued
malfeasance in office politics is now regarded either
a charity or a crime. Some men are kept in office
through pity or because they cannot earn a living in
the regular channels of labor or commerce. Others
hold office because they buy their way in and sell
their birthright for other pottage to continue to buy
office. All men are not thus. There are still pure,
lofty, patriotic men, who honestly discharge their
duty. But when we read of the bribery of Min-
neapolis, the rottenness of Chicago, the corruption
of Pennsylvania, wide as the state itself, we stand
aghast and fear for the future of the Republic. We
hear sometimes that a river cannot rise higher than
its source : tliat if public servants are corrupt it is
because the people themselves are lacking in honesty.
That is false. The people as a rule are honest, and
the fact tliat public servants are untrue is because of
the apathy of the people. In politics we are an
indolent and a lazy people. We are content to let
things take their own course and allow selfish men to

275

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

transact the business we ought to do and because
we are too lazy to pay attention to the details of
our own business. Our country is cursed by a
slavery to partisanship. I warrant that less than
ten per cent, of the people are familiar with the
constitution of the country. Less than that num-
ber study the platforms of their party and an equally
small number know Avhy they are Republicans or
why they are Democrats.

An ideal state of civilization comes only from a
quickened intelligence and the education of the
masses. No people ever became great through igno-
rance and superstition. No party can become per-
manent so long as the few can dominate the many
by cant, hypocrisy, and misrepresentation. The
greatest power ever given to any people is an equal
right with the ballot. No power is so often ren-
dered useless by using it without intelligence.
Some men shun political heresy through the fear of
ridicule. No man is so weak as the voter without
the courage of his convictions. The independent
^'Oter, the man who votes as his conscience dictates,
is the ideal citizen. The hope of the nation is in
all the people aroused from the sleep of party big-
otry, armed with the breastplate of conviction and
carrying the sword of Conscience and Truth.

America has just cause for pride in her educa-
276

FOURTH OF JULY ADDRESS

tional system. Other countries and their rulers
have purposely kept their people in ignorance and
superstition that they might the easier be governed
by passion and fear. In our country every boy and
every girl has the right to an education. The state
not only offers it but urges it. And every boy in
this state should grasp the prize held out to him.
True dignity is in education. Education is the key
that unlocks opportunity. Because some men have
succeeded in business without education is no argu-
ment in favor of ignorance. Ten succeed through
education where one fails. Ten ignorant men fail
where one succeeds. The poor boy must have
brains to compete with the rich man's influence.
The start in life is unequal, but the poor boy with
an education will eventually outstrip the rich man
and his prestige. In this age there is no excuse for
any boy going through life without an education.
No boy is too poor to have an education and no boy
makes a mistake who seeks and gets an education.

What we need in this country is men of character.
Character is the greatest thing in the world. It is
as old as the world itself. Character is that some-
thing ingrown into the man — that something which
makes him kind to his neighbors, generous to his
family, honest in the payment of his debts and hon-
est in public life. It is not that which makes him

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JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

honest when in the sight of other men, but honest
when he is alone. Character is what a man is, not
what he seems. Character is what you actually
are, not what your neighbor thinks you are. Char-
acter, as Moody once said, is what a man is when
he is in the dark, what he actually thinks and does
when alone. Alexander the Great, before he died,
ordered that his hands be left uncovered by his
funeral shroud in order that the people might know
that he took nothing from this world or from his
people. Some of our public servants of to-day fail
to make such a provision. We want character in
our neighbor. We must have character in our-
selves.

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COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL INTEG-
RITY

A SPEECH DELIVERED BEFORE THE MERCHANTS
CLUB OF CHICAGO, FEB. l8, I905

NOT since the days leading up to the aboHtion
of slavery has there been such a political
awakening in city, state and nation, as at the pres-
ent time. For a half century the Republic had been
lulled to a sense of security and rest. Weary after
four years of civil war, the nation slumbered in
peace. Reconstruction was undertaken and accom-
plished. The people prospered and the Republic
grew. The great ship of state drifted on the tide
of prosperity. Suddenly, through the mist, officers,
crew, and passengers heard the warning sound of
breakers on the reefs — reefs of political graft,
reefs of commercialism, reefs of public control for
private ends. On the night of November 8th,
the order went ringing to the men at the wheel :
" Change your course, mind the compass of the Con-
stitution and public conscience; the heartbeat of the
people is running this craft."

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JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

For the first time in a half century the nation
is startled by the news that a political revolution
has taken place and that it is without a parallel in
American history. The old Bay State, casting its
vote for the presidential candidate of one party,
elects for its governor a champion of the people,
nominated by the opposition party. Missouri elects
Folk and then casts its presidential vote for a man
of different political complexion. In your own
state a champion of human rights is chosen as the
chief executive. In my beloved state, the anomaly
appears of the people choosing a Democrat as gov-
ernor in a presidential year, when they give a hun-
dred thousand plurality or more to President Theo-
dore Roosevelt.

You ask the cause of these anomalies, of this
revolution for independence. There comes the an-
swer, the people are smarting under the lash of
real or fancied wrongs. They have arisen in their
might to correct the abuses of a system of political
and commercial dishonesty which has reached a cli-
max.

Wherein lies the dishonesty? For fifty years the
people of this nation have been voluntary slaves of a
political and partisan system which has been the
means of almost wrecking the foundations of our
government. Three months ago the voice of the

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

people was lifted for the President of the Republic
and he was swept into the presidential chair by a
tidal wave that was almost equivalent to a unani-
mous choice. To-day the great captains of in-
dustry, who did so much to bring about the result,
are arrayed in solid phalanx for the control of the
national congress to defeat the very ends of justice
as he understands them, and as the American peo-
ple understand them in him. The people stand
amazed as they behold the conflict. The press
teems with praises for the one and condemnation for
the other.

In the Middle West and in the Northwest, we
watch the fight with interest ; for our people, con-
trolled for years by unwholesome influences, have
awakened to a sense of their responsibility. They
are engaged in solving the problem of popular con-
trol, of realizing good citizenship, decent politics
and honest administration, of punishing and pre-
venting criminal interference with the sovereign
right of the people to honest government for and by
tiiemselves. Their cry for justice and equal rights
is not the roar of the anarchist or the wail of the
agitator. It is the intelligent and patriotic demand
of a sober people too long accustomed to endure a
situation as un-American as it is unjust.

But yesterday a prosecuting attorney in the city
281

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

of St. Louis brought to bay a long line of corrupt
officials who had put up the honor and fair name
of a state for barter and sale. Your own state leg-
islature has been pictured as a public auction, where
the rights of the people are sold as wheat in the pit
or options on 'change. The Governor of Indiana
brings his state before the court of public opinion
with the charge of bribery and corruption. In Min-
nesota the people arise in revolt to resent the in-
terference of the corporation and of the army of
trespassers in the selection of public officials. From
everywhere we hear the same story : Privileged in-
terests are in control ; legislative bodies are corrupt ;
executive officials are untrue to the trusts reposed
in them.

For years we have deliberately stultified our-
selves. The great Northwest, under the lash of the
party whip, has subscribed to a tariff doctrine wholly
inconsistent with its needs and interests. Candi-
dates for Congress, elected on the promise of tariff
revision and reform, have gone to the nation's cap-
ital to aid the friends of high tariff to revise
the schedules upward and still higher on the royal
highway of trust and paternalism.

The Middle West has conceded the right of its
commercial competitor, the East, to fix every eco-
nomic policy of government. It has surrendered to

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

the East the control of Congress and centered in the
grasp of the great special interests of New York,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania the powers and pre-
rogatives which the Constitution guaranteed to the
people, and all the people, as the American Bill of
Rights.

The Republican and the Democrat have been
equally blind in their partisanship. A splendid ex-
ample of obedient stupidity was illustrated in the
Democracy of the nation bending the pregnant
hinges of its knee to the great Juggernaut of the
East ; waiting for the car to pass over its prostrate
form and then back up and practically complete the
party's annihilation. The western Republican re-
joices over the misfortune of his neighbor, not real-
izing that in different form he has been equally the
victim of the calamity of a political system which
has taken all and given him little in return. He,
too, for years has been the victim of a conspiracy
which has yielded him the rare and gracious priv-
ilege of subscribing to his own undoing.

He has delighted himself with the thought that
he was saving the country; while he was voting
faithfully and prayerfully, early and often, year
after year, for a party policy of special privilege,
devised by Pennsylvania, revised by New Jersey, the
nursery of trust incorporation, and finally drafted

283

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

into party platforms and law by New York, where
the trust managers live, move, and have their place
of business.

The public mind is aroused. It is learning its
lesson. The process of disillusionment may be
slow, but it will be sure. The voter is beginning
to realize that there has been too much partisanship
and too little intelligence ; too much partisanship,
too little independence ; too much partisanship, too
little patriotism ; too much politics, too little love of
country.

To-day the Congress of the United States is in
the absolute control and dominion of a section and
the other sections sit supinely by and tolerate the
condition. Why should the city of Chicago be the
political servant of its great commercial rivals, New
York and Philadelphia? The balance of power
should rest in that great central empire of our do-
main, the principal metropolis of which is Chicago.

There must eventually, and possibly very soon, be
a new political alignment; but even under the old
alignment, the great center of political power should
be close to the population center and industrial cen-
ter of the nation. It should be in the Mississippi
Valley, instead of on the Atlantic Coast. The star
of political power, following the westward course
of population and industrial achievement, will yet

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

rest oxer the great empire of the interior, with the
Father of Waters and the Great Lakes as its out-
let to the ocean, and with Chicago as its main depot.

New York, with its vice, and New England, with
its virtue to balance the ledger, to-day control the
economic policy of the nation. The time has come
to transfer the seat of empire across the Adiron-
dacks, to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Ken-
tucky, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Ne-
braska, Missouri and the Dakotas. The best brain
and the surest brawn of the nation is found here and
it should be organized into one mighty moral, ma-
terial and patriotic force to overthrow paternalism
and plunder, and regenerate politics and the Repub-
lic.

As Americans we are proud of the fact that the
bank clearings of New York are to-day one-half
greater than those of London, and that the cash
reserve of the New York clearing-house banks is
double that of the Bank of England. But the loca-
tion of the counting-house in Wall Street does not
justify the transfer of the power of the ballot there.

Rather let the ballot follow population and in-
dustry. The Republic rests on men, not money.
This central West of ours, where the Mississippi
flows to the sea. is settled by the best class of in-
habitants the world has ever brought together, a

285

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

people rugged in their honesty, loyal in the love of
country, intelligent and progressive; and to them
must come sooner or later that power for good
which is the nation's hope.

The great central basin lying between the Adi-
rondacks and the Rockies produces three-fourths of
the necessaries and comforts which sustain the na-
tion's life. It contains two-thirds of the working
and voting population, more than one-half the mills
and factories, and four-fifths of the farms.

The internal commerce, the product of the labor
and capital of this central empire, is many times our
total foreign trade. Through the " Soo " Canal
passes a freight tonnage nearly double that of the
Suez Canal and equal that of all our Atlantic ports.
The lake port of Duluth-Superior alone handles a
tonnage that equals one-third the ocean tonnage of
the United States.

The so-called " agricultural state " of Minnesota,
which leads the world in bread and butter, besides
standing first in the manufacture of flour and lum-
ber, produced last year one-half the iron ore of the
United States and one- fourth that of the globe.

The star of empire is westward. The other day
the steamship Minnesota — product of the transpor-
tation genius of the North Star State — steamed
out of Seattle for the Orient, carrying the greatest

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

cargo ever shipped within the holds of a single ves-
sel in the world's maritime history. To the re-
sources, the energies and genius of the West, the
nation looks, not only to build up its commercial
and industrial greatness, but its moral and political
strength.

I am not among those who believe the nation is
tottering, but among those who behold grave dan-
ger and have faith that this danger will be averted.
The gravest peril lies in the obliviousness of the
many to the existence of disease, and one of con-
tagion and infection. In Shakespeare's time, " Foul
subordination was dominant." To-day it is ram-
pant in almost every state in the Union. It shows
itself in legislation and administration, in com-
merce and finance.

Lawson tells us an appalling story of financial
chicanery and ruin; good men at the head of vast
industries appropriate the money of the people to
their own uses. Steffens tells us of municipal cor-
ruption that makes the story of Nero and Rome
seem cheap. And all this time the man of affairs
will allow *' business interests " to corrupt men in
places of authority, while he shudders and stands
aghast at the wrongdoing of an ordinary crim-
inal.

We boast to-day of a commercial reign unequaled
287

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

in the world's history. It ahnost equals the Bour-
bon splendor which preceded the French Revolution
and which Carlyle designated as the rainbow over
Niagara. It may be that our era of commercial
splendor is but a rainbow over our own Niagara.
In this city are scores of multimillionaires. In it
are one hundred thousand who cloy the hungry
edge of appetite by the bare imagination of a feast.

Not all this is due to our political or commercial
system, but in a measure to lack of personal effort.
But there is much on which the hungry can predicate
his complaint. Our political system and our com-
mercial system are out of tune. The tendency of
the great to crush the small, with the indifference
of the elephant to the worm, is too common.

False capitalization is one of the great causes that
has brought a shock to the faith of the people. Wa-
tered stock is the mirage in the desert of our com-
mercial life. The billion-dollar steel-trust, quoted
at 75c on a dollar to-day and at 8c to-morrow, typi-
fies the class. Watered stock has become a com-
mon phase of legalized larceny. If the mad race is
to stop before the runner falls, corporate business
must be reorganized on a rational basis. No cor-
poration should be permitted by law to issue a share
of stock that does not stand for paid-in cash and
certified to by state examination. Every dollar in-

2S8

COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

vested in a commercial enterprise should earn a fair
profit and every investor is entitled to a fair rate of
interest on his investment. But it is not entitled to
a rate of interest and profit on stock which has no
capital basis.

Public service corporations, railway corporations,
and other corporations, fix a charge altogether out
of proportion to the investment. I have in mind an
electric railway company with 250 miles of track,
and with an equipment to correspond, which earns
five to seven per cent, interest and dividends on
stocks and bonds amounting to thirty millions of
dollars. If it cost to build and equip the road as
high as $30,000 per mile, or a total of $7,500,000,
we have a corporation charging the public and col-
lecting profits on an inflation or franchise value four
times actual cost. This practice is common to steam
railway companies in too great a degree, and yet
more common to the industrial trusts.

Added to the gross misuse of franchise privileges,
railways are guilty of the still worse crime of dis-
crimination. Is it a wonder that the President has
taken up the war of the people to regulate transpor-
tation charges? Is it a wonder that governors of
states and legislatures are stirring themselves to cor-
rect the evil?

The corporation based on an inflated value com-
289

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

plains of confiscation when the matter of govern-
mental control is suggested. Governmental con-
trol is coming and the people who oppose it want
to remember that the pendulum has been too long
on the one side. When it comes back it may swing
as far to the other side. Railway interests want to
bear in mind that if governmental control is too
earnestly resisted, government ownership is apt to
follow, which would be still more undesirable, at
least from their standpoint.

The railroad problem specially appeals to the
great Middle West. Chicago is the greatest rail-
way hub and the center of the greatest internal
commerce on the globe. What London is to
ocean commerce, what New York is to the world's
bank clearings, that is Chicago to internal commerce
carried by rail. The United States has over one-
half the rail mileage of the globe, and the lion's
share of it has a terminal in Chicago.

Your city is the transcontinental gateway of At-
lantic-Pacific traffic. The gross earnings of the
railroads which enter Chicago were enough last
year to pay 75 per cent, of the national debt, and
greater than those of all the railroads of the United
Kingdom by over $100,000,000. Three Chicago
railroads running into Minnesota carry alone a
freight tonnage greater than the total ocean ton-

290

COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

nage of the United States ; while the total freight
tonnage of all roads entering Chicago approximates
the ocean tonnage of the world.

The westward trend of industrial production is
told by the significant comparison, that in 1903 rail-
roads doing business in Massachusetts showed for
entire lines gross earnings under $100,000,000, in
New York something over $300,000,000, and in
Illinois close upon $700,000,000. At the same time,
by reason of greater volume of traffic, the average
rate per ton per mile was 40 per cent, lower in Illi-
nois than in Massachusetts.

In the settlement of the great railway problem
of America it is plain that this nation must look,
not to the Atlantic Coast, which now controls our
stock markets and national legislation, but to the
great valley of the Mississippi, which already sup-
ports as many people as Great Britain, with a farm
product equal to that of France and Germany com-
bined, and a railway mileage which approximates
that of the entire continent of Europe.

Railroad discrimination, namely, the rebate and
the private car, has brought into existence, with
headquarters in Chicago, one of the most powerful
trusts on the globe, the great beef trust, which by
control of the refrigerator car service of America
fixes both the purchase and selling prices not only

291

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

of live stock and meat, but of fruit and dairy pro-
duce, vegetables and game, robbing producer and
consumer alike, and forcing the retail dealers of the
land to become its army of obedient agents.

Rail rebate plus special tariff privilege and mo-
nopoly of natural resources have created Standard
Oil and the coal combine, which levy upon American
homes and business a volume of tolls sufficient to
yield 20 per cent, to 40 per cent, dividends upon a
colossal capitalization.

Rail rebate and control plus special tariff priv-
ilege and monopoly of natural resources have pro-
duced the United States Steel Corporation, which
declares dividends upon a threefold watering of the
capital of its constituent companies by doubling the
price of iron and steel to the American consumer
while selling its products abroad at one-third less
than the American price.

You wonder at the unrest of the people. In a
county in my state are the greatest iron mines in
the world. On the Mesabi nature has been so lav-
ish of her wealth that great open pits a half-mile
to a mile in diameter are mined with steam shovels
and railroad trains, as you would mine earth from
a gravel pit ; a single steam shovel loading 800 tons
an hour and sending three to four trainloads of high
grade ore to the Lake Superior docks in a day. In

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

twenty-four hours last summer one of the Mesabi
mines loaded 440 cars with 19,000 long tons, or ten
trainloads of 44 cars to the train. The soft ore of
the Mesabi is mined as easily and cheaply as sand.
The labor cost is about 10 cents per ton; while the
great steel trust which operates the mines is pro-
tected by a tariff of 25 cents per ton from " the
pauper labor of Europe."

But the steel trust owns the two principal ore
carrying roads, and the rate for hauling the ore 75
miles to the lake for shipment to eastern furnaces
has been fixed so high that the independent mine
owner is either robbed of the profits of mining or
compelled to sell his mine to the hungry syndicate
which controls both the mining industry and trans-
portation. One of these iron range roads, which
operates only 210 miles of track, voted itself last
year a dividend of $4,500,000 or over 150 per cent,
upon its common stock; and the other, operating
169 miles of track, distributed a dividend of $3,657,-
750, or 149 per cent, upon its stock outstanding.

The two non-competing parallel roads, operating
an aggregate of 379 miles of track, issued a dividend
total of rnore than $8,000,000, or upwards of $20,-
000 per mile, which is more than twice the gross
earnings, nearly eight times the net earnings, and
close upon twenty times the dividends per mile of

293

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

the average American railroad. And yet this same
bilHon-dollar corporation, with all its extortionate
charges, with its dividends upon an ocean of wa-
tered stock, and its control of the iron and steel in-
dustry of the nation, adds insult to injury by de-
manding national bounty and protection, and has
actually secured at the hands of Congress for the
protection of its practices more pages of American
tariff schedules than perhaps all the infant indus-
tries of the United States combined.

Is it not time that the law of the land was in-
voked for the protection of the common citizen, in-
stead of for such a corporation and such practices?
Is it not time that the functions of government were
employed for more legitimate uses? Is it not time
the authority of the nation is exercised to prevent,
instead of to protect, such discrimination and spe-
cial privilege? Rate discrimination, monopoly of
natural resources, fictitious capitalization, special
tariff bounties and transportation rebates have been
promoted under the cloak of law until the public
conscience is in revolt.

Surrender of government functions to private
corporations under guise of protecting the national
welfare cannot much longer receive the sanction of
an intelligent people who believe the government

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

was instituted for the protection of life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness. As long as government
is the fountain of special privileges, powerful in-
terests will dominate legislation, law will be dic-
tated by the corrupt lobby, corporations will control
legislators and even judges, and executives will be-
tray their trusts. As long as the law of the land is
made the source of corporate dividends, the cam-
paign contributions of corporate interests will con-
trol political conventions and the party machine for
the nomination and election of its candidates, and
our so-called " public servants " will be private
agents for the public undoing. There is just one
remedy for official bribery and campaign corruption,
and that is, to remove the motive by cutting off all
government grants of special privilege. The en-
forced guaranty of equal rights to all will free the
party organization from corporate grasp and re-
store it to the common people.

The Republican voter is no more and no less to
blame than the Democrat. Francis of Assisi was
as honest and as religious as Luther. The Bernar-
dine monk was as sincere as Knox. The hope is
not in the Democrat or Republican, as a follower of
the party of his choice, but in the man who believes
his country is greater than his party and is not

295

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

afraid of the charge of heresy — the man in the
office, shop and field, whose patriotism and moral
fiber respond to the nation's need.

The Republic is in no danger from the man who,
following the plow, hums, *' My country, 't is of
thee." He does not understand the awful harmony
of Wagner, but he knows and feels the melody of
the folk-song, the tunes which soften the heart and
make men good and ^reat. This man may be slow,
but a lion when aroused. To-day he is enlisting
in the nation's struggle for honest government, and
he will win. The Republic is in no danger of ruin
or decay. The tax dodger, the boodler, the assas-
sin of state and national honor may strike at the
public welfare ; the nation will grow in glory and
power because of the manhood of its common citi-
zenship. The country will survive, through the
courage and loyalty of voters regardless of party,
who will uplift the hands of a president in his de-
sire to do right and uphold the majesty of the law.

Through the very robbery of the citizen by the
corporate trust, the nation may be aroused and
clothed with power. The mountain hunter may
send an eagle fluttering down the crags, but the
nestling brood in the eerie will rise to greater
heights. The bounding doe may be arrested in her

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

race for life, but the Matterhorn will still lift its
cap of snow to a peace beyond the clouds.

We are confronted with vast opportunities and
responsibilities, and with lost ground to recover. A
bad economic policy and political treachery cost us
the benefits of commercial freedom with Canada.
Had we been fair and decent with our sister coun-
try across the boundary, the trade of Canada would
have been ours, and commercially if not politically
the two countries would have been one. We are
told it is now too late. Canada has grown away
from us, instead of toward us. A false policy has
robbed us of our own. Congressmen elected to rep-
resent our interests in reciprocity with Canada have
gone to Washington in the interests of a pine-land
combine and worked to make reciprocity impossible.

The American flag ought now to float over all
North America; but that union either politically or
commercially can never take place until a larger
patriotism can rise above political cant and private
greed.

Forsaking the old ideals, we are confronted with
a centralized commercialism more than feudal in
its power. The principles of Washington, Jeffer-
son and Lincoln are supplanted by the influences of
Harriman, Armour and Rockefeller. The Consti-

297

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

tution no longer goes with the flag; the Declaration
of Independence is pictured as a relic of the past.
The great commoner from the Sangamon broke the
chains of the millions and released them from slav-
ery to grow into a condition of humiliation. Wash-
ington founded a nation, and his people submit to
commercial serfdom.

Our Republic rests on the freedom and purity of
the ballot; and Montana boasts the election of a
delegate to a national convention at the cost of
$100,000. The Governor of Wisconsin declares
that corporate wealth owns his state ; and Standard
Oil appears on the troubled waters of Chicago. In
the Kremlin, fear of revolution blanches the cheek
of the Czar; in our country, there are embers that
might be fanned into flame.

Our duty is to prevent conflagration by stopping
the manufacture of inflammable material. The
price of good government is good citizenship, even
at the sacrifice of party affiliation. Will you do
your share, and will I do mine?

Let us here dedicate ourselves to the Republic's
upbuilding, to the reconstruction of party and of
national policy on broader and bigger plans. Let us
demand leadership consecrated to the public weal
by the strong and simple ties of common honesty,
equality and manhood. Let us consecrate our efforts

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

to uphold the majesty of the law by enforcing its
observance upon the most powerful as upon the
humble.

Political parties will survive, but let it be a sur-
vival of the fittest. I care not for the name of
the party I choose, so long as it stands for the
rights of the people.

Politically the name of America is a world power
— the power of justice, equality and freedom. In-
dustrially America is a world power — with manu-
factures and agriculture greater than those of any
two other nations, and supplying machines and
food to all peoples. Commercially the United
States is a world power — with an internal com-
merce developed under freedom of trade between
the states to a volume many times greater than the
foreign commerce of all nations.

At this hour we stand in possession of the gate-
ways to the great trade of the Pacific Ocean, which
in half a century may rival that of the Atlantic.
The construction of the Isthmian canal will place
America in control of the trade channel between
Europe and Asia. For commercial expansion north
and south we have the Dominion of Canada at our
northern doors and South and Central America at
the mouth of the Mississippi. The commercial fed-
eration of America is our opportunity and duty.

299

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

The Isthmian canal may serve as an invaluable
regulator of transcontinental railroad rates. The
chief engineer of the government war department
estimates that the ** Soo " canal and lake transpor-
tation save the shippers of America $30,000,000
per annum as compared with rail rates. What then
may be the effect of the Panama Canal in reducing
rates between the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards?

The world is undergoing transformation. In the
far east there are 800,000,000 people waking from
centuries of lethargy to become a world power.
On the steppes of Russia the toiling millions are ris-
ing with dreams of constitutional liberty. In Amer-
ica the patriotism and intelligence of the greatest
people on the earth demand the divorce of govern-
ment from plutocracy and paternalism. The pes-
simist finds much in the present situation on which
to base his lack of faith in our institutions, but
the conditions which afford him opportunity for ex-
ultation will be dissipated by future events.

The turn of the optimist is near at hand. The
tempest is raging now, but when the winds have
spent their force the troubled waters will again be
smooth. Ours is a new country. Our West has
been created within the memory of men still living.
Our development knows no parallel in history. Out
of the present industrial and political chaos will

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COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY

come order. The yeomanry of the land struck
for liberty at Bunker Hill. They brought the ship
of state through the awful night of Civil War.
They are responding to a new call of duty and
through them will come the reclamation and re-
generation of the nation.

It will not come from the extremist who does
not believe in government. It will not come from
the theorist who believes commercial progress is
wrong. It will not come from those who deny the
property rights of others. But it will come through
the sober common sense of those toilers who create
the wealth so essential to our prosperity as a na-
tion and as individuals. It will come, not through
excitement, anger or hate, but after a calm study
of the true conditions and a fearless determination
to arrive at what is best for all the people.

The true grandeur of the nation will assert it-
self; if not to-day, then to-morrow. An enlight-
ened and quickened conscience has issued the Amer-
ican doctrine — Equal rights to all ; special privi-
lege to none.

301

THE NORSEMEN

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT ST. PAUL, MINN., ON THE
NATIONAL HOLIDAY OF NORSEMEN, MAY 1 7, I905

HONORED by your invitation to take part in
the proceedings of this your annual festival,
I think I may as governor of the great state of Min-
nesota bring to you the greetings and good wishes
of all the people.

You have much cause for congratulation in the
celebration of the event which brought to your an-
cestors and their descendants that constitutional lib-
erty so dear to people every wiiere The Treaty of
Kiel is an historical fact and growing out of it came
that assertion of a nation which brought about na-
tional independence even under a monarchy. That
assertion resulted in an agreement which culminated
in the granting of a Constitution on May 17th,
1 8 14, which guaranteed to Norway and to Nor-
wegians constitutional freedom and liberty.

It is needless for me to dwell upon the past his-
tory of the land of your birth. Of that you are

302

THE NORSEMEN

better informed than I, but I think I may, with due
propriety, refer to the heroic deeds of the old Norse-
men who for centuries were masters of the sea, of
those splendid navigators who, with Lief Ericsson
as their leader, opened up the westward course of
Empire that others might follow ; cruising the bil-
lowed water, conquering France, England and Italy,
showing always heroism, bravery, valor and dis-
dain for danger. And throughout all of their con-
quests, possessing a virtue born in a people of high
ideals.

Brave they were, and to their credit be it said
that in all their warfare they never attacked an un-
armed foe or made war upon the weak or defense-
less.

This evening you celebrate the independence won
by your forefathers. The great significance of the
day lies in the fact that it marked a milestone in the
onward march of liberty — the freedom of the
people — the uplifting of the masses — the exten-
sion of popular government.

They kindled the same kind of fire that spread
over New England during our own revolutionary
period. Groaning under the yoke of bondage, they
yearned for that thing desired by every big, strong
man — Liberty. As in the case of our forefathers,
they secured the greatest of boons, the right to live

303

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

and act with the freedom that becomes the sover-
eign citizen.

Not wishing to dwell at length on the events of
the past, permit me to speak for one brief moment
on the part the Scandinavian people have played in
the development of our own state and country.
Pioneers in the settlement of the great Northwest,
they have become foremost in the splendid citizen-
ship which makes the North Star State so proud of
its own position in the constellation. When the
awful night of civil war came upon this nation,
the sons of Norway and Sweden did their full share
in bringing order out of chaos and of erecting again
the structure of a unified national government
Whole regiments, whole companies and individual
soldiers enlisted under the flag of their adopted
country to do or to die for the cause of freedom
here, as their ancestors had in the old days in the
lands beyond the seas. The Scandinavian hated
bondage in the old world — he fought to destroy
the chains that bound men in the new.

How much the Norseman has contributed to the
development of our great state none can measure.
In the field of commerce he has taken a position in
the very forefront and has grown to be an honored
and respected member of this community. In the

304

THE NORSEMEN

field of education he no longer follows, but has
become a leader. His college and academy have
become monuments to his glory, and monuments in
which all the state feels a just and pardonable pride.
In the domain of religious thought and action he
stands side by side with the giants who stand for
moral worth, the uplift of the community and the
reclamation of man.

All these mark their high advancement as a people
and are resultants of an inherent sense which
clamors for the higher ideal.

The day was in our own state and within our own
recollection when the Scandinavian was not a factor
in the body politic. They have not only fought
their way to success, but in the fairness of their
fighting have won the respect and regard of all
people, and to-night, as a son of Scandinavian emi-
grants, I am before you as governor of the state.

I wish I might be possessed of that eloquence
which might fittingly describe their sturdiness of
manhood, their patriotism, their love for law and
order, their fear of God, and their independence.
But their virtues are acknowledged and their service
to the state and its development are too well known
to require commendation. The names of Lind and
Nelson, Rice and Smith, Wahlstrom and Sverdrup,

305

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Norelius and Stub, and hundreds more have become
household words to all our people. Whether as
governor or senator, whether in the pulpit or the
school, whether in the field or store, they have
acquitted themselves with a fidelity and trust that
earns the praise of " well done, thou good and faith-
ful servant."

The day was when the old spirit of opposition
obtained here among the sons of Norway and
Sweden as it had once in the Fatherland. To-day
that opposition has faded away. We now stand
united for the common cause, dedicating ourselves
to the glory of our country, to the betterment of
society and for the help that each man owes to his
neighbor. Hate has given way to love and respect.
Discord has been replaced by a unionism which
augurs well for our future.

A nation is no better and no worse than the
people who constitute that nation. Striving for
the highest ideals in our civil and religious life, the
sons of Scandinavia are united in the struggle for
that citizenship through which nations endure and
realize their true grandeur.

Swedish-American and Norwegian-American
alike deplore and regret that differences have arisen
in the Fatherland which may in some sense mar
the unity of the Scandinavian people in the old

306

THE NORSEMEN

peninsula and those differences find no responsive
chord or echo in the hearts of sons in this land.
They find no harbor or anchorage among their
sons and brethren in this new home where we have
come to know each other better, to love each other
more, and to build better and freer homes.

I wish I might send a message to the warring
elements in Norway and Sweden. I would tell
them to bind up their wounds, heal their differences,
grow into a closer union, and build up a united
nation in the land where the sun shines in the
middle of the night, which might guarantee equal
rights to all Scandinavians and command that love
and respect in the group of nations which would
bring happiness and contentment to all their people.
I would have all their people free and equal and
would have the ruler of the land so fair and firm
that all would rejoice in the birth of a new nation
and the dawn of an era of freedom that would
grow into a glorious day for Scandinavia.

Z^7

RAILWAY AND OTHER CORPORATION
PROBLEMS

EXCERPTS FROM AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY GOV-
ERNOR JOHNSON BEFORE THE MINNESOTA MU-
NICIPAL LEAGUE AT ST. PAUL, JAN. ID, I906

THE question of municipal ownership is one
\vhich is spreading" over the country as a
prairie fire. The wisdom of municipaHties con-
trolHng their own pubHc service utiHties is certainly
one of direct and vital concern to you and to your
people.

I cannot let this opportunity pass without the re-
mark that the people of a municipality are entitled
to their water, their light, and kindred other service,
at the cost of that service.

A city controlling the streets and other highways,
which has the right to confer a chartered privilege
upon private individuals to control these utilities,
ought to bear in mind that, as a purely business
proposition, it is wise and prudent that it con-
trol its own pubHc service utilities. Students of
economics have proved conclusi\cly that the service

308

CORPORATION PROBLEMS

to the people is always better and supplied at a lesser
cost when supplied by the city direct than when sup-
plied by private individuals under a chartered or cor-
poration right, and every city should think well be-
fore it parts with these great privileges.

As a Municipal League, composed of delegates
representing the smaller cities of our great state, I
take it that no function could be more important or
sacred to you than to consider the problem of trans-
portation and to devise means whereby your com-
munities and the citizens represented by you should
be fairly treated by the great common carriers upon
which you largely depend for convenience and for
prosperity.

The remedy for many evils is the ballot, properly
and effectively used — not with the blindness of
party spirit or to promote the interests of individuals
— but used with the broader idea of promoting the
general welfare and securing* a more perfect civiH-
zation, based, as it must be, on the principles of
justice, equality and fairness.

One of the greatest problems of the present time,
and one of the most vital concern to the people rep-
resented by you, is that of railway transportation
and the regulation, or rather the securing of proper
tariff rates for the same. The nation is astir to-day
and the eyes of all the people are centered upon the

309

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Congress of the United States, waiting witli breath-
less interest to see whether the great representative
of the people shall have the hearty support and con-
currence of the Congress of the United States in his
laudable effort to secure the right of the people to
regulate the rates of transportation. On every
hand we hear the common cry that there is no
remedy in the law. On every hand we hear the
cry that it is not a proper function of government
to control and regulate common carriers. On every
hand we hear the cry that the sacred right of con-
tract cannot be impaired. We are met constantly
with the claim that the vested and chartered right of
the corporation cannot be assailed, regulated or
abridged. Fortunately, the United States Supreme
Court has rendered a decision that " the superin-
tending power over the highways and the charges
upon the public for their use always remain in the
government. This is not only its indefeasible right,
but is necessary for the protection of the people
against extortion and abuse. These positions we
deem to be incontrovertible. Indeed, they are ad-
judged the law in the decisions of this court. Rail-
roads and railroad corporations are in this cate-
gory." If this decision of the court be true, cer-
tainly the government which has the right to confer
a charter, which has the right to dispose of the pub-

310-

CORPORATION PROBLEMS

lie domain, which has the right to confer great privi-
leges upon a corporation, must have the right to
regulate and control that corporation in its opera-
tions.

A few weeks ago I listened to strange and remark-
able language from one of the members of the In-
terstate Commerce Commission. In the language
of the pessimist who sees no hope, in the language
of one who feels nothing but despair, he gives voice
to the opinion and to the belief that there is and w^ill
be no relief in the law. He says : " The men who
serve in the cabinet, on the bench, and even upon the
Interstate Commerce Commission, are generally
lawyers who have received in their professional life
the retainers of corporations. They cannot be ex-
pected to change their prejudices and habits of
thought on coming into place and power. No gov-
ernment machinery will regulate monopoly. When
men worship the almighty dollar, it will rule them."

I think that all appreciate that these are peculiar
times. We know and realize that at no time in the
history of the world have a few men become so
powerful because of their great possession of wealth.
We are told by the statistician that 5,000 men own
one-third of the property of the United States.
We are told by the statisticians tliat if the same ratio
of increase continues, in less than half a century

311

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

these same men will own practically all the property
of the country. Owning one-third of the property
of the country to-day, they positively control the
affairs of the country. They fix the price of trans-
portation, they arbitrarily fix the price of things that
we buy, and they arbitrarily fix the price of the
things we produce and sell.

The great curse of the country to-day is in the
fictitious valuations placed upon property and the
fact that the American people must by their energy
and economy pay tribute to this kind of genius by
paying a rate of interest and profit on property
which has no existence.

Illustrations have been numerous where a man
or syndicate of men have taken a million dollars'
worth of property and, by writing new certificates,
have converted it into five millions of dollars' worth
of property ; where one hundred million dollars'
worth of industrials have been combined into one
enterprise, and by the issuance of certificates have
been enhanced in value 400 per cent. And the
American people pay a reasonable rate of interest
and profit on the stocks and bonds of the watered
stock of the corporation.

What has been true in the industrial world has
been equally true in the world of transportation.
Combinations have been made and new shares of

312

CORPORATION PROBLEMS

stock have been issued far in excess of the actual
value of the property. I believe in corporations.
I believe the American people ought to pay a reason-
able rate of interest and a fair profit on all legiti-
mate classes of property. I believe, however, that
the American people ought to pay only upon the
actual value of the property and not upon the in-
flation.

During the past decade we have been sh.own by
illustration after illustration that the American peo-
ple, absolutely within the power of a few individ-
uals, have been compelled to pay, both in the matter
of transportation and upon industrial products, a
rate of profit altogether out of harmony with nat-
ural and just conditions. And this condition has
become so exaggerated and the financial autocrat
has exercised his tyranny to such an extent that
those in authority have been forced to undertake the
cause of the people. To-day the President of the
United States, disregarding all other issues, is con-
centrating his energies to secure the power for the
people to fix and establish just rates of transporta-
tion upon all common carriers.

We are told that these things are impossible under
the law. A half century ago the people were told
that the sovereign right of a state could not be in-
terfered with. They were also told that human

313

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

chattels were property, the right to hold which could
not be interfered with. And yet, by the single
stroke of his pen a man destroyed three thousand
million dollars' worth of property and created three
millions of freemen.

I believe in the obligation of contract. I believe
that it should not and ought not to be impaired.
But I believe that when the chartered corporation,
going beyond its chartered rights, refuses to abide
by the laws under which it has its existence and re-
ceives protection, it can be regulated and, if neces-
sary, secured to the people who have given it life.

There are vast numbers of people in this country
to-day who believe that the government of the coun-
try should ovv^n and operate its common carriers.
Certainly the time is not ripe to-day for government
ownership, but I want to say now that if the right
of the government to regulate and control common
carriers in the exercise of their functions is too
stubbornly resisted by those who control the corpo-
rations, the pendulum w ill finally become loosed and
when it swings it is apt to pass by the central point
and .fly as far to the other side.

I cannot believe that the chartered right of a
corporation is greater than the constitutional right
of the citizen, and I do not think it is American in
policy to tax the American people into poverty in

CORPORATION PROBLEMS

order that great dividends can be paid to the Eng-
Hsh and German capitalists who have invested in
the stocks and bonds of the securities of this coun-
try. It is a settled principle of the common law
of the country that all railroad rates shall be just
and reasonable.

No uniform rule has yet been adopted, and in my
judgment no rule will be adopted until the power
is given by the government to fix rates that are
reasonable and to establish those rates and main-
tain them until a court of justice has declared that
the rate is unreasonable.

Railroad operators claim that in the operation of
railways railroad men should be allowed to fix their
own rates of transportation, because the matter of
railroad rate making is such an intricate and com-
plex subject that the ordinary individual does not
understand it. Perhaps he does not understand it,
but the ordinary individual does understand that
between human beings, between the citizens of the
state, between capital and labor, between the busi-
ness man and the man who works, there should be a
community of interest which makes the rights of
one citizen as sacred and important as the rights of
the other — that there should be between us all that
fairness which is absolutely necessary and impera-
tive in order to preserve domestic tranquillity.

315

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

You, my friends, have more than a poHtical in-
terest in this great question. It is a question com-
ing with a force and interest that ought to appeal to
you as does no other question now before the Amer-
ican people. It is within the power of a railroad
corporation to build up one city and tear down an-
other city. It is within the power of railroad com.-
panies and railroad systems to favor one community
at the expense of another community. It seems to
be the function and the desire of railroad corpora-
tions to build up the great centers of population
from which they radiate. No great center of popu-
lation can flourish and thrive except it flourishes and
thrives upon the smaller municipalities and upon
the agricultural communities. The railroads of our
own state and of the Northwest have not shown to
the rural communities the consideration to which
they are justly entitled. Corporations doing busi-
ness in this great state have grown prosperous and
have thrived upon the common people. It has been
argued that these arteries of commerce have done
much for the development of this great state. That
certainly is true, but it must also be remembered
that without the agricultural regions, without the
rural communities and the smaller municipalities,
the railroad could not have thrived. And as they
have grown great and strong, it seems to me they

316

CORPORATION PROBLEMS

have grown less fair to those upon whom they de-
pend for their success and prosperity. As a mat-
ter of fact, to-day the Canadian farmer transports
his produce 600 miles for the same price of trans-
portation charged the Minnesota producer and
shipper to transport his wares 400 miles. To the
south of us a great empire state has provided by
law a system by which rates of transportation are
controlled. Suflfering by a comparison with Can-
ada, we also suffer by contrast with Iowa, and lying
between these two, it seems to me that there should
be no discrimination against our own fair state and
the villages and cities which in part comprise it.

I am satisfied that this view of the situation is en-
tertained by at least some of the railway operators
of the country. A year ago at Chicago I addressed
similar views to those presented here to a body of
men in which there were not less than a score of
railway magnates. At the close of the address one
railway president informed me that he concurred
in the general proposition of governmental regula-
tion; that the rebate and other evils worked a
decided hardship to the railways themselves, these
hardships growing out of the severe demands made
by large shippers who backed their demands by
threats of a discontinuance of business unless they
were met.

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

If there be abuses of the laws of transportation,
if there be discrimination against some localities in
favor of others, if individuals suffer that others
may be favored, wherein lies the remedy? Cer-
tainly proper and complete regulation will afford re-
lief. This can be secured over two routes, viz. :
Proper legislation, conferring the right of regula-
tion, and then proper administration of the law.
In a village in southern Minnesota last autumn, a
great railway genius advised the farmer to elect
men to legislative positions who would be true to
the agricultural interests. Is not the advice given
on that occasion pertinent to this? The remedy
for many evils is the ballot, properly and effectively
used — not with blindness of party spirit or to pro-
mote the interests of individuals, but used with the
broader idea of promoting the general welfare and
securing a more perfect civilization, based, as it
must be, on the principles of justice, equality and
fairness.

318

AT VICKSBURG BATTLEFIELD

ADDRESS DEDICATING THE MONUMENT TO THE MEM-
ORY OF MINNESOTA SOLDIERS, MAY 25, IQOJ

WE are gathered here to-day to dedicate this
memorial to the memory of the sons of
^Minnesota who participated in the siege of Vicks-
burg, and who wer^ preferred from among their
comrades to offer up their Hves as a sacrifice upon
the altar of our country. I appreciate that nothing
we can say or do will add to the luster of their
achievements ; that which transpires on this occasion
will go unnoticed by them, and yet, little as it is,
the state we represent could do no less than to erect
a shaft to the memory of our heroic dead.

It is not my purpose to review and revive the
incidents of the sanguinary conflict of a half century
ago ; it is not my intention to discuss the issues
which led up to the greatest civil war which the
world has ever seen; it is not my desire to boast of
victory which may have come to one side or to
exult in defeat which fell to those less fortunate.
We come as American citizens, bringing garlands

319

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

of love and affection to the departed sons of our
own great state.

Here they sleep with those against whom they
contended. They, at least, are in perfect peace.
The cause over which they struggled is at an end.
It needs no champion, it needs no defense, it invites
no controversy ; the war of the rebellion is long since
at an end. All who participated in it were Ameri-
cans. The valor of the one was equal to the valor
of the other. The conscience of the one was as the
conscience of the other. Right or wrong, the strug-
gle was by brave men. Out of it came the pres-
ent America, the greatest country which the world
has ever known; a country as dear to one as
to the other. Out of it grew great responsibilities;
responsibilities which rest upon those who enjoy
its blessings and its privileges to-day. Mighty and
glorious, America sheds its ray of light upon mil-
lions of happy freemen. The nation offers its pro-
tection and its opportunity to all who seek to enjoy
its institutions. In these blessings we cannot par-
ticipate unless we are willing also to share the re-
sponsibilities. Every age is fraught with its oppor-
tunities and with its grave responsibilities. Every
age has its problems, which must be solved. Ours
is certainly not without them.

One of the greatest problems confronting the
320

AT VICKSBURG BATTLEFIELD

American people is kindred to, and has a companion-
ship with the great problem which the people of
America endeavored to work out in the dark days
of the Civil War. Unsuccessful efforts were made
for its solution at the close of the struggle. But
then the wounds were still bleeding; the public
mind was in chaos. The people were tilled with
passion, and the ultimate conclusion was not then
reached, has not been reached now, and doubtless
will confront the intelligence of the people for
many years to come. I have no doubt of the ca-
pacity of the American people to solve every problem
and to solve it correctly. I believe that when tliis
great question is finally settled it will be settled by
those who best know and clearly understand it, by
those with whom it is ever present, and by those
who have it in the greatest personal interest. It
can never be settled until it is settled right, and
until it is settled in such a manner as will give to
every American citizen his rights under the con
stitution. It will not be settled by another clash
of arms. Its solution will and must be a peaceful
one, and that will come through a better knowledge
of all the questions which concern the American
people. A knowledge which will make us chari-
table to the faults of those with whom we differ,
and which will make us appreciate the virtues of

321

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

mankind generally ; which will teach us to realize
that America confers no special privileges upon
any class, or upon any condition, but which guar-
antees culture, development and prosperity to all
who desire a realization of that which American
citizenship means in its highest and best form.
Our country, east, west, north and south, has en-
joyed a development during the past half century
unparalleled in the history of nations. The future
growth and advancement of our citizenship and of
our material resources rest entirely with the popu-
lation itself. As Americans, we must act in con-
cert for all which tends to promote the development
of our institutions. We may differ as to theories
and methods, but we must be agreed in the one
idea that America must reach her perfect grandeur
through the patriotism of her people. A patriotism
not necessarily the result of conflict, but of patience
and self-sacrifice, of earnest endeavor; of conscien-
tious effort; of honesty of purpose.

America has had its first and last great civil con-
flict. The monument erected here on this field is
not to perpetuate and keep alive the spirit of war,
but is a monument to the peaceful relation which
must exist in the future between all our people. As
the tinted rainbow is a sign that the floods shall
never again overcome the earth, so this shaft is an

322

AT VICKSBURG BATTLEFIELD

emblem of peace and a declaration that henceforth
and for evermore Americans shall never again op-
pose each other by force of arms, but only in a spirit
of rivalry for the uplift of all humanity. It will
ever stand to tell the passer-by that brave men did
not falter in their duty and to admonish future
generations that duty well and bravely done becomes
the true American citizen. It will also tell the story
of our gratitude to virtue and to sacrifice and teach
men that the people who comprise states and nations
are not ungrateful ; that heroes are thus remembered
for their contribution to the wonderful fabric of
that independence which quickens national life.

323

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA COM-
MENCEMENT ADDRESS

DELIVERED AT PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 1 9, I907

FOR the first time in the history of this great
institution of learning, a history which runs
back to colonial days, your provost has elected to
go into the far Northwest for someone to deliver
your commencement address. Why the marked
honor thus conferred has fallen to me, and to the
great state which I represent, he has not fully ex-
plained.

Perhaps he thought, and rightly, of the North-
west, the empire which extends from the Great
Lakes to the Pacific, as the gateway of opportunity,
as the sunlit door to the world's youth and educa-
tion and ambition, as the promised land for the
trained minds and progressive ideals of the children
of Israel on the Atlantic side of the Alleghanies.

He may have thought, too, and again rightly,
that what the valley of the Delaware has been to
the American continent and to the world during
three hundred years of our country's colonial and

324

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

constitutional history, that the valley of the Miss-
issijjpi is destined to be, yea, in part has already
become, as a factor in the nation's political and
industrial development and as a Mecca for the in-
dustrious home seekers of Europe, in the noonday
of our nation's twentieth century expansion, and
on during the generations to come ; and with fore-
sight and wise beneficence he may have planned
for you — a plan which has my cordial endorsement
and most heartfelt support — a part and a place in
that great central field of national development and
wide theater of national activity.

Again, as the honored head of the great educa-
tional institution of the state of Pennsylvania, your
provost may have had in mind, and still rightly,
that the North Star State, for which I am here to
speak, may have a message of fraternal greeting
and friendship to the great Keystone State because
of the ties of blood and kinship, and because of the
industrial relations and historic traditions, which
forever unite the two commonwealths.

You may remember that the first territorial gov-
ernor of Minnesota during its pioneer formative
period, afterward governor of the state during the
stirring ordeals of the Civil War and United States
senator during the days of national reconstruction,
that stalwart and veteran statesman, the late Alex-

325

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

ander Ramsey — was a son of Pennsylvania, born in
your capital city of Harrisburg of that splendid
combination of sterling Pennsylvania stock, Scotch-
German, twice your member of Congress in the
national capital; and that his queenly wife, a
daughter of Pennsylvania, spoke with the tradi-
tional " thee " and " thou " of her Quaker ancestry
as a descendent of the followers of Penn. The state
of Minnesota, which during the half century of its
prosperous development as a member of the union
has been so deeply indebted to the labor, foresight
and wisdom of Alexander Ramsey and his Quaker
wife, to-day welcomes the sons and daughters of
Pennsylvania to a home where Pennsylvania stock
and Pennsylvania principles have so long been es-
tablished that they are sinew of our sinew and bone
of our bone.

There is another ancestral tie of kinship between
the two states, which almost antedates recorded his-
tory. You know^ of the upper Mississippi Valley
to-day as the principal seat of the Scandinavian
race in America. Two-and-a-half centuries ago the
home of the Scandinavian in America w^as the Dela-
ware Valley. The Swedes were the earliest per-
manent settlers not only of Pennsylvania, but of
Delaware and western New Jersey. Before he fell
on the battlefield of Lutzen, Gustavus Adolphus

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had outlined to the Swedish government a plan for
a New Sweden in America, which should be the
asylum of all who sought religious and political
freedom, and the charter of 1634 for the colony
of New Sweden on the Delaware was in pursuance
of his dying wish. From Delaware Bay up the
river beyond this city as far as Trenton, the Swed-
ish pioneers bought from the Indians the land on
both banks of the Delaware, nearly a half -century
before the grant to Penn. They built numerous
forts and villages, establishing the city of Wilming-
ton in 1638, over sixty years before Penn gave a
charter to Philadelphia; and on an island just be-
low this city they erected the capital of their colony.
In 1655 the colony of New Sweden was absorbed by
force of conquest by New Amsterdam, which in
turn by force of English conquest became New
York ; but the Swedish settlements continued to
flourish until the grant to Penn made them the
nucleus of the Quaker and German immigrations
which founded Pennsylvania.

It was to these Swedish pioneer settlers and the
Quaker and German neighbors who soon joined
them, that Penn issued that epoch-making procla-
mation of 168 1, with its famous guaranty — "you
shall be governed bv laws of your own making."
William Penn's proclamation was the democratic

327

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

forerunner, if not the historic parent, of the great
historic documents of 1776, of 1787 and 1789,
which were the foundations of this repubHc at its
creation, are its hving spirit to-day, and I beHeve
will stand as the beacon light of freedom in every
clime and on every shore from this day forever-
more.

Were I to-day, as a humble descendant of the
followers of Gustavus Adolphus, to issue to you.
the descendants of the followers of Penn, a procla-
mation of greeting and good will, welcoming you
to the good soil and inviting opportunities of the
commonwealth of Minnesota, as indeed I am prone
to do, I could not write a greeting more appropriate
to the occasion and more fitting to the subject,
than that which Penn wrote to the pioneer fol-
lowers of Adolphus on this spot, and site of your
alma mater, 226 years ago, in the following lan-
guage:

" My friends, I wish you all happiness here and
hereafter. These are to let you know that it hath
pleased God and His Providence to cast you in my
Lot and Care. It is a business, that, though I never
undertook before, yet God hath give me an under-
standing of my duty and an honest heart to do it
uprightly.

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" I hope you will not be troubled at your change
of the King's choice; for you are now fixt at the
mercy of no governor that comes to make his for-
tune great. You shall be governed by laws of your
own making, and live a free, and, if you will, a
sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp the
right to any, nor oppress his person. God hath
furnished me with a better resolution, and hath
given me his grace to keep it. In short, whatever
sober and free men can reasonably desire for the
security and improvement of their own happiness,
I shall heartily comply with

" I beseech God to direct you in the way of Right-
eousness, and therein prosper you and your chil-
dren after you. I am your true friend.

"Wm. Penn."
" April, 1 68 1.

The only time Penn ever interposed to object to
the kind of government his colonists framed in this
" Holy Experiment," as he termed it, was when he
wrote them from London three years later : " For
the love of God, me, and the poor country, be not
so governmentish ; " which proves that Penn was
one of the original democrats of America.

But the great civil conflict of 1861 cemented the
bonds of Minnesota and Pennsylvania by a still

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JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

closer tie, the flag of the Union and the blood of
sacrifice. When the shot was fired on Sumter,
Minnesota was an undeveloped pioneer state, not
yet three years old, with Oregon and Kansas, that
were just admitted, one of the infant members of
the Union. Yet the first regiment tendered to
Abraham Lincoln to aid the cause of the Union was
the First Minnesota; and of a total census popula-
tion of 172,000 souls, 24,000, or 14 per cent, of all,
enlisted in the cause of their country.

This week, forty-six years ago, was the great
commencement week of the boys of the First Min-
nesota. It was the class of '61, Minnesota boys
in blue, eager to enter upon their soldier career.
Most of them were about the age of this class of
'07, University of Pennsylvania, plain young men,
sons of the frontier, that was yet a class with no-
ble lineage — descendants, on the one hand, of Miles
Standish and the Pilgrims, and on the other, of the
Southern cavaliers, the Carrolls and the Harrisons,
of Maryland and Virginia; sons of old Erin and
Scotia, and descendants of Pennsylvania Quakers
and New Amsterdam Dutch; descendants of sol-
diers who had bivouacked on the Rhine, and of the
followers of Adolphus, who had marched to the
sacred battle-hymn, " A Strong Fortress is our
God," at Lutzen.

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It may interest you to know that the money in
the first instance to equip the First Minnesota Reg-
iment was raised by Governor Ramsey among his
Philadelphia friends.

Forty-six years ago last Thursday that class of
'6i received their sheepskins in the shape of orders
from Simon Cameron, again a son of Pennsylvania.
Lincoln's first secretary of war, to proceed to Har-
risburg, your capital, subject to further orders.
Forty-six years ago to-day they were passing
through your state, and enlisting Pennsylvania boys
in blue shouted to them along the route — " Go for
them, boys of Minnesota, go for them; we'll be
with you in a few days."

The brave aspirations of the Minnesota men were
soon put to the test. Scarcely two years later, July
2, 1863 — you know the story. It was the second
day at Gettysburg. Sickles' forces, defeated in the
peach orchard, were fugitives before the superior
forces of Longstreet and Hill. Eight companies of
the First Minnesota, 262 men in all, stood guard
over a battery on the hill at the Union center. Gen-
eral Hancock rode up at full speed, and after vainly
trying to stop the fugitives, spurred up to the spot
where the First Minnesota stood firm.-

"What regiment is this?" asked Hancock.

" First Minnesota," answered Colonel Colvill.

33^

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

" Charge those hnes," shouted Hancock.

With fixed bayonets, first at double quick, and
then at full speed, in the face of the concentrated
Confederate fire, the brave 262 charged down the
hill, broke through the first Confederate line, driv-
ing it back upon the second, thereby stopping the
whole Confederate advance; then under cover of
rocks and stumps held their ground in the dry
creek below, until the Union reserve gained the
position above and turned Gettysburg unto Union
victory.

Their duty done, the First Minnesota marched
back victors to their position. But not the 262.
There were 47 survivors — 215 dead or wounded on
the field — not a man missing.

In the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava,
there was a loss of 247 out of a total of 673, or 37
per cent. At the charge of the First Minnesota at
Gettysburg, not on horse at a blind gallop, but on
foot, into flame and death, the loss was 83 per cent.

Colonel Fox, in his work on " Regimental Losses
in the American Civil War," speaks of the sacrifice
of the First Minnesota as " without equal in the
records of modern warfare." General Hancock,
who issued the command to save the day, has de-
clared of the achievement of those young men:
" There is no more gallant deed recorded in history."

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If the young men and women of this class of
1907, of the University of Pennsylvania, desire
from Minnesota a sign, a spirit of inspiration, a
token of the qualities that command victory and
success on earth, or an example of the achievements
of fame and glory that may be w^on by high purpose
and great resolve, I point you to the Minnesota
class of '61, whose blood, shed for you and for
all, has been a part of the soil of Pennsylvania now
for over forty years.

It is not my purpose or hope to instruct you ; but
anticipating the wish of your respected leader I do
bring to you the message of encouragement and op-
portunity. I would not dwell upon the past, your
courses of study, or your associations. These, in a
sense are at an end. Your college life has closed,
and whatever the successes or failures, they are
over. That the years just past have been of bene-
fit there can be no dispute, for every man and wo-
man is to be sincerely congratulated who has been
given a college or imiversity education. Some
there are who argue that it is of little or no value ;
lliat Lincoln was not a college man; that Dart-
mouth did little for Webster, and that the latter
would have been great had none of his life been
passed under the shadow of a college wall. Pos-
sibly, and still Webster was a college man. What

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

he might have been under other conditions, who
can say? Lincoln, it is true, gained what knowl-
edge he had in the university of all men, but who
knows at what a sacrifice to himself, and who will
say that he might not have been greater with the
added advantage of college training? It is a great
thing for a country to have assembled in many
centers, many men of great learning who can and
do disseminate the wisdom of the ages. It is a
great thing in any age to ha\'e men who are will-
ing to sacrifice themselves that they may become
the torch-bearers of progress and keep aflame the
lamp that radiates the light of the best thought
and the highest ideals of the race. Lincoln, and
any other man who has burned the midnight oil,
simply gleaned from meager sources through his
own unaided efforts that which comes to you in
far more complete and available form through the
aid of teachers, laboratories, and all modern aids
to intellectual research. Education, it is true, is
in the main simply the cultivation of the talents
with which you have been naturally endowed, and
the acquirement of the methods and principles
which will enable you to unlock the doors of science
and the chambers of wisdom.

The dean of one of our university departments
said that boys did not learn anything at college ;

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that they were simply taught how to learn. This
is to some extent true ; but the secret of the how,
what, and where of knowledge, and the discipline
which gives the power of concentration, and a
broad, true and logical grasp of the world's prob-
lems as they arise in life, are the most valuable
assets in a world where brains hold scepter. The
non-college man who seeks a parity with college
men in any avenue realizes the absence of college
training in himself, and even though not willing
to admit it, he will acknowledge to himself that
there are few things material or otherwise which he
so greatly envies.

In college life, I imagine, wealth, or rather the
absence of it, causes its usual share of grief. The
poor boy on his tedious way through school has
felt the handicap in favor of his more favored rival.
But from commencement day on the handicap will
change, and the boy who may have had to work his
way through school will find it no new thing to
work his way through life, while he to whom hard-
ship was a stranger may find the world a gallery
which will wear the body and torture the mind.
The great law of compensation thus rules even
student life. To recall the wasted opportunities of
the past with ceaseless regret serves no purpose.
Conscience carefully attends to this, and to those

335

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

of you who have been unfaithful to yourselves, the
penalty will be duly inflicted. If, in the retrospect,
you find much left undone, and some things bet-
ter were they left undone, there is the remedy of
future correction. What I would most desire in
this personal message which I address to each of
you on this commencement day of your career in
the world's campaign is to impress the responsibil-
ity which rests upon you from this day on into the
future, and to reveal to you the opportunities which
belong to every man and woman who has been fa-
vored with academic life.

Opportunity and responsibility in life's career go
together. The capital equipment and the opportu-
nities measure the responsibilities ; and upon the
university graduates of this land great responsibil-
ities rest, as great opportunities are given. Of the
eighty-five million people of this nation, one-fifth,
or seventeen million are enrolled in school work.
Of the seventeen million who attend schools, less
than one million receive the secondary education
of high school and academy training; and of the
million or less who attend high schools and acad-
emies, less than one-fifth go to the college and
university; while of these again only a minor frac-
tion graduate with a thorough university training.
You, therefore, are a part of the favored and select

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

remnant chosen to do the world's most exacting
brain-work. You are the handful selected for the
nation's most trying ordeals.

And do you realize that you owe to the people of
this country a life-long debt? The total permanent
trust fund of the nation invested in its educational
plant represents billions of dollars of the savings
of the many, the vast majority of whom receive
their return on the investment only through the
blessings of your achievements and the influence of
your lives upon the nation and the human race.
The national government alone has donated to edu-
cation lands valued at upwards of three hundred
millions of dollars. National, state and municipal
support to American colleges and universities runs
into the millions. Your own institution expends
near a million and a half a year to turn out its
annual product at commencement day. Your debt
to the state and its taxpayers, your responsibility
to the nation and the world, are therefore vast, as
your equipment is thorough and your opportuni-
ties broad and inviting.

To the equipment of training and learning given
you, there are additional qualities which you only
can supply. Manhood and womanhood, honor and
character, are inborn. Education may help burnish
them, but the native metal must be in the person,

337

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

or not at all. A man is a man before he has had
training, and no amount of schooling can inject
honor and backbone into the creature that is born
spineless. Education has done more for civiliza-
tion than perhaps any other one factor; but it can-
not produce in men the big heart and the high
ideal which command the love, respect, and con-
fidence of men, without which true and great suc-
cess is unattainable and no success is worth hav-
ing. The world wants educated men, but first of
all it wants men — men of honor, men of character,
men who are not prone to dethrone their own rea-
son by excessive indulgence in those things which
tear down and destroy, rather than those things
which build up and create. We hear much in these
days about overproduction; but there never has
been and never will be such a thing as overproduc-
tion of good men and they will always command
attention and find their places awaiting them. The
law of supply and demand always applies here as
elsewhere. In this as in all other fields you will
find an eternal law which is as inexorable as the
law of gravitation ; and it is a moral law which is
primarily a necessity to success.

He who has measured up to every moral require-
ment will find a wide field of opportunity in every
section of the country. The West is the Mecca of

338

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mankind, but it demands honest, pure, vigorous
and courageous men as much as any other section
of the earth. To the commonplace man it offers
commonplace opportunities, and no more. It win-
nows the grain from the chaff, and its rich harvests
go to the former. Opportunities lie open to all
alike, but fortune favors that man,

" Who, if he rise to station of command,
Rises by open means ; but there will stand
On honorable terms, or else retire
And in himself possesses his own desire;
Who comprehends his trust; and to the same
Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;
And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait
For wealth, or honors, or worldly state."

The boy just out of school looks first for a
location where he may begin the career which is
to lead him to success. He finds all the good posi-
tions gone, all the good locations filled. They
always were. The places which are purely sine-
cures never existed, or, like the best fishing holes,
are just a little farther on, and when you go farther
on they are still farther ahead. And yet the world
never presented so many glowing opportunities as
to-day. The great West, which half a century ago
was a wilderness governed by savages, is literally
filled with golden chances for anybody with brains,
character and industry. In less than two decades

339

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

there have been uncovered in Minnesota the
most wonderful iron deposits the vv^orld has ever
known, to-day producing one-half the iron ore of
America and one-fourth the annual product of the
world.

From Montana south to the Rio Grande, explo-
ration of the hills by intelligent men has converted
a desert as bleak and barren as Sahara, and brought
forth a teeming industry which adds to the world's
wealth, besides millions of dollars' worth of gold
and silver, a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of
copper annually. Great as the developments have
been, the work has just begun, and still treasure
hidden and concealed by nature in the most mys-
terious places awaits the genius of the young man
who is not afraid to put his engineering skill against
subtle nature, and who has a resolution that will
not be denied. Along the fertile valleys of the
Father of Waters and its tributaries lies a region
unequalled on any continent either in agricultural
results achieved or in undeveloped agricultural op-
portunities. Agricultural science, engineering sci-
ence, a proper amalgam of industry and brains,
here find their exhaustless opportunities. Although
the harvest fields of the Mississippi Valley already
contribute to the nation three-fourths of its cereal
wealth, only a minor portion of the surface is yet

340

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

tilled, and in the far West barely a fragment. Mod-
ern science applied to farming processes, engineer-
ing genius applied to irrigation and drainage, pro-
gressive ideas and scientific skill devoted to good
roads and forestry, will quadruple the agricultural
wealth of our great western empire within the life-
time of those I now address. And your country
turns to you. Class of '07, and your fellow alumni
in the other great university laboratories of the
land, to improve your opportunities and at the
same time advance the nation's car of industrial
progress and solve the world's problem of sub-
sistence. But, rich as is the West, even in oppor-
tunity, it has no place for the sluggard or the dis-
sembler. The best positions, there as elsewhere on
this revolving planet, go only to the best men, to
courage, honor, self-reliance, and the genius of un-
remitting toil.

Foremost among your opportunities, as well as
among your duties, are those which relate to the
nation — the good of all. As all have sacrificed for
you, so it is now your opportunity and privileged
duty and destiny to achieve for all. For this
career there is no training, no atmosphere, no
liistoric ideal, no patriotic inspiration, like that
which goes with, fills and pervades the American
university ; and here at your own alma mater, grad-

341

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

uates of the University of Pennsylvania, in this cap-
ital city of the American colonies and of the Repub-
lic in the days of the fathers, you have the four-
fold inspiration not only of training and environ-
ment, but of historic precept and example. Here
was the homestead of William Penn. Here were
the camps of Washington and his yeomanry. Here
Adams and Jefferson, Lee and Sherman, Morris
and Franklin spoke. Here was assembled Ameri-
ca's colonial congress, and here was located the gov-
ernment of the first presidents of the Republic.
Here were planned, framed and established, by the
most glorious galaxy of patriotism in history's great
political drama, those pillars of our national faith
and corner stones of our national existence — the
Declaration of Independence, the Ordinance of
1787, and the Constitution. Here still hangs old
Liberty Bell, and here the pioneers of the United
States, patriots of three centuries, look down upon
you as you take up the cause of freedom and equal-
ity which to you they blessed and bequeathed.

Do you ask if the field is ripe for great civic
achievement? Do not think for a moment that the
nation's political problems were solved in the days
of Washington, or Webster, or of Lincoln! The
world's civic problems are never solved, and never
will be so long as greed and selfish power can find

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political scepters to grasp, and so long as servile
placemen can find special interests to gratify. Never
was the battlefield of government for the people
more deeply in need of loyal soldiers than to-day,
and never brighter were the opportunities for glo-
rious achievement. Edward Burke declared that on
questions of political reforms the general mass of
men were fifty years behindhand. That is to say,
it takes the good part of two generations to edu-
cate men out of their political ruts of self-interest
and prejudice. It is your opportunity to reduce
that fifty-year period to twenty, ten, five, and per-
chance one. Do not think this achievement easy.
Remember that the road of political progress from
the birth of the early Greek and Roman republics
down to these days of spoils machinery and pro-
tected billion-dollar trusts is paved with the bones
of patriots and lined with the wrecks of reform.
Lowell has pointed out to you the danger and the
resource of political reform in the stanza :

" Right forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne ;
Yet that scaffold sways the future.

And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,

Keeping watch above his own."

Do you ask for a catalogue of patriotic oppor-
tunities? Do you ask to have the problems of the

343

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Republic, the enemies of the people, labeled and
marshaled for your inspection? You will find
them on every hand among the hosts of special
privilege, wherever a public law, a public right, a
public trust, the public treasury, the public prop-
erty, powers and privileges are devoted to a private
end, or whenever the public interest is subordinated
to that of a class.

You will find them in the great question of trust
domination, giant-born and flourishing under a con-
flict of law which at one and the same time pro-
hibits its existence and yet protect and foster
its development. Or in the great problem of trans-
portation with railroad corporations enthroned upon
eighteen billion dollars of capital securities, endowed
by the government with the sovereign power of em-
inent domain, collecting tolls now aggregating two
billions of dollars per annum, or over three times
the aggregate revenues of the national government.
and the nation only feebly and imperfectly able to
control its means of transportation. Or again in
the problem of the status and condition of the col-
ored man, still, after nearly a century of argument
and conflict, one of the most profound and vexa-
tious problems since the days when the children of
Israel contended with Pharaoh. It took Garrison,
Phillips, and their contemporaries years to arouse

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COMiMENCEMENT ADDRESS

America to a realization that slavery was not for
America. It cost the country a war lasting five
years and an expenditure of lives and money be-
yond calculation. The problem was not even then
worked out to its final successful conclusion, for
there is arising upon our national horizon this same
question of the races. Its solution is being deferred
because the master mind has not worked out the
science of its law of gravitation and America still
awaits him. There are those who say that the solu-
tion of this great question is education; if so, it is
one with which men of education are required to
deal.

Demanding the best and most careful national
thought is the question of our colonial possessions.
This nation was born under the doctrine of the
inalienable right of self-government, a protest
against the theory of foreign possession and colo-
nial rule; while to-day we are a mother country,
denying to our colonial subjects even the rights and
privileges guaranteed in our Constitution, from
which our government derives its powers, and deny-
ing that this Constitution controls our scepter or
follows our flag. It is of no avail now to discuss
whether the war of the Philippines was just or un-
just ; whether the acquisition was wise or unwise.
The condition remains that the Philippines are ours,

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JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

both by right of conquest and purchase. The lands
are to-day under the American flag, but it becomes
America to deal with the people of that far-away
country with the same fairness with which we treat
each other. The theory of our government, yea,
our own Constitution, guarantees equality to all who
are subject to national control. It may have been
an error to have taken them, an error to have kept
them ; but whatever the mistakes of the past, that the
present condition cannot continue permanently is
self-evident. It is our duty to bend every energy
to bring the people of what are now called the
American dependencies to such a condition that the
blessings of constitutional government shall be en-
joyed by them as fully and freely as by ourselves,
and by conferring those blessings win the love of
the people.

America can less afford to rule by despotism
than any other nation on the earth. It must rule
by love and affection and maintain for all the
people strict equality before the law. Who knows
but from these assembled here shall be chosen the
man or set of men who are to work out a solution
of this great national or international problem? —
international because it is bound in the years to
come to involve the great question of the supremacy
of the Pacific. In the Far East has arisen a great

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world power whose vision is broad enough to look
with envious eyes upon the islands scattered in
the course of the sun in its daily journey.

Recently there has been promulgated the doc-
trine of greater centralization of power in the
federal government for the curbing of some of the
evils which threaten the public interest. Under
our system of government the states are sovereign
within their domains in regard to all domestic af-
fairs of the commonwealth, and any departure
from this theory would be, in my mind, dangerous
— as dangerous as though one arm of the govern-
ment were to assume the functions of another
branch of the civil government, or as if the states
were to encroach upon the constitutional preroga-
tives of the national government. It occurs to me
that the builders of our national structure builded
better than they knew, and better than we appre-
ciate, and that our national safety lies in strict
adherence to the organic law of the land. To so
harmonize national legislation and state legislation
that the former shall include everything strictly
national and interstate and the latter cover all con-
ditions which begin and end within the state, is one
of the nicest problems of the future American states-
man, and to your earnest study it is respectfully
commended.

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JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

It is your lifelong opportunity and duty to pro-
test against wrong and oppression wherever it may
be found, whether it be in the fields of industry, in
public affairs, or in commercial aggrandizement.
The Boston Tea Party was but a protest against
the encroachment of avarice and greed upon the
rights of a people who felt that man had a right to
be free. The Declaration of Independence was a
formal declaration of the facts and principles upon
which the protest of arms was based. The Eman-
cipation Proclamation was the fruit of a protest
against wrong and against the worst form of
human oppression. Most of us are apt to feel that,
had we lived in the past, we would have figured in
the great movements which comprise in large part
the world's history; that had we lived in Athens,
we might have helped to shape the marbled columns
which marked the civilization of two thousand
years ago; that had we lived in Rome, we might
have been of the Legions which triumphed over
savagery; that had we lived in the days of the
Romantic legion of France, we might have mingled
the eagles of France with those of the snow-capped
Alps; had we lived in the earlier days of our own
country, we too might have suffered at Valley
Forge or have cast our fortune with Marion or
Warren ; or, had we been in the theater of the Civil

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War, we might have contributed our service to our
country's common cause. But we did not live then.
Our faces are not turned to the past. Our country
calls us as much now as it called patriots then.
It may not ask us to shed our blood or lay down
our lives, but it asks us to live for it, to love it,
and it demands, as it has a right to demand, that
we give it the best that is in us for the uplift of
humanity and for the progress and glory of Amer-
ican institutions. Patriots died to preserve it for
}0u and me. Innumerable headstones on northern
and southern fields tell what it cost to preserve it
to us ; monuments stand to remind us that Ameri-
cans shall never again oppose each other by force
of arms and that the future holds for us the respon-
sibility of the highest and best form of citizenship;
a citizenship which believes in the majesty of the
law of the land, which tells us that no one is greater
tlian the law or has the right to violate it.

There has in the past been a tendency to evade
and ignore the law, and this tendency to outlawry
has been promoted by public officials who have con-
stituted themselves the discriminating power be-
tween public policy and the law.

When one man is privileged to set aside the will
of the people expressed in law, or acting in a public
capacity dares to usurp a function of government

349

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

not vested in him legally, and this comes to be
generally sanctioned, there is danger to American
institutions. There has been abuse of authority in
this direction in the past; there is, I hope, a grow-
ing tendency now to avoid that danger. If we
are to go forward rather than deteriorate, there
must be a common effort upon the part of the in-
telligent men of America to get back to the foun-
dation principles of government and abide with
those constitutional fundamentals which are sym-
bols of civil and religious freedom, and no set of
men is better equipped for patriotic service in this
direction than the intelligent college men of the
country. There are evils in our body politic; evils
which, while they do not seriously threaten the life
of the nation, are doing great injury to the many
whose toil and earnings support it. The inflation
of values, the creation of monopolies, the concen-
tration of wealth in the hands of a few, conferring
upon them the power to promote or destroy any
industrial, transportation or commercial enterprise
are evils which must be removed, because to those
who have been given this power has come the in-
toxication which sudden wealth too often produces.
Riotous indulgence in these excesses must bring, if
continued, eventual destruction.

One of the Greek mythological tales relates how
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COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

Helios, the sun, rises in the morning from the ocean
to guide the fire-brealhing steeds of the shining
sun chariot through the sphere of Heaven, and that
at night he again sinks into the ocean in the west
and rides in a golden boat around the north to
the east, where his gorgeous palaces lie. One day
the son, Phaethon, an ambitious youth, prevailed
upon his father to allow him to drive the chariot,
but his arms were not strong enough to bridle the
wild steeds, which tore along, now above the road,
scorching Heaven, then below it, endangering the
earth, until Jupiter, in order to save the universe
from destruction, was forced to kill him with a
thunderbolt, which descends with a crash and hurls
him from his chariot into the river beneath.

There is an application of the Greek tale to the
present conditions. H intoxicated money power,
usurping the chariot reins of the nation, continues
in its selfish and high-handed course, the American
conscience, expressed in the law and ballot of an
outraged people, will be driven to heroic means to
arrest the mad flight and restore the country to its
industrial and social equilibrium. What this coun-
Iry needs to-day is a national policy free from the
domination of class, section, and special interest —
a fundamental policy which stands for the liberty,
security, growth and development of the whole coun-

351

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

try, by affording equal opportunity to all of its citi-
zens to share in the country which nature has lav-
ished upon America.

The right to enjoy property is guaranteed under
the Constitution, and it can be denied to no citizen.
Just how far this right goes is open to dispute.
Doubtless great achievements are rendered more
easily possible by the aggregation of the wealth of
many into one common enterprise or corporation;
but, this done, the question arises, how far must
the right of individuals be subordinate to the cor-
porate power thus by law conferred? In the in-
dustrial and transportation realms there have been
certain encroachments upon the right of those who
labor, as well as the interests of shippers and con-
sumers, and to such an extent as to excite popular
prejudice against capital and its corporate aggres-
sions.

There must naturally be a happy medium, which
will enable us all to share in the blessings of Ameri-
can opportunity and American institutions. Capi-
tal invested into enterprise must be given a
fair chance to earn a fair return upon its invest-
ment. Men who have legitimately acquired much
property must be made to feel that there is safety
in the form of government under which it exists ; but
the people also must be secured in their rights,

352

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

must stand exempt from monopolistic exactions,
and enjoy the confidence that the law will not pro-
tect a man just because he is rich. Moreover,
labor must be sure of a fair and humane treatment
and of a just and liberal reward. The sovereign
power which permits a corporation to exist must
reserve the right to supervise and regulate its acts,
so that there will be honesty and justice, modera-
tion and equality in the discharge of the corpo-
ration's semi-public functions. Recent maladminis-
tration of trust funds of the insured; recent ex-
posures of almost insanely dishonest conduct in
transportation and finance; the refusal of corpo-
rate power to abide by the law of the land — all
tell us that this Republic cannot safely neglect to
exercise every peaceful and constitutional prerog-
ative enjoyed by a sovereign people in controlling
the corporations it has created, in requiring observ-
ance of law and public interest from the money
power which it fosters and protects, and in sub-
ordinating every special interest to the general wel-
fare and constitutional rights of the people and all
the people.

This is a government of the people for all of the
people, and the sovereignty of the people must be
supreme. No man, no interest, no class is greater
than the law of the land; and if our Republic is to

353

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

endure — and it will endure — the power must re-
side equally in the sovereign many, in accord with
the fundamental principles of 1776 and 1789.

Class of 1907, in the last analysis your state, your
nation, your country is your alma mater, and the
flag of the Republic is your class emblem. You go
forward to fill a high position in the W'Orld — to
become part of the sovereignty of the greatest
world-power among the nations. In no land, in no
age are greater powders, are greater liberties, are
greater opportunities, are greater duties and re-
sponsibilities conferred upon the intelligent and
morally responsible young men and women of the
race than this country, this commonwealth, this uni-
versity confers upon you on this twentieth century
day in June.

You look forward to success. What is success?
That depends upon your ideal life, upon the life-
work you have chosen, upon the life standards you
hold before you, upon the heart, character, purpose
and inspiration which guide your career and govern
your destiny. Some of you go forward to amass
wealth ; others to achieve political fame or military
renown ; others to give professional or industrial
service to humanity ; others to add to the world's
wealth of literature, science and arts ; others to
build the home and bless its childhood and mother-

354

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

hood ; and others simply and plainly to serve wher-
ever and whenever the hour of duty may call.
There are no set routes and no chosen goals, no
prescribed place or time or condition. Success
dwells alike in the palace and the hovel. As for
the golden age, St. Simon assures you it lies before
you.

Personally I would rather be able to write a book
that would live one hundred years than be able to
amass wealth that would enable those who inherit
it to live for generations in luxury; and yet the
amassing of wealth may be of vast industrial service
to the country and to those who seek honest work
and wages. But wealth-getting becomes a crime
when the man obtains it by the sale of all his finer
instincts, by the sacrifice of his character, by the
violation of the nation's laws, and by trespass upon
the rights of others to the pursuit of liberty and
happiness. It is the spirit, and not the thing, which
determines the nobility of a career and the degree
of success. The highest victories may be what the
world calls failures. Remember the life motto of
the founder of your commonwealth, the author of
" No Cross, no Crown." Remember that time and
patient toil only can yield any great victory. Kep-
ler did not learn to measure the stars in a night,
but gained a knowledge of the stellar world after a

355

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

lifetime of research. The great soldier who
emerged from the French Revolution had the nat-
ural genius of selfish ambition, but his war knowl-
edge was the result of the most comprehensive study
of war conditions from childhood to Waterloo.
The Wizard of Menlo Park has given a life to re-
search that the world may be enriched by a knowl-
edge of that subtle fluid which seems to be the means
of revolutionizing the world. In a small country
town of my own state a doctor of the sick has
brought physical restoration to thousands who had
abandoned hope. In his simple, unostentatious way
he has gone about his mission with a singleness of
purpose that has challenged the admiration of every
surgeon of America. He did not need the added ad-
vantage of those things which are always in the
metropolis. His life was devoted to the study of
science and the mastery of his profession. He had
the genius of application, and because no task was
too severe, the name of Mayo is known wherever
there are those who practice the medical profession.
I asked the great railway giant of our western
country to account for his genius. His answer was
that there is no genius except the genius of hard
work — the genius which does not overlook the
smallest details. This man controls over fifteen
thousand miles of railway, and knows the condition

356

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

and the earning capacity of every main line and
every branch Hne. He unlocked the door of oppor-
tunity by mastering the smallest detail of his busi-
ness and by being big enough to group all of the
little things into one big thing.

Along the north shore of Lake Superior are im-
bedded the greatest and richest iron deposits known
to the world. Uncovered within a decade, they
have enriched the wealth of the world to the extent
of one hundred million dollars a year. The one
man who personally supervises this great region
was a railway brakeman a quarter of a century ago,
but he possessed the genius of hard work and he
possessed the instinct of wanting to know more
about mining than any other man in America. He
battered down and broke in the door of opportunity
and made an example for the young men of his
age.

A western lawyer was recently chosen to repre-
sent his country in some of the most important
litigation ever undertaken by the United States.
The rule of his professional life has been that there
were no big things in the law; that the fabric of
jurisprudence was made of small details, in the
weaving of which endless toil and honest effort
were essential.

These men all had humble beginnings and started

357

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

in the world gifted with far less promise than that
which the world holds for you. It shows you that
success does not come in a day, in a month, in a
year. It comes in a lifetime — a lifetime of high
resolve and sacrifice of nonessentials.

May that success, the success of faithful service
and earnest purpose, whether in walks high or hum-
ble, accompany you. Remember that in your suc-
cess, in the achievements of the high-minded youth
of to-day, lies the destiny of your country to-mor-
row. Upon you, your manhood, your enthusiasm,
your fidelity to truth, your loyalty to country and
race, rest possibilities, responsibilities, opportunities
and destinies of which neither you nor I to-day may
dream.

358

AT SHILOH BATTLEFIELD

ADDRESS DEDICATING THE MINNESOTA MONUMENT,
APRIL ID, 1908

REPRESENTING the people of the common-
wealth of Minnesota, we are assembled on one
of the historic battlefields of the Civil War to pay
cur tribute of respect and affection to the memory
of the sons of Minnesota who here yielded up their
lives that this might continue to be a united nation.
Their sacrifice was not for personal gain, but was
in response to duty, and a contribution to the civil-
ization of the age, and for the purpose of perpetuat-
ing the institution of human liberty,

I appreciate that nothing which I can say will add
to or detract from the glory of their achievement,
which in itself is an enduring monument to the
patriotism and the heroism of the American soldier.
Their sacrifice, however, was not different from that
which has been made throughout all of the ages by
those lovers of liberty who believed in a government
which might give to all the people the right to life,
liberty and property. The love of liberty was not

359

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

born in this country of ours; it was cradled along
the Danube and about the shores of the Baltic, even
when Rome had reached the limit of her imperial
grandeur. Increasing in intensity with the passing
of the centuries, it found its highest expression in
the older countries in the great English charter of
civil rights, which forever guaranteed to the people
of that land immunity from the despotism of those
who claimed to rule by virtue of Divine right. From
the beginning of civilization, man has ever strug-
gled against the despotic power of the strong, and
has never hesitated to mix his blood with the soil
of his land when by this offering he might leave to
his posterity and those dear to him a legacy of free-
dom ; and while the immediate result has not always
been the triumph of the right, none of the great bat-
tles of history could have been fought unless there
had been upon one side or the other, those who were
willing to sacrifice their own lives for the common
good and for the permanent establishment of those
principles of liberty which men have ever cherished.
One hundred and thirty-two years ago the great
contest of humanity was transferred from the Old
World to the New, and here, because of the isola-
tion of this country, because of the high character
of the men who espoused the cause of liberty, and
because of the signal victory achieved by them in

360

AT SHILOH BATTLEFIELD

that struggle, an opportunity was afforded to cr}'S-
tallize into written law the aspirations of the patriots
of all the ages. The men who built the foundations
of this government were those who had submitted
to the supreme test of patriotism, for those who in-
spired the Constitution of the United States were the
same who had pledged their lives, their property and
their sacred honor to the cause of independence.

The scheme of government devised by our fore-
fathers was adopted after most mature deliberation,
and after the fullest investigation; and only when
they were satisfied that in the distribution of the
powers of government, the rights of the people
would be respected. It was founded upon the the-
ory that the right exists in the people to make, alter
and modify their form of government, and to this
end the several states in constitutional convention
agreed upon and adopted a constitution which was
the foundation upon which this nation rests. But,
as Washington said, " The constitution which at any
time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic
act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon
all. The further heritage of the power and right
of a people to establish government, presupposes the
duty of every individual to obey the established gov-
ernment."

The original Sovereign States, which, through
361

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

their representatives in 1787, united to form a Fed-
eral Government for certain specified purposes, were
careful to have those powers which were delegated
to it expressed in the constitution then agreed upon.

While the primary object of a written constitu-
tion is to define governmental powers, and to limit
governmental departments, the overwhelming neces-
sity for such an instrument is to prevent insidious
encroachments upon the rights of the individual cit-
izen, both from those in office and from those who
by reason of their wealth and power have an influ-
ence far greater than that possessed by the average
citizen. And so the Constitution of the United
States was regarded by its framers as an instru-
ment of the most sacred import, an alteration of
which could only be made by the people themselves
in whom all ultimate power is vested, and then only
after the fullest discussion and widest publicity.

Under the beneficent government so established
the nation has prospered and the people are happy.
One great cloud came upon the nation in the form
of an awful civil war, in which two sections of the
country were in conflict with each other. The he-
roes who rest here gave their lives that this nation
might be maintained as it came from our forefath-
ers. On another battlefield of that war, Abraham
Lincoln said : " It is for us, the living, rather, to be

362

AT SHILOH BATTLEFIELD

dedicated to the unfinished work they have thus
far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great task remaining before
us ; that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion; that we highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ;
that this nation shall, under God, have, a new birth
of freedom, and that the government of the people,
by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth."'

Shall we not to-day consecrate ourselves for the
further perpetuation of the principles of American
liberty, and a constitutional form of government,
purchased at the cost of the blood of patriots? In
this hour when there seems to be a disposition to
depart from the established forms, when there seems
to be a desire upon the part of those in authority
to abide in a central bureaucracy, rather than in a
representative democracy, — it becomes you and me
to protest against any departure whatsoever from
the government which came to us from the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1787, and those amendments
which have been made to it by the specific will of the
people.

Our concern is not of the past, nor wholly with
the present, but much with the future. If the des-

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

tiny of the Republic is in the hands of the Ameri-
can of to-day, then it becomes him to be guided and
governed only by patriotic impulse and the desire
to do that which will most largely contribute to the
permanency of republican institutions. Advancing
our civilization so that we will not, by recognizing
the false claims of selfish interests, and forgetting
the American maxim that our object should be to
attain the greatest good for the greatest number,
incur the penalty which other peoples have paid,
rather let us hold ever in mind that those who
framed our government believed in the equality of
the people and that the chief aim of government is
to maintain that equality.

Under our system of government the nation has
reached a material development hitherto unknown.
The people have prospered beyond the dreams of
those who lived a century ago. But with the devel-
opment of the country and changes in economic con-
ditions, and particularly with the growth of great
private corporations, performing many of the func-
tions of government, has come the necessity for the
exercise of strict governmental control, and a rigid
enforcement of all the laws enacted to restrain the
rich and powerful from encroaching upon the nat-
ural and legal rights of the poor and weak.

The marvelous foresight of the fathers of this

364

AT SHILOH BATTLEFIELD

country in framing the Constitution of the United
States is shown by the fact that in spite of all the
changes which have occurred in industrial and eco-
nomic conditions, in spite of the unexpected expan-
sion of the country, the Constitution has been found
sufficiently flexible to meet every emergency which
has arisen. Let us remember this, for the danger
of to-day is that the American people may be lulled
into a false security, and, yielding to the demands
of selfish interests, permit the breaking down of
constitutional provisions, under which the American
people have attained this wonderful degree of ma-
terial prosperity and have yet maintained the indi-
vidual liberty of the citizen.

The constitution of the ancient Republic of Rome,
which for five hundred years had recognized the
voice of tlie people as supreme, was expanded by ex-
ecutive interpretation and contracted by executive
administration, until Rome had so completely out-
grown its democratic conditions as to become only
a tragedy and a tradition. Let us implore the aid
of Him on high to preserve us from the errors
which ruined Rome, by the avoidance of which
America may travel on to that destiny and realize
that fulfilment which will be the inspiration of riglit
thinking men of all the ages yet to come.

Our government is divided into three separate and
365

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

distinct coordinate branches: The legislative, the
executive and the judicial. Danger will surely
come to this Republic when any of these departments
of government attempt in the slightest degree to
usurp the functions of the other. And while now
and then it may be that a court of the land, in con-
struing the Constitution, may nullify a section of it,
I have the faith to feel that the people of the coun-
try will rise above the fallibility of judicial tribunals
and assert and preserve their own rights. Our duty
is not unjustly to criticise the executive, the legisla-
ture or the judiciary. Our duty is to recognize the
majesty of the law when enacted by the legislature,
to abide by and with the honest executive adminis-
tration of the laws when so enacted, and to respect,
even though wrong, the opinions of the courts of
the land, because when respect for these institutions
is gone, then the very framework of our government
is bound to crumble and decay. But thus having
given our acquiescence to the voice of authority, if
in the opinion of the people the action taken is one
which should not be exercised by that particular de-
partment, it is our inalienable right to so further
limit its powers as to prevent the recurrence of the
error.

Very recently there has come from the highest
judicial tribunal in the land a decision of vital in-

366

AT SHILOH BATTLEFIELD

terest and concern to the American people, because
it has estabhshed a principle, as stated by one mem-
ber of the court, which " would work a radical
change in our governmental system and would in-
augurate a new era in the American judicial sys-
tem and in the relations of the national and state
governments. It would enable the subordinate fed-
eral courts to supervise and control the official ac-
tion of the states as though they were dependencies
or provinces. It would place the states of the
Union in a condition of inferiority never dreamed
of when the Constitution was adopted or when the
eleventh amendment was made a part of the su-
preme law of the land." If this is the result of this
decision, it is, to my mind, one of the unhappy inci-
dents in the history of our Republic, because the very
theory of our government is based upon the right
of the states to control absolutely their own do-
mestic affairs.

If, then, our whole system of government is
changed, have we not only retarded the progress of
the Republic, but have we not gone back a century
toward a centralized form of government which is
not to the advantage of the people ? What this gov-
ernment needs is not more power. What it needs
to-day is to so distribute the privileges under the
government that all citizens will have equal oppor-

367

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

tunity. America has been called the land of oppor-
tunity. But American opportunity should not mean
a granting of special privileges to any class, but
should afford all alike the means for culture, educa-
tion, prosperity and contentment.

For nearly a century and a half America has pre-
sented to the world the spectacle of a happy, pros-
perous and intelligent people, maintaining a pure
democracy founded upon their supreme will. The
hallmark of a democracy is that the powers of gov-
ernment are close to the people. Throughout the
world, wherever democracy is advancing, its
progress is marked by a greater measure of self-
government to each community. Will the Ameri-
can people turn to the setting rather than the rising
sun? Shall we now, because some laws are found
irksome by a class and interfere with their selfish
aims, commence to deprive our sovereign states of
that measure of home rule which until now they
have seen fit to reserve to themselves? I cannot
believe it. Upon the contrary I believe that the
limitations upon state and federal governments, the
nice balancing of the powers of each, and of the dif-
ferent departments in each, which have been so effi-
cacious in the past, will be maintained in their full
vigor in the future.

Therefore, discharging all of our responsibilities
.-.68

AT SHILOH BATTLEFIELD

as citizens of a country, refusing to surrender our
rights of citizenship in any degree, let us so live
that the heroism exemplified on this and other Amer-
ican battlefields may not be simply a tradition, and
the national wisdom of our forefathers a mere leg-
end, but that through us and those to come America
will reach her full destiny in the permanent estab-
lishment of a perfect union, which shall be not for
to-day nor for to-morrow, but forever, and be so
established that it will be for all of the people, and
that their government shall not perish.

369

PROCLAMATIONS AND WRITINGS

A LABOR DAY PROCLAMATION

MONDAY, September 2nd, 1907, is Labor
Day, one of the holidays set apart by na-
tional and state law for general observance. No
holiday is more typically American, and none is more
calculated to bring our people to a serious realiza-
tion of the rights and duties and privileges of the
American citizen. Upon the man in the shop, in
the factory and on the farm depends for w^eal or for
woe the entire structure of our civilization, and it
is in the degree that that man secures his rights and
as he performs the duties which fall to his lot that
progress is made along the lines that inure to our
country's greatness and its material and moral wel-
fare.

Realizing that the nation possesses no better nor
worthier citizen than the man who earns his daily
bread by the sweat of his brow, it is eminently fit-
ting that on this occasion we should lay aside our
accustomed employments to join in a fitting and
proper celebration.

Now, therefore, I, John A. Johnson, governor
of Minnesota, do hereby designate and set apart

373

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Monday, the Second Day of October, as Labor Day.
Let there be a proper celebration of the purpose of
the day and may social meetings of friends lend
cheer and enjoyment.

374

AN ARBOR AND BIRD DAY PROCLAMA-
TION

IN thus publicly designating Friday, April
Twenty-Fourth, as Arbor and Bird Day, for
Nineteen Hundred and Eight, it is in the hope not
of calling up a mere sentimental enthusiasm for the
day but of arousing, for once and always, the
slumbering tree instinct to practical activity, and
of provoking the already awakened interest to
further good works.

Arbor Day was born of purpose, not of fatigue,
and should prove worthy of its parentage. It is
not in the strictly modern sense of the word a holi-
day, and, with no wish to belittle its celebration by
exercise and song, I would point to the urgent neces-
sity for more telling action in the observance of it.
It has been the fate of heroes and thinkers to be-
come to us a more substantial, vital reality when
they have passed out from among us than we re-
garded them while they performed in the flesh the
mighty deeds, and thought tlie mighty thoughts,
we now extol in song. Let not this be the portion
the man's friend, the tree — to be neglected or laid

375

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

low in our service, then accorded a tardy and in-
effectual worsh^*^. when it has surrendered for us
its all and lies p. jne and passive beyond our voices.
Now, however beautiful, however desirable, how-
ever necessary, may be the individual tree, it is not
enough that we plant, as a school, or even as a com-
munity, one tree or a dozen trees, with all the cere-
monial attendant upon corner-stone laying, to stand
up here and there, sporadic instances of well-in-
tentioned but futile recognition of their esthetic
value. If we are to atone for the past, to make
permanent provision for the future, the school and
the community must, both of them, separately or
together, have a landscape scheme as definite, as
complete, and as clear as the plans and specifications
of architecture. As no rational builder would
dream of permitting that one man design the
foundation, another the superstructure, neither
should one individual — on this day set apart for
the general weal — make his solitary contribution to
shade the beauty by planting a few cedars in his
particular earth plot, at the same time that his
neighbor sets up an elm to guard his gate, while it
may be that the real need of the town, of which
both men are a part, is a grove of maple that a lit-
tle forethought, a community conference, and a

376

ARBOR AND BIRD DAY

day's well directed effort, would make a budding
actuality not an ideal of the far-off sometime.

To this plea for a larger place for arboreal life in
our thoughts and in the objective world about us,
there seems little call to add a plea for the feathered
folk of the woods. Take care of the trees, and the
trees will take care of the birds, whose twitter-
ing cheerfulness and irrepressible outburst hymn
the Eternal Goodness in happier voice than their
own " pathetic minor."

srf

A MEMORIAL DAY PROCLAMATION

AGAIN approaches the day set apart by the
people of a grateful republic to honor the
memory of their soldier dead. Gratitude to them
who bravely and nobly made the nation's cause their
cause, inaugurated the custom, and succeeding gen-
erations of patriotic, loyal and liberty-loving Amer-
icans v^^ill look to its perpetuity. The approaching
Thirtieth of May will give our people another op-
portunity to show their appreciation of the serv-
ices of the men who, on land and on sea, upheld
the noblest cause for which freemen ever fought.
Human liberty was involved in that great struggle,
and in its righteous cause no man has ever died in
vain. But it is not that old wounds should be
opened, or that sectionalism should again become
an issue before the American people, that this day
is dedicated to the soldiers of the Civil War; better
that the dead should bury their dead than that a
reunited country be torn by sectional strife. But
of this there can be no fear. Ties of loving kin-
dred reunite the North and South. On Southern
battlefields generous hands with strict impartiality

MEMORIAL DAY

decorate the graves of the heroes who came among
them as foes a half a century ago. In the North
there is left no bitterness of spirit as the heritage
of the struggle. We are in truth and in spirit one
country and one flag.

In conformity to the Proclamation of the Pres-
ident of the United States, and the custom long
since established among us, I, John A. Johnson,
governor of the State of Minnesota, do recommend
that on Memorial Day, Saturday, May 30th, 1908,
all schools, factories, mills and other places of busi-
ness be closed, and that labor of all kinds be sus-
pended. Let us collectively and individually make
this day one sacred to the memory of those who
imperiled their lives for the cause of their country.

379

A THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

WE are come once again to the season of the
year when Nature's ever recurrent task of
creation, growth and fruition has been accc'-
plished. For Nature and for man, in so far as his
pursuits are closely related to or determined by
natural processes, the year is done, the task ac-
complished, the reward won. Now is at hand
Nature's rest time, when she prepares herself for
another period of activity and fruitfulness. And
though man may not rest in the shop and in the
oflfice, yet the tiller of the soil finds the winter period
one of comparative quiet. Ours is still an agricul-
tural state, great as are its manifold manufacturing
industries, and the end of the seasonal year is the
end of the popular year. We measure our pros-
perity from granary filling round to granary filling.
As we look back to the la?*: stopping place in this
endless cycle of time, the people of Minnesota see
much to rejoice them and little to discourage, much
to be thankful for, and little to regret; much they
find in solid achievement, much they see of promise
for the future. Our farms have yielded abundantly
and our farmers are prosperous. The world
eagerly takes from them at generous prices all of

380

THANKSGIVING DAY

cheir surplus. And in this state the prosperity of
the farmer becomes ultimately the prosperity of all.
It is true that the business world has had some
experience of tight purse strings, chafing inactivity
and curbing caution; but while our goodly state of
Minnesota has shared in this national misfortune
and hard experience, it has not suffered keenly but
rather less than most of its sister commonwealths.
The experience has been salutary, if drastic, and
will tend, as has been well said, to make us prize
comfort more and luxury less. A feeling of thank-
fulness is in the hearts of all for the good that is
ours, and we feel that the future promises much.

It is meet and proper therefore that as a people
of deep religious feeling (for all our absorption in
worldly pursuits) we should follow the good cus-
tom, now long established, and set aside a day for
the giving of thanks to the Creator.

As an evidence of gratitude and in conformity
to usage, I, John A. Johnson, governor of the State
of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim Thursday, No-
vember 26, 1908, as a general Day of Thanks-
giving.

Upon that day let the people assemble in their
customary places of worship and join in services in-
dicative of their gratitude, and pray for a con-
tinuance of divine mercy for the future.

381

MESSAGE VETOING THE TONNAGE TAX

/

Hon. A. J. Rockne, Speaker of the House of Rep-
resentatives:

Sir — I have the honor to return herewith with-
out my approval —

H. F. No. 227, A bill for an act defining and
classifying mineral lands and providing for the
taxation of the same.

Objections to this measure may be summarized
as follows :

First — Notwithstanding the able and sincere
labor bestowed upon it by its author, Mr. Bjorge.
the bill remains, both in principle and administra-
tive features, a more or less uncertain and ill-di-
gested experiment, not fully understood even by its
friends, and intensely feared by the sections of the
state to which it specially applies, while in appli-
cation it threatens to violate the fundamental prin-
ciple of taxation, that of equality, at the same time
it fails to meet the constitutional requirement of
uniformity in taxing the same class of subjects.

Second — It is certain that the moral, indus-
trial and practical effect of the bill, if made a law

382

THE TONNAGE TAX

at this time, will be to strike a severe blow at the
development and prosperity of all the great min-
eral bearing counties of northeastern and north
central Minnesota, affecting alike the agricultural,
manufacturing, commercial, financial and educa-
tional growth and success, as well as the settle-
ment of all our northern lands, both public and
private, and the investment of both home and for-
eign capital therein.

Third — The passage of the proposed tonnage
tax measure at this time, when both its provisions
and the principle upon which it is based, are so
little understood and indeed so generally misunder-
stood, has plunged the whole subject of taxation
under the new state constitutional amendment into
a sea of political and sectional feeling and preju-
dice, which not only makes a just, efficient and
scientific measure impossible of enactment at this
time, but threatens sectional hatreds which may
disrupt and endanger the future best development
of our great Commonwealth, besides making the
subject of just state taxation the mere football of
partisan and sectional politics.

Fourth — Minnesota is achieving marked suc-
cess in the assessment and taxation of iron ore
lands under the present ad \alorem system ; so that
there is no urgent and vital public need of a

383

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

measure of this kind at this time, and nothing to
prevent the state from taking ample time under
the provisions of the new constitutional amend-
ment, and with the aid of the state tax commission
to work out a system of taxation on a thoroughly
scientific, dispassionate and equitable basis, devoid
of political and sectional feeling, and one that will
commend itself to the people of Minnesota at large,
regardless of section or party, industry or class,
for its justice and equality of principle, as well as
for its efficient, carefully wrought and thoroughly
practical administrative features.

As regards the success of the state in securing
revenue from iron ore properties under the present
ad valorem system, permit me to cite you to the
statistical exhibit of the state auditor on page
XVni, of his last biennial report. It there ap-
pears that the taxable value of iron ore properties
in Minnesota has been raised from $6,000,000 in
1898 to $180,000,000 in 1908, or increased thirty-
fold in ten years, and that the taxes levied to be
paid into the state treasury from this source in-
creased from $18,000 in 1898 to $600,000 in 1908,
increasing thirty-three-fold in the brief period of
ten years.

If the revenue now derived from iron mines is
not sufficient the state under the present system

384

THE TONNAGE TAX

has the full power and machinery to increase the
assessment to a proper and jnst figure, without
plunging any section of the state into panic and
arresting its development.

The State Board of Equalization and the State
Tax Commission, under the present tax laws, have
raised the value of iron ore lands from $42,000,000
in 1905 to $180,000,000 last year, thereby increas-
ing the state tax levy for state purposes alone from
$114,000 four years ago to approximately $600,000
a year at the present time, or adding nearly a half
million dollars of revenue annually to the state
treasury, and approximately quadrupling the iron
ore valuation and taxes in the brief period of four
years.

The present scientific and thorough manner of
reaching iron ore valuations by the Minnesota Tax
Commission is the subject of the admiration and
congratulation of the leading tax authorities of the
country. Minnesota's success in the taxation of
mines is recognized as one of the most marked
achievements in the progress of state taxation in
recent years. The progress we have made we have
the full power to continue to make under present
laws and administration. Northern Minnesota is
just emerging from the prolonged depression inci-
dent to the great industrial strike at the mines,

385

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

followed by the presidential election and general
depression of the iron and steel industry. To
plunge this great section again at this time into
the uncertainty and depression that are certain to
follow the enactment of this bill and the almost
endless litigation to which it will give rise, not only
is not called for by any present public necessity,
but appears suicidal to the state's progress and pros-
perity in this critical period of its northern develop-
ment.

Northern Minnesota claims, with some show of
reason, that had its counties a legislative representa-
tion based on a just population apportionment, this
bill would never have passed. Fifty-five counties
of this state receive more money from the state
treasury than they pay into it, and it scarcely seems
possible that these districts should attempt to impose
upon another section of the state a system of taxa-
tion based upon an inequality. Such attitude
obviously threatens the state with a condition of
sectional hatred and prejudice which is ominous to
the state's future peace, harmony and progress.

However patriotic and disinterested in purpose
the author and a majority of the friends of this
measure may be, the fact remains that the people
of the northern counties in which our mineral re-

386

THE TONNAGE TAX

sources are located believe as one man that their
section and industry are singled out for tax dis-
crimination and confiscation.

Taxation is not for punishment. The sovereign
power of taxation is not conferred by the people
upon their representatives for the purpose of pun-
ishing any industry, class or section. The founda-
tion theory of taxation is absolute equality and
justice to the humblest, and mightiest alike.

In the practical operation, this bill, as it would
affect the great mining corporations, would not, I
believe, work out the results designed by the author.
Based upon metallic standards entirely, it would be
of advantage to the mining companies now oper-
ating in the Vermilion and Mesaba ranges, and
would work a decided disadvantage to the people
possessing low-grade ores of the undeveloped
properties now in the hands of thousands of settlers
ill Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Hubbard, Itasca,
Morrison, Crow Wing, Otter Tail, Todd and Wa-
dena counties. Not only would there be a discrimi-
nation in favor of the older and richer section of
our mineral area, but it would place an unfair and
unjust burden upon their smaller and independent
competitors in the newer and less developed section.
and in many instances would doubtless result in the

387

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

latter being compelled to surrender their properties
at a sacrifice to that corporation which dominates
the steel industry of the United States.

The purpose of taxation is to raise revenue for
the expenses of government, and on this theory-
taxes should be levied on all classes and on all sec-
tions as nearly alike as may be. There is no denial
of the statement that this section now pays on valua-
tions greater than other classes of real estate in
other sections of the state, and while it may be pos-
sible and doubtless is true that modifications may be
necessary, this can be accomplished, as I have al-
ready stated, full as well under the present ad va-
lorem system, under the scientific investigations of
the Tax Commission, as under the specific plan pro-
posed in this bill. And the present plan has this
very decided advantage to the state, that the reve-
nues are definitely determined and expenditures can
be made accordingly, while under the proposed plan
there would obtain a flexibility dangerous in its un-
certainty, as the revenues would be more or less as
the companies mined, much or little.

I believe that the bill, providing as it does a
double system of taxation on one class of property,
is wrong in principle, and for this and the reasons
above recited I herewith return the same.

April 20, 1909.

388

THE COUNTRY EDITOR

AN ARTICLE BY GOVERNOR JOHN A. JOHNSON IN
THE youth's COMPANION, SEPT. 9, I9O9

IF I were asked the main point of difference be-
tween the rural and the urban editor, I should
say it is largely a matter of personality. In the
one case the personality is the chief asset; in the
other it is no longer appreciable.

Few of the great city newspapers print the names
of their editors, and often no one knows their
guiding spirits. The editorial page is regarded as
the expression of the paper, not as the conviction
of a person.

Almost unconsciously the great newspapers have
undergone a process of elimination of the individual.
As a whole they have not deteriorated in literary
quality ; on the contrary, we have better news-
papers. The editorials are just as sound and the
news features just as interesting — but the man be-
hind is no longer visible.

In the country the editor lives " near to nature's
heart." He is part and parcel of the community

389

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

life. Everybody knows him. When he chronicles
the arrival of the " bouncing boy," or when he ex-
tends condolences to " the bereaved family," those
interested feel the gentle touch of a friendly hand.
He records triumphs and successes in the spirit of
participation; his chronicle of vicissitudes and strug-
gles and sorrows has the element of personal sym-
pathy.

In its general aspect the country town is not dif-
ferent from the large city. Here there are the
same divisions and strata of society; the same social
and political problems; the same surges of ambition;
the same world-old combat of greed and power with
chivalry and self-restraint. But in the country
town a .common bond of sympathy runs through all
the elements of social life. In the last analysis the
newspaper is a mirror, reflecting the hopes and aspi-
rations, the trials and tribulations of the people it
serves. The country community is bound with a
closer intimacy, and for that reason the attitude of
its newspapers is necessarily more provincial and
paternal.

The environment and the duties of the country
editor tend to make him a fair critic and safe judge
of men and measures, for the nature of his work
accustoms him to weigh opinions in the even bal-
ance. Unlike the lawyer, always a special pleader,

390

THE COUNTRY EDITOR

or other professional men confined by a narrow out-
look on a single phase of life, the editor is the im-
partial recorder and reviewer, seeking only the truth.

The lawyer has an easy road to fame compared
with that of the editor. As ex-President Cleveland
set forth in his last article in The Companion, there
is an air of mystery surrounding the intricacies of
the law. The exigencies of the profession require
the lawyer to be a ready and fluent speaker, and this
power is an aid to prominence in pubhc affairs.

There is nothing mysterious about the country
editor — unless it be the source of his income ! The
school-teacher, the minister, the young college grad-
uate, and numerous other people about the town
know, or think they know, how to run a newspaper
better than does the editor. He is not always given
the opportunity for training as a public speaker, and
the nature of his work in a measure unfits him for
quick thinking and clear expression before people.
His composition is of slower process and is done
in the quiet of the sanctum, where only the rhythmic
throb of the presses and the gentle clink of the type
are heard.

But the influence of the writer is more lasting
than that of the orator, and even for temporary
purposes is often as great.

The degree of success in either case is, of course,
391

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

largely a matter of ability, but frequently when a
community finds itself in position to confer the
mark of greatness upon one of its number, it will
lay the laureled crown at the feet of the editor —
provided the lawyers are all busy, or do not happen
to be looking when the call comes.

Then, too, the lawyer has the advantage of a pro-
fessional training, which seldom is vouchsafed to
the editor. There is no school for country journal-
ism, and the editor usually acquires his knowledge
and experience in the hard school of the country
printing-office, advancing to the successive stages of
the work as ability and opportunity allow.

But, after all, prominence and applause are not
always a just measure of the success which men at-
tain; there are victories along " the cool sequestered
vale " no less important than the victories achieved
in " the madding crowd's ignoble strife."

Although the average editor is prone to regard
himself in the light of " a mute, inglorious Milton,"
the profession has contributed very largely to public
life.

It has often been said that Minnesota is governed
by the country editor. This may not be strictly
true, but certainly the " fourth estate " is more
numerously represented there in public place than
in any other commonwealth.

392

THE COUNTRY EDITOR

The governor, his private secretary and executive
clerk are country newspaper men; so are the labor
commissioner, the executive agent of the game and
fish commission, the state oil inspector, the state
librarian, the secretary and assistant secretary of
state, the assistant labor commissioner, the state fire
warden, the assistant fire marshal, the deputy pub-
lic examiner, the secretary of the dairy and food
commission, the assistant clerk of the supreme
court, the secretary of the board of control.

Both political parties have recognized the capa-
bility of the country editor for official position from
the earliest history of the state, and he has always
been an active force in legislative councils and in the
minor places under the national and state govern-
ments.

Then, too, there is glory enough in just being
an editor. What young journalist has not held up
to his flushed and eager eye the editorial page of his
first issue and gazed proudly upon the name next
preceding the words, " editor and proprietor " ?

When the years roll by, and the struggles of ad-
versity are not always sweetened by the plums of
fame and fortune, he may lose the elasticity of
youthful pride and vainglory, but through the shad-
ows there beams still the same belief in the loftiness
of his profession.

393

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

The country printing-office is prolific of ludicrous
situations, and many a laugh has been provoked at
the expense of the editor or reporter uncertain of
his facts. Some fifteen years ago a newcomer from
Iowa started a Democratic paper in a little town in
southern jMinnesota. A campaign was in progress,
and a one-legged man, habitually attired in a blue
suit, was the candidate for register of deeds. It
was easy to think of him as a veteran of the Civil
War, and the local paper of which I speak published
a vigorous eulogy of the old soldier, urging the
election of " the deserving veteran who left a limb
on a Southern battlefield, while fighting valiantly
for his country."

The chagrin of the editor may be imagined when
his Republican contemporary came out the next
week with the information that the candidate had
never been a soldier, and that his leg was taken ofif
by a cider-press in Pennsylvania ten years after the
war had closed.

The story is told that soon after Chief Justice
Chase assumed the gubernatorial chair in Ohio he
issued his proclamation appointing a Thanksgiving
day. To make sure of being orthodox, the gov-
ernor composed his proclamation almost entirely of
passages from the Bible, which he did not designate
as quotations, assuming that everyone would recog-

394

THE COUNTRY EDITOR

nize them and admire the fitness of the words, as
well as his taste in selection.

The proclamation meeting the eye of a Demo-
cratic editor, he pounced upon it at once, and de-
clared that he had read it before. He could not
say exactly where, but he would take his oath that it
was a downright plagiarism from beginning to end.
That would have been a pretty fair joke, but the
next day a Republican editor came out valiantly in
defense of the governor, pronounced the charge
libelous, and challenged any man living to produce
one single line of the proclamation that had ap-
peared in print before.

That venality exists in the newspaper profession
it would be idle to deny. Unfortunately, men have
gained admission to the privileges of the profession
who are utterly incapable of understanding its duties
or assuming its responsibilities, and such men will
probably continue in the work, for no rigid standard
of moral qualification can be applied.

But these are the excrescences that afflict all the
higher callings, and they are not so numerous as to
afifect materially the high standard which the news-
paper profession as a \vhole maintains by the devo-
tion to duty and high ideals of the great body of its
members.

The greatest service the newspaper performs is
395

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

the championship of measures that concern the
masses of the people. Every good cause instinct-
ively seeks its aid with absolute confidence.

The rural press, because of its more intimate re-
lations to the community, and because it is less likely
to be influenced by mercenary or sordid considera-
tions, exercises relatively a deeper influence than its
more pretentious urban contemporary. The editor
has opportunity to study at closer range the men
whose fame he fashions, and is more independent
and impartial in the discussion of public questions.

Like the other public agencies which enter so
largely into the everyday li,fe of the country town,
the newspaper is reaching for and attaining a higher
position. There is less of party rancor and personal
abuse. Where once the editor regarded his rival
as an avowed enemy, deserving only contumely and
hatred, there are now almost invariably personal
friendship and a desire to work in harmony for the
common good.

The country editor has his foibles and failings,
along with the rest of mankind. He is human, and
is likely to be a little kind to the virtues and blind
to the faults of his political and personal friends.
It is difficult for him, as it is for other mortals, to
make general application of rules of conduct, for
often he is confronted by local conditions and party

396

THE COUNTRY EDITOR

necessities which dictate a different course from that
which his judgment tells him ought to be pursued.
There is forbearance for these lapses, even though
they are indefensible.

As the ethics of the press reach a higher standard,
the public appreciation of its services becomes en-
larged, and on the part of both editor and public is
coming about a better understanding of the respon-
sibilities, limitations and rights of the newspaper.
No longer has it a brief to slander and vilify, but it
has the right to criticize people and policies when
the public good warrants. As a general rule, the
editor holds his enthusiasm in decent restraint, and
by fair and manly rebuke gives the cause he cham-
pions greater impetus than could possibly be had
by the old methods of vituperation.

The independence of the editor has been a potent
agency in political and governmental reforms during
the past decade. He no longer follows his party,
right or wrong. The fear of party ostracism does
not make afraid. The courageous editor has tauglit
general recognition of the doctrine that political
parties can no longer thrust upon a decent con-
stituency a disreputable candidate or a dishonest
public measure.

To last long — to last with liberty and wealth —
is the greatest problem to be solved by the modern

397

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

state, and the newspaper is and always will be in the
van of progress. That the moral uplift everywhere
apparent has reached a higher and more general
recognition away from the great centers of popula-
tion is a tribute to the power of the country news-
paper. Out in the purer air, away from the strife
and struggle of city life, the people have more time
and better opportunity to measure the problems that
vex and fret.

The American Union has endured, and will en-
dure so long as liberty lasts. Its institutions will
grow and flourish, and manhood and womanhood
will reach the highest civilization, because in this
country there is liberty of speech and action, and
every incentive to virtue and honor in the path our
fathers blazed. Good and evil, joy and sorrow,
truth and falsehood will always exist, but the heart
of the great American public has ever yearned for
the better and brighter way. The country editor
is one of the agencies ever at work pointing out
the stars that shine behind the clouds.

398

SOME EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY

GOVERNOR JOHNSON TO THE ST. PETER

HERALD

THERE is a bundle of delight bound up in
the sweet word " home." . . . The social
well-being of society rests on our home, and what
are the foundation stones of our homes but woman's
care and devotion? A good mother is worth an
army of acquaintances and a true-hearted, noble-
minded sister is more precious than the " dear five
hundred friends." . . . Distances may sepa-
rate, quarrels may occur, but those who have
a capacity to love anything must have at times a
bubbling up of fond recollections and a yearning
after the joys of bygone days. Every woman has
a mission on earth.

Prejudice is the child of ignorance. It squints
when it looks and lies when it talks.

Conceit is the most contemptible and one of the
most odious qualities in the world. It is vanity
driven from all other thrifts and forced to appeal to
itself for admiration.

399

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

Never say you will do presently what your reason
or your conscience tells you should be done now.
No man ever shaped his own destiny or the
destinies of others wisely and well who dealt much
in presentlies. Look at Nature. She never post-
pones. When the time arrives for the buds to open
they open; for the leaves to fall, they fall. Look
forward. The shining worlds never put off their
risings or their settings. The comets, even, er-
ratic as they are, keep their appointments, and
eclipses are always punctual to the minute. There
are no delays in any of the movements of the
universe which have been predetermined by the abso-
lute fiat of the Creator. Procrastination among the
stars might involve the destruction of innumerable
systems; procrastination in the operation of nature,
in the operation of this earth, might result in
famine, pestilence and the blotting out of the human
race. Man, however, being a free agent, can
postpone the performance of his duty; and he does
so too frequently, to his own destruction. The
drafts drawn by Indolence upon the future are
pretty apt to be dishonored. Make Now your
banker. Do not say you will economize presently,
for presently you may be judged. Bear in mind
the important fact, taught alike by the history of

400

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

nations, rulers and private individuals, that in at
least three cases out of five, presently is too late.

No religion should be judged by the conduct of
those who profess it. . . . Because other people
do not live exactly as we do is no indication that
they are wrong. It may be that we are in error.
With many of us religion is not even a cloak, but is
only an embroidery which we mistake for the whole
garment.

Whenever you see a woman talking straight at a
man, and beginning to nod her head and keep time
with her upraised index finger, it is about time for
somebody to climb a tree.

The " knocker " has no well-defined business of
his own, or if he has he finds more pleasure in at-
tending to that of other people. He never looks for
good in anybody, hence does not find it. A commu-
nity with much of this element is most unfortunate.
They retard the growth of a city, hinder prosperity
and make things profanely unpleasant for every-
body else. It is just as easy to push and pull with
the crowd as against it. It is as easy to find good
in humanity as bad. When the people of a com-
munity prosper, your show to get on is better. It

401

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

is a hundred times better to be one of a crowd of
hustlers than a fault-finding, gossiping knocker.
Don't be a knocker.

Is it not about time that the people of Minnesota
made a study of the tariff question? Minnesota
does not produce anything that is protected by the
tariff. We do not buy anything that is not pro-
tected by the tariff. The tariff has fostered in-
dustries. The industries have amalgamated into
absolute monopoly. The trust is the direct out-
growth of the tariff. The time may have been
when there was need for a tariff, but that time has
long gone by. . . . Viewed from any stand-
point, a IMinnesotan owes no loyalty to a doctrine
that takes all and gives nothing in return.
The tariff made the trust, and the removal will un-
make it. It is the only remedy, and the sooner ap-
plied the better.

It is barely possible that this agitation of Cana-
dian reciprocity may lead to Canadian annexation.
The United States ought to extend from the Ber-
ing Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, and the very nature
of our geography ought to make the North Amer-
ican one united country. We hope to live long
enough to see the realization of that condition.

402

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

We can share our pleasures with many people,
for they have many sides and different aspects, and
are more intelligible; but our griefs are all our
own. They have their mysteries and secrecies and
are not always to be looked into. They are made
up of remorse, of things done and undone, and so
sympathy is impossible if we want it. It is one of
the many things we must meet alone and master,
or be mastered, as we can.

We love people because we see in them something
no one else does ; not for their intellect or learning,
because everyone can see that kind of attraction,
but we have made a discovery and like all dis-
coveries we want ownership.

It is a pretty good as well as profitable plan for
the young men of this generation to keep in touch
with those whose hairs are silvering with age, for
two score years ago or more they were the young
men who hustled in a new country, suffered priva-
tions, and the inheritance they have left us we are
too apt to forget. Keep in touch with them and
learn a little of the wisdom that comes from a life
full of experience.

403

TRIBUTES

MEMORIAL CARTOONS
406

PRESIDENT TAFT

Upon hearing of Governor Johnson's death the
President telegraphed this message to Mrs. Johnson :

" My heart goes out to you in sympathy in your
present deep sorrow. Governor Johnson was a na-
tional figure of great ability, and great capacity for
usefulness to his country as he had already demon-
strated, and his loss will be felt far beyond the
state that loved him so w^ell.

" I sincerely hope that the fond remembrance in
which he is and always will be held in Minnesota
and elsewhere and the record of his high and valued
public service may come as a boon to you in your
sorrow and may in time lighten the burden you are
now called upon to bear."
" LiMON, Colo, Sept. 21, 1909.

The President also made the following statement
to the press:

" The death of Governor Johnson is a great shock
and fills me with personal sorrow and with a deep
sympathy for the people of Minnesota whose favor-

407

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

ite son he certainly was. It has been my good for-
tune to have had the pleasantest personal relations
with the Governor, and although we differed polit-
ically, we agreed on a great many subjects, as I had
reason to know from personal conversations.

" He was a wonderful man. He added to a
charming personality a frankness and common sense
that won over his natural political opponents, and
he made an able, efficient and most courageous pub-
lic official. That a man of his parts and of his ca-
pacity for great public usefulness should be taken
now at the age of forty-eight should be, and is, a
source of national regret, for had Governor Johnson
lived, his position in the state and country was such
that he certainly would have been called upon to
fill an important place and to assist in the progres-
sive movements of which he w-as a consistent advo-
cate."

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

" On Safari, near Mount Elgon,

Central Africa, Nov. 15, 1909.
" My Dear Mrs. Johnson :

" While out here, far from all chance of hearing
news with any speed, I have just learned of the
death of your honored husband. I trust you will

408

TRIBUTES

not think me intrusive if I write a word of respect-
ful sympathy. I greatly admired your husband as
an upright and honorable public servant and as one
of those Americans who we like to believe are typical
of our people as a whole. He is a loss to us all; a
loss to good citizenship.

" With assurances of my profound sympathy and
respect, believe me,

" Very sincerely yours,

" Theodore Roosevelt."

GOVERNOR HUGHES OF NEW YORK

" The death of Governor Johnson is a national
loss. His life was one of the finest illustrations of
American opportunity well used. He was a man
of the highest character and his administration of
the office to which he was thrice elected, com-
manded the confidence of the people.

" His career was so extraordinary that it deeply
impressed the entire country, and he was universally
admired and respected. The people of the state of
New York and of the other states will join w'ith
the people of Minnesota in mourning his untimely
end."

409

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

GOVERNOR MARSHALL OF INDIANA

" The life of John A. Johnson discloses again the
wonderful possibilities for the making of real suc-
cess in America. Many have been able to succeed
for a little while, politically, many have been loud in
their protestations of belief in our system of gov-
ernment ; it has been the few who were always con-
scious of the rights of others that have lived in
history and have influenced for good the Republic.

" Among this select few will ever be John A.
Johnson. He started poor in purse but rich in char-
acter; he ended, humanly speaking, richer yet in
character because he was willing to give more to
the world than he took from it. His life will be
an unseen yet ever present inspiration to all the men
and boys of America who believe that justice and
mercy and charity, cannot be disassociated from the
affairs of government."

GOVERNOR DENEEN OF ILLINOIS

" The career of Governor Johnson marked him as
one of the great men of the country and illustrated
the possibility of advancement afforded by the free
and equal opportunities of our system of govern-

410

TRIBUTES

ment. At an early age he was obliged by circum-
stances to assume responsibilities far beyond his
years and displayed sterling elements of personal
character which enabled him to rise in his commu-
nity to positions of trust and confidence. With his
entry into political life his superior native force of
will and of intellect asserted themselves and he
speedily rose to his proper level among the foremost
men of his party, his state and his country. Gov-
ernor Johnson enjoyed to an unusual degree the con-
fidence of his fellow-citizens in his home state and in
the nation at large. His early death cut off a life
still rich in promise and full of inspiration to
American youth.

" The lessons to be learned from such a life are
too valuable to be lost and I am glad to know that
his biography is to be published for the benefit of
American readers."

GOVERNOR HARMON OF OHIO

" The people of Minnesota have made superfluous
all tribute to Governor Johnson except their own.
His first election might have been due to impulse or
caprice or to discontent with conditions. Its double
repetition, emphasized by contrast with results as to
other candidates, was a positive declaration that they

411

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

found in him the qualities which a people conduct-
ing government for themselves require in their offi-
cers— vigilance, fearlessness, singleness of un-
selfish purpose to protect and further the public wel-
fare, with the sagacity to know and the ability to do
the various tasks which duty imposes."

GOVERNOR HADLEY OF MISSOURI

" On behalf of the people of Missouri and my-
self, I extend to you and the people of Minnesota
our sincere sympathy in your great affliction. Gov-
ernor Johnson's life and public service gave a new
inspiration to the possibilities of American citizen-
ship and a new standard in the performance of offi-
cial duties."

GOVERNOR CARROLL OF IOWA

" As executive of a sister state, I wish to extend
the sympathy of Iowa to the citizens of Minnesota;
to mourn with them, for the loss in death of Gov-
ernor Johnson is not confined to their state alone,
but to the entire Central West, for which he was a
noble champion."

412

TRIBUTES

ANDREW CARNEGIE

" Governor Johnson was one of those rare men
who could not help making an impression upon one
instantly ; a few words and you felt your brain say
to itself, as it were, * This is no ordinary man. He
has a future before him if he is spared.' Subse-
quent intercourse fully justified the estimate and I
remember the thought came, — * We are to hear more
of this man in the immediate future. There is
presidential timber in him.' After a comparison
of views, in which we found so much in common,
we parted, and one morning when in Scotland, I
saw the announcement of his untimely death.

" My first meeting with Governor Johnson was
when he called upon me in New York to lay before
me the claims of educational institutions in his
state.

" We can comfort ourselves by the thought that
up to the day of his death his record resembled that
of Lincoln up to the time he was nominated for the
presidency, — a man of the people who went to the
hearts of the people. The presidency seemed to be
within his grasp whenever the Democratic Party
triumphed. To-day when I think of Minnesota
without its Democratic governor for that Republican
state, my heart is heavy. Such is human life."

413

f JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

ARCHBISHOP IRELAND

" Rightly does Minnesota mourn the death of
John Albert Johnson. Seldom has there arisen
among her people a nobler and more fascinating
type of American citizenship.

" The good man he was, and, no less, the richly
gifted. In private life, he was the man without re-
proach; in public life, he was the earnest, the con-
scientious servant of the public welfare. In his
whole career he was the honor of American democ-
racy— a striking example, in the upward strides
of personal merit, of what democracy permits, of
what it has the power to create, the sincere will to
foster.

" It is a pathetic story, that of his going away
when success, the reward of past doings, was beck-
oning him onward to yet higher success on wider
fields of action. But we bow to the mysterious
counsels of Providence, whom in the measure of his
lights he obeyed, to whose merciful decrees we lov-
ingly remit him."

THOMAS LAWSON

" Yesterday and yesterdays, when the sun's red-
brown halo blended my hollyhocks and sunflowers
to nodding evening gods, he used to loom, a soulful,

414

TRIBUTES

heart-loving inspiration. From my garden's twi-
light quiet I have often visioned him, this tall sway-
ing pine of the West, and the visioning peopled my
w^orld with times and things and men long, long
since dead and dust, and these times and things and
men glowed the heart and soothed the soul and
clarified the mind and made for love of good
and for shame of petty meanness and sordid hatred.

" When I say this I mean the man. No human
ever entered the atmosphere of John Johnson with-
out being better. He w^as indeed a mian, and made
in the image of his God. Mothers gazed 'upon his
mother and prayed their sons might be in his mold ;
and the children and the dogs and the flowers and
God's good earth beamed and laughed and warmed
when his presence came.

" Ah, but he was such a man, such a good man.

" I saw him on the field, in the tent and in the
orchards, where the great ripe, juicy, golden plums
of man-wealth hung low and vainly screamed for
plucking, and I sat with him by the hour in his office
of state while his mind romped in freedom and his
long legs crossed and uncrossed themselves over the
corner of the desk upon which the freemen of a
great western empire laid honor's offering. I have
ridden with him the hot day through in the dusty,
nerve-racking railroad train and I have 'been with

415

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

him when he Hstened to the fealty message of the
leaders of his party, which cooed about that crown
and throne which is the dream of all red-blooded
Americans; and I have brought him the taunt of his
great rival and yet in all them never saw that childish
merry twinkle leave those wonderfully love-beget-
ting eyes and I never heard a discord in that voice
of trust and faith and charity and good will to all.

" John Johnson's vision was all outward. He
had no mirror and had he one he would have held
it to reflect the beauties and the goodnesses of his
fellows.

" The other evening, Erman Ridgeway, his good
wife and myself were in the bus with this great man
on our way to hear him lecture. We had had a
good dinner and he was snuggled into the corner
muffled in his big fur coat and we thought he
wanted to be alone to tell over his great speech,
when, as he neared the church where his lecture was
to be delivered, he said :

" ' I am nervous to-night, Lawson, for I am going
to make my lecture the simple story of how I par-
doned a boy and gave him back to his old mother
and father, I want you to hear it, but I know I'll
cry and make a country booby of myself, and then
these eastern people will wonder what my great
state was thinking of in electing such a governor.'

416

TRIBUTES

" It was a big audience, big in intelligence, big in
sympathy with this latter-day Abe Lincoln of the
people, and Governor Johnson told his story and the
tears trickled down his cheeks and his gentle voice
was gentler than its wont. But we, his audience,
yes, all of us, men, women and children, we cried,
just laid back and let go in one of those heart-
relieving, don't-give-a-picayune-who-sees-us sobbing
outbursts, and at the close of the story I said to
the big, strong, mannish governor of New Jersey,
who had sat with bowed head as John Johnson, the
man, told the simple story of how Governor Johnson
of the great state of Minnesota gave their boy back
to the old father and mother.

" * Governor, I noticed that you, too, forgot that
Governor Johnson was of the enemy.'

" * Yes, yes, I forgot everything but the story and
the man who was telling it,' and he tried to sneak
away the trail the story had left on his cheek; ' and
if all Democrats were like Governor Johnson there
would be no enemy.'

" That night at Ridgeway's house, after the fam-
ily had retired, I sat in front of the open grate with
this, the all-around best big man I have ever met,
until the gray dawn was tapping at the panes, and
time and time again as I listened to his clear analy-
sis of times and things and humans and their good-

417

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

nesses I would break in and try to make him put on
my smoked glasses and see the out-there black, but
he met each attempt with his merry laugh.

" ' Yes, I will agree that there is lots that might
be made better, but, on the whole, Lawson, it is a
good world and a good people. I can never bring
myself to believe but the world and the people are
getting better all the time.'

" Ah, but he was such a man, such a good man.

" God was good to John Johnson. He endowed
him with all those riches which make for happiness,
here and hereafter. Birthed from the womb of the
common people, cradled in that greatest of all world
luxuries, poverty, he came to the starting line a
moral Hercules, bursting with the love of mother
and adoration of wife, bristling with affection for
humanity and charity and forgiveness for his ene-
mies, and muscled with a superb honesty and ven-
eration for God and nature. The starter's bell was
to him a joyful ' Go.' As he ran he saw no mire,
no boulders, no ditches, only God's great blue sky.
He felt only God's warming sun rays, and as he ran
for them, not himself, it is no wonder his track was
fast and his feet winged.

" God was good to Governor Johnson. He took
him as he took the sainted Lincoln and all his very
chosen, while yet they ran, while yet their fellows

418

TRIBUTES

cheered, while yet their souls were radiant with in-
toxication of ambition's rays.

" To us who were blessed with the privilege of
his presence is left the consolation that he w'as, and
is yet. Let us rain our tears, but not for him. Let
us weep for her whose sun is set and for the nation
which so sorely needs her valiant sons, and for hu-
manity, whose champion has gone over yonder.
For myself my sadness is mellowed by the thought
that I know him, and by the faith that his shadow
will for ages be a dream-cradle for countless de-
spairing souls.

" Ah, but he was such a man, such a good man.

" Boston, Mass., Sept. 21, 1909."

419

GROVER CLEVELAND'S ESTIMATE OF
GOVERNOR JOHNSON

FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY GROVER CLEVELAND TO
E. PRENTISS BAILEY, EDITOR OF THE UTICA (n.
Y. ) OBSERVER. THE LAST LONG LETTER OF IM-
PORTANCE CLEVELAND WROTE

I CANNOT rid myself of the idea that our
party, which has withstood so many clashes
with our political opponents, is not doomed at this
time to sink to a condition of useless and lasting
decadence. In my last letter to you I expressed
myself as seeing some light ahead for Democracy.
I cannot help feeling at this time that the light is
still brighter. It does seem to me that movements
have set in motion which, though not at the
present time of large dimensions, promise final re-
lief from the burden which has so long weighed us
down.

I have lately come to the conclusion that our best
hope rests upon the nomination of Johnson of Min-
nesota. The prospects to my mind appear as bright
with him as our leader as with any other, and

420

TRIBUTES

whether we meet with success or not, I believe with
such a leader we shall take a long step in the way
of returning to our old creed and the old policies
and the old plans of organization which have here-
tofore led us to victory.

421

GREENHILL CEMETERY

THOUSANDS of tributes and memorials to
Governor Johnson were published in the
newspapers and magazines in the weeks imme-
diately following his death. None was more
pathetic than that written by " The Lookout,"
Keith Clark, in the St. Paul Dispatch, which is
herewith given in full :

This cemetery of Greenhill lies on the hills of the
Minnesota Valley, high above the little city of St.
Peter and far back from it. It is an old burying
ground, a God's acre, set apart from the farm acres
round about more than fifty years ago. It is the
first burial ground for the town which lies below, as
it is the first witness to the intention of men in
this corner of the then wilderness to be permanent.
Without death and burial there can be no sense of
the abiding.

It is little more than an acre, just a little saved
out of the wheat lands hereabout, because, perhaps,
the men of the wilderness had little thought of
dying, and, dead, they fain would lie near together,

422

TRIBUTES

that the wilderness might not press so close about
them when living man had withdrawn to his habita-
tions below.

You may walk all about this Greenhill in a very
few minutes, and see all the gravestones where
they stand, simple ones, not one pretentious —
scarce one more pretentious than another. There
are the thin headstones of a coarse marble, with the
plain carvings of fifty years ago, the slender shafts
of a later day, and the square stones of still later.
But not one announces a condition in life differing
from its fellows, any more than in death. Death
is the final democracy. And I am not certain but
that it is the only democracy, the only possible
democracy.

And a true democrat, a man of the people, might
well choose to be buried in this, so serene and un-
ambitious place. I have seen other cemeteries that
were more beautiful; that one near Rome of which
Shelley said after Keat's death, that it would " make
one half in love with death to think of being buried
in so sweet a place." But there is, after all, an
aristocracy about beauty. And Greenhill is only
serene and unambitious.

It must be a very beautiful place, however, to-
night, as the moon that shines down on the place
where Caesar's heart is drifting dust, shines on this

423

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

humble grave of the West, where a statesman with
more than Caesar's power — for it has been the
power of love — sleeps out his last sleep. The
wind steals quietly among the branches of the pines,
as it whispers among the yew trees in that " English
country churchyard " where elegies were written
and again, I find this Greenhill fuller of the elegiac
spirit in the murmured grief of a great multitude,
than was ever Gray's Stoke Pogis,

I have never seen but one graveyard in the moon-
light, the place where Disraeli, the English premier,
a Jew, lies buried. Yet I find not his grave, there
at Hughenden, to hold a stranger history than this
one which houses the history of one who also was
alien, and yet entirely life of our life.

Yet it was rather of Gray's graveyard that one
thought :

" The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.
The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea.

The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me."

Had it not been for the multitudes, the hundreds
and hundreds of people that thronged Greenhill, the
place would have been of the very spirit of elegy —
even though the thought were very far from that
of " a youth to fortune and to fame unknown."

424

TRIBUTES

For when the funeral train wound slowly up the
hill, after the long hours of lying in state in the
home church, while the bells tolled, every bell in
town of every denomination, and civic as well as
ecclesiastic — and while the cannon solemnly re-
verberated through the valley the last governor's
salute, and vale, after acclaim and ave — twilight
was coming down, over the great watching State
of Minnesota, over this lovely valley and this green
hillside. The sun hung just above the horizon's
edge, and long dusk shadows of the evergreen trees
fell athwart the sunlight, where it lay lovingly on
the green grass, down the aisles drawn between
these final tenements. Far down the valley, where
the river runs, the land was growing dark, and
purple shadows dimmed the farther hills.

It was a moment to make one all in love with
death — death which here grew so like his brother,
sleep, serene and unambitious. Against the fevered
fret of the world there must ever hereafter play the
quiet and the finaHty of this moment, for anyone
who lived it.

"I am the resurrection and the life —
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes — "

A voice stole against the awful stillness, and yet

the people did not move, seemed not even to breathe.

425

JOHN ALBERT JOHNSON

It was a voice from out th€ quiet, a message and a
conclusion, which all must hear sometimes for
others, sometime for himself.

The militia fired a " last shot," the bugle sounded
taps, "All is well, speed thee now to thy rest."
And the night had come down.

I remember another cemetery, that in the Latin
Quartier of Paris, of Montparnasse. In it is the
grave of Guy de Maupassant. Upon a table of
stone there rests an iron book; the book lies open
and on one page is the date of the birth and on the
other the date of his deatli. These lie open. But
the rest is of iron and closed; all that went before
and all that comes after.

This is not life. It is but to have lived.

The lesson from Greenhill will not be that of
Montparnasse. The book may not lie open, except
between 1861 ard 1909. Yet the life gathers up
the simple true living of all lowly souls, growing
into great achievements; and it shall go on and on
through the centuried pages that are to come after-
ward. Life is never lived if only in the pages which
may be turned; if that, it is not lived.

And so the moon keeps perpetual guard, to-night
and all the nights, over the grave in Greenhill that
must all too soon, such are the necessities of life
and death, become a lonely grave. And yet, be-

426

TRIBUTES

cause his life is a symbol of the life we all would
live, simple in beginning, splendid in doing, and
rich in human service, the grave on this green hill
cannot be forgotten, can never be far away. Green-
hill, serene and unambitious, one of the smallest of
those small graveyards that, the country over,
glimpse upon the sight from passing train, becomes
a large and memorable place. It will never be
visited by accident, for it lies away from any beaten
track of highway travel, even of the little city. A
sheltered spot it is, fit to house a symbol of what
Minnesota has meant and can mean.

427

THE DEEP, SAD EYES

ON CONTEMPLATING A PORTRAIT OF JOHN ALBERT
JOHNSON

By John Talman

Fixed dreamily perchance on shadowland,

Whence mystic visions rise,
And fragrant air by elfin pinions fanned —

The deep, sad eyes.

Depths fathomless as oceans in them lie.

And light and somber moods,
Tenderness patient, and devotion high

As motherhood's.

O, deep, sad eyes ! Returnlessly withdrawn

From life tide's ebb and flow
To where old suns go down or new ones dawn,

What see they now ?

Note they fulfillment of dear longings such

As the believer bless,
Or are they veiled forever at the touch

Of nothingness?

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TRIBUTES

Being admired, beloved and revered !

How can we give thee up !
Fate cruel in whose hand for us appeared

This bitter cup!

Till Time shall compass destiny no more,

The winds of heaven free,
The vibrant ocean and the curving shore

Shall speak of thee.

The dews, the rains, the wintry blast, the snows,

The bird, the toiling bee,
The master oak, the willow and the rose

Shall speak of thee.

Children's rejoicing, man's endeavor high

And woman's constancy.
The field and forest, mountain-top and sky

Shall speak of thee.

Till the unwearied Reaper shall unwind

The last of human ties,
On us, through joy and pain, shall rest the kind

And deep, sad eyes.

Empires may vanish, bitterly be paid

The cost of sacrifice,
Or great our gains ; but ne'er for us can fade

The deep, sad eyes !

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