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top to bottom tho administrative dopartment waa
put upon a better business footing than that !of
any other city In tho Union. All his appointees
havo won public confidence, both for ability and
integrity. Thero Is not a black sheep among them.
"In tho legislative department Johnson was
obliged for a year to work with a city council
In which republicans, wero in tho majority and
each party was well represented with corruptlon
lsts. Ho brought tho honest democrats and tho
honest republicans together, led them to unite in
organizing tho council by electing hone3t repub
licans instead of crooked republicans to tho offices
of that body, and by Inspiring confidence in tho
honest councllmon of both parties was able to se
cure from tho council tho legislation he needed
for faithful service to tho city. It was with tho
aid of this council that ho began his now famous
and nearly successful fight against the street car
monopolies. From tho next council nearly all the
crooked members wero excluded in response to
Johnson's appeal to tho people; and with a demo
cratic majority In that body his fight becamo
easier, until tho street car monopolists 'rlppered'
the rtty and tied his hands altogether.
"While fighting tho street car monopolists
Johnson did not overlook the Inequalities of tax
ation by which tho great landlords of tho city
had long profited at the expense of tho masses of
tho people. Finding a moribund tax board In
tho legal equipmont of tho city government, ho
got rid of Its useless members, reorganized it
with now mon, and bogan through them to re
veal tho Inequalities and injustico of tho tax sys
tem and its local oporation. Among tho discov
eries of this rojuvenated board was tho fact that
small property owners wero taxed on tho basis
of from 60 to over 100 per cent of tho true valuo
of their property, while large property owners
escaped with valuations ranging from GO per
cent downward,-r.nd tho publ'j service corporations
got off with valuations as low as 10 per cent and
ovon lower. ,
"Johnson's attempt to remedy this revealed
injustice was cut off by tho same 'rippe'ring' pro
cess ttiat tied his hands in tho street car fight.
Tho old-time tr. : board, no longer moribund, was
legislated out of office; and tho public service cor
porations wero rolioved by republican officials of
tho increased taxes which that board had found
they justly owned. But this was not a defeat for
Johnson. His triumph at the Cleveland election
last week amply proves that it was but a factor
in that fierceness of the battle which makes tho
vptory that copes at last all thomore complete
and secure.
"Tho man who can and will make that kind
of fight for tho people is the typo of man tho
democratic party needs for Its presidential can
didate. Nor has Johnson's political career in
Cleveland anything in it of tho nature of fire
works. It Is simply an expression of the charac
ter and mental and moral equipment of tho man.
None who know him aro astonished by it They
expect it In business ho has forged ahead from
a poor boy, tho son of a confederate officer Im
poverished by tho civil war. Ho has played in
tho same game of business that tho great captains
of industry aro playing yet, and ho has won at
it. His ability as a business man not even the
best of them will dispute. Johnson Is no weak
ling 'theorist.' Ho knows all tho twists and
wriggles in tho diplomacy of plutocratic business
with which tho plutocrats so bewilder Prosident
Roosovelt, and ho knows how to turn them to
account for tho reoplo. This ho has demonstrated
in his career as mayor of Cleveland.
"Not only has ho succeeded as a business
man, as tho mayor of a great American city and
as a political leader, but ho has served in con
gress with distinction, and in a way to prove I
the soundness of his views on pressing national
questions and his unfaltering loyalty to his con
victions. Who that remembers his freo trade
The Commoner.
speech on tho floor of tho house can forget his
retort when a protectionist rebuked him as a
bonoficlary of protection fcr speaking against it?
'As a business man in business affairs ho ex
claimed, I will take advantage of all tho bad
laws you pass; but as a member of this house,
on this floor, I will" try to make you repeal them.'
"It is moral perception and courage liko that
that tho democratic party needs in its presiden
tial candidate. It needs precisely tho qualities
which Tom L. Johnson has proved himself to
possess. His business education, his economic in
sight, his profoundly democratic convictions
(which know no distinctions of class, sex or race),
his integrity of purpose, his candor with the peo
plo, his acute knowledge of men, his legislative ex
perience, his admiuistrativo record, his tireless
energy, his courtesy and good feeling, his famil
iarity with tho theory and practice of monopoly
and his thoroughly tested devotion to the purpose
of crushing It these qualities, which Johnson
possesses in eminent degree, justify the masses
of democracy in turning toward him and demand
ing his nomination. At a time when industrial
monopoly is reaching out for control of tho na
tional government, the best possible recommenda
tion for tho presidential nomination of tho demo
cratic party is the splendid record Mayor John
son has made in northern Ohio. Ho would be
the kind of candidate to inspire hopes of victory,
and tho kind of presides to make the victory
worth having when it had been won."
JJJ
Its Own Medicine,
In the Southern Pacific case it was complained
that the men who controlled the ,Union, Southern
and Central Pacific lines were spending large sums
of money to improve the Central to the disad
vantage of the Southern and it was. intended to
separate the two -systems and to annex the Cen
tral to the Union Pacific, of which it is a direct
continuation. The Southern Pacific stockholders
havo denounced this as a disgraceful scheme, but
the Philadelphia North American reminds them
that the trick was learned from the combination
that at one time controlled the Southern Pacific
and. that while it. is not at all likely, that the
stockholders of any of the companies will get
their dues, in consequence of the falling out of
tho railroad jobbers, there is some satisfaction for
them in seeing the Southern Pacific treated to a
strong dose of its own medicine.
The North American recalls a bit of history in
this way:
"For years the Central Pacific's earnings wero
appropriated to build up the Southern Pacific and
a suit is now pending in the New York courts
to recover for the Central's plundered stockholders
120 000,000 alleged to have been diverted and em
bezzled by the combination. The directors of the
Central Pacific composed the Contract and Finance
company and the Pacific Improvement company,
and through fraudulent contract- they enriched
themselves beyond the dreams of avarice at tho
expense of tho stockholders of tho railroad com-
?n7f; I !,hey Wre in dans"er of Prosecution
hfln6lfntlc thef.fc destroyed tho books
nnnnnn T Flnanco comPany- The $28,-
000,000 expended in improvements on tho Central
Pacific is but a small part of the plunder secured
hy the greatest combination of railrogues that
ever looted the public, the government and one
another. It is in the nature of partial restitution
of stolen goods. Stockholders are trying to re
cover another instalment from the estate of C. P.
5LU;VB apprai8ed by the executors
at ?J1,000,000 and by others at $70,000,000."-
JJJ
The Voting Machine.
- Some time ago tho Chicago Itecord-Horald
contained an article by a special correspondent
VOLUME 3, NUMBER
who gave a description of a voting machine whicK
has been successfully tried at Rochester N Y
Tho article is given in full on another page The
Commoner being an advocate of this method on
voting.
Election-day frauds aro, generally speaking
duo to tho corruption of tho judges or to repeat
ing. Of these the corruption of the judges is tho
most difficult to detect' and punish. The voting
machine, when perfected, as the ono described in
tho article seems to have been, is a sure pre
ventive of corruption. Tho ballot is secret and the
voter is free from intimidation, and then, too,
and it is a very important advantage, the result
of the voto is announced at once so that there can
be -no changing afterwards as is often the caso
where remote precincts aro held back until it is
known how many votes are needed to decide tho
contest The peoplo generally, in their calmer mo
ments, are anxious for honest elections, and men
who might in a moment of temptation yield to
the desire to gain a party advantage will, when
they can consider the question dispassionately,
support any reform that guarantees a correct ex
pression of the public will. Although the voting
machine is somewhat of a reflection upon the-hon-esty
of judges it is likely to grow because of tho
justifiable desire of the people to avoid tempta
tion for fear of not being able to withstand it
Registration has been adopted in nearly all tho
cities as a precaution against repeating, but it hag
not proven entirely successful. It may becomo
necessary to provide that voters shall assemble
at a certain time in all the precincts and remain
,m the voting places until they have voted. By
fixing two hours, one in the forenoon and Win
tho afternoon, it will be possible to accommodato
every one, and yet make it impossible for a crowd:
of repeaters to be sent from precinct to precinct
This may occupy a little time, but surely self
government is valuable enough to justify a' citi
zen in giving half a day to the service of hia
country and to the protection of his own" rights.
The Record-Herald article is commended to the
careful consideration of all who desire to purify,
politics, and the editor of The Commoner as
sumes that all of his readers belong to this class,
JJJ
Truth Omnipotent.
The time-serving politicians and the "any-,
thing-to-win" democrats who call it wisdom to.
fall in with the crowd and to acf -pt as final tho
insolent boastings of commercialism and plutoc
racy, will find food for thought in the last vol
ume of the French Revolution. In Chapter VII
entit ed "The Whiff of Grape-shot" Carlyle testn
nes to the omnipotence of truth. "Hast thou
SSS5E S ?houeh ia st iSX a52
alTma?4'rdnm (7ere ifc ,flfty years after deatu
write? and nnw'n?! T? !t two thousand years)
ZountaiS?. mV0 of Parament, removes
CS; des the world like soft clay? Also
name is Lovf "???! " Thought rth tho
wmiout fiiJ hn d th0 wise head nev yet was,
case L? ?L?Gi generous heart? The Heavens
heans ?L JvrP-Unty; tbey 8end us onerous
Sous hearTZ gGnferatIa- And now what
wiXd in? i, i,Ca? Pretend to itself, or be hood
hag is a nSh uTt1? ' ato Loyalty to thG Moey
generous h?a?f o,yaltyJ Mammon, cries the
the bSS ?? Ut 0f a11 ases and countries, ia
In him What rioTuffi? of known "
ship him?lgE !b there, that he should wor-
at best detestoh ,7 d, f ernibleJ not even terror;)
ityr if the dnmny' "mated with desplcabil
a Permanent frSoH"?. party is to build upon
that SSh atoS n.tt mUSt recSnIze the fact
Perpetuity 2nd ? thX Q J ho Party hoP0 o
love. Dwn ?0V fnr k f a11 thought must be
lief in hnmn,? i f?J fc?G comion people and be-
cratic party an taSffiS00? Wl11 the demo.
is an exponent Sffit "S8 the party
built upon love-Sri $? and trutnJ unless it is
it canno? hop7 for ifnlVeut brterly love
trifling succeT nL51oro than temporary and
stood i in reLi mfcra when rightly under
doctrlno of m ?; ftr ft ls founded "Pon tho
sacrilegious SSdnlnalIenabl0 rIghts' t no
sordid Vin oTLZlnovZt -
A.
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