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-A - V, X ' ' A : . 9 THE ARGUS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1908. John Johnson One of the Common People, Forceful In Character, Who Looms i ' Up In the Presidential Limelight How He "Made Good" Despite the Adverse Circumstances of His Early Life. K-H-K-M-I-I-I-M- AFTER all. the American people tie spise snobbery. There is but a very small class among us that apes aristocracy and puts an cestry upon a pedestal to kiss the dirt at Its feet. For proof of this we have only to look to Minnesota, wherein dwells a man who in these nntecaui palgn days is being exploited for a presidential nomination by thousands of men who never saw him and uever heard of him until three years ago. Why this man's presidential boom? Just because he has "made good" de spite the fact that his father died In the poorhouse and his mother took lit washing. Nobody disputes the popu lar assumption that Governor John .A. Johnson is an nble man and of pres idential dimensions. Rut, for all that, he never would have leen mentioned for the presidency save for this poor house and washerwoman story. Upon this foundation we base the proof th-it America, heart, head and hand, is still essentially antisnob. In 1904 the Democrats of Minnesota nominated for governor a country edi tor, the St. Peter Herald man. John Johnson was a pretty good country e itor. too, but there were some ,00 oth-, ers In Minnesota. St. Peter is a email town, and the Herald is a sm&it paper. But It is not necessarily true that a small paper in a small town has a small man at the head of it. Plenty of instances to the contrary might Hv cited, but Johnson's is enough. For fifteen years Editor Johnson had run the editorial end of the Herald, while his partner, Henry Essler, had run the mechanical end. Both took a hand at the business end. Johnson became secretary and then president of tba state editorial association. So the other editors knew him. and they liked hi in. Johnson bad served one term ns t II BCtNii&fimXk. - s3L.. ': II .ID ...iN.VvS V' I GOVERNOR JOHNSON OF MINNESOTA. state senator, and some of the politl- for a few years. He married Caroline clans knew him and liked him too. But 1 Haden, a Swedish girl, also an imml fce was defeated for re-election, being 'grant She was utterly alone in Auier a Democrat In a Republican district ica. The blacksmith Installed her in a and when his party placed him at the Jtwo room house near St. Peter. For a head of the state ticket he was plain John Johnson, country editor. Champion Political Joke. Minnesota's normal Republican ma jority is between 00,000 and 70,000. The Democrats had little or no expec tation of electing Johnson. One reason they picked him for the candidacy was that he was a Swede and would get the Scandinavian vote, which in Min nesota is a considerable factor. They hoped he, at any rate, would make a decent showing, aud most of theia would have been satisfied with that. But Johnson, having accepted the nomination, made a systematic cam- palgn. His opponent State Auditor, Dunn, was not altogether popular n , helped Johnson, against whose record nobody had anything to say. John son's popularity increased as Dunn's . decreased. Something had to be done for Dunn. Then somebody "done it." - The inauner of doing it, the madness of its method, must stand forever as the champion political joke of the ages. Did you ever see a boomerang? A boomerang is a curved club. Wbeu I thrown by one who knows how, .it . makes a turn around In the "Hir and t comes back to the thrower. If the thrower doesn't look out. theboomer ang will smash his fuce. X of Minnesota Ten days before election some boom erang thrower in Minnesota printed and distributed a circular setting forth that Candidate Johnson's father had been a drunkard and had died in the poorhouse and ' that his mother had taken in washing. You cannot tind in Minnesota today the thrower of this political boomerang. Most like ly he is and was then an inmate of the asylum for the Insane. Some supporters of Johnson, too much excited to know a golden oppor tunity when they met it face to face, were perturbed by this circular and urgell the candidate to make a strong denial of the statements. 'I can't." was Johnson's quiet reply. Story Went the Rounds. The reason he couldn't was that what the circular said about his par euts was true. A St. Paul newspaper which supported him sout a staff cor respondent posthaste to the little town of St. Peter. The staff man investigat ed the immediate antecedents of John Johnson. The reportorial assignment would hjlvo flalif htcwl nnv rttA nowa. paper maQ lt Js not often tuat fl orter t ,k . ..hullmn interest.. , i color. The story of John Johnson of , . - , , St. Peter, as published in the St. Paul paper, quickly went the rounds of the Minnesota press; also it went the rounds of the corner groceries and the urug stores and tne country hotel or fices, where governors are made and presidents are prepared from the raw material. The St. Tanl reporter discovered that Gustaf Johnson, a blacksmith, had emigrated from Sweden about fifty years ago, settling in St Feter. He had been a heavy drinker in his native land and came to America in the hope that he might reform. He did reform 'Xfaaawai t its: sw j few years the brawny arms of Gustaf Johnson earned a living for the wife and the little ones who came, John being the first baby, born in 18G1. Then recurred an attack of the old nialady, the old disease, which In the system of the village blacksmith de manded alcohol. . The blacksmith be came a drunkard. Like many others of his unfortunate class, he went "from bad to worse." Finally the local authorities placed him in the poor house, where after some years he died. Mrs. Johnson was left with six chil dren to support. John was only twelve years old, but he arose to the occa- that he might help. He got a job in a RrJcery gtore A boy hag Q( snap as a job, but some of them hare snap as individuals. John Johnson they probably called him Johnny then got $10 a 'month, -which he turned over to his mother. He found time to deliver "laundry" washed and ironed by his mother, his splendid heroic mother, and also to deliver papers on Uie carrier's route the town paper. After two years of this grocer's boy 'Jfe he got a job in the drug store at a illghtly higher rate of pay. From this time on his mother quit taking in cashing. John supported the family. In the years following three of the Uttle sisters died, and John Johnson v I I fras in debt to the undertaker- The boy studied hard while working In the drug store. The little public library was in the same block. He read many books from the library, being chiefly interested in history. Meanwhile he studied pharmacy, too, and eveiitually he became a registered pharmacist. , Real Journalist With a Real Job. After nineyears in the drug store John. Johnson became a journalist. In the cities a journalist Is sometimes de scribed as a newspaper man out of a job. In St. Peter John Johnson was a real journalist with a real job. pay ing for a half interest In the Herald, for which friends who believed in him had put up the money. Johnson had paid off the undertaker. He had bought in the two room family home stead, which' was about to be sold for taxes, and he bad added other rooms and improvements. So this was the story discovered by the St. Paul reporter. It was so mag nificently true that American Minne sota arose gloriously to the occasion. President Roosevelt carried the al ways Republican state of Minnesota by a majority of 101.4C2 a hun dred thousand above thenormal ma jority. But. hold! John Albert John son. Democrat, was elected governor by a majority of 7.800. Not a very large majority that, and yet he turned 8-1.400 votes to get it The couutry editor close-down his desk at St. Peter, probably saying to Henry Essler: "I'll be back lu two years. Try to keep the subscribers in line, and don't let the ads. get away from you. Keep the jobwork going." Then he went to work at his new job in St. Paul, his office being in Min nesota's fine new state capitol build ing. Did Johnson as governor of a great state pose as a sickly sentimen tal friend of "the common peepul?" Not a bit of It-not he. Johnson made no pretense of being ultra democratic. He wore good clothes, the prevailing style, and cut just as dignified a figure at a gubernatorial reception as. he, had cut in the editorial sanctum at St. Pe ter. He had sense enough to adapt ' himself to' his environment. He Made GLpod. Johnson also had the moral and men tal backbone to make him Johnny-on- the-spot with bis new job. He had had no experience as an editor when he took hold of the St Peter Herald. But he made good. He made good also as governor of Minnesota. Do you want proof? Then read the elec tion return of 1900. Normally the Republican candidate should have won by about 70.000 majority. As a mat ter of fact Johnson won by 72,000 ma jority. Somebody asl;ed him how he t did it. I I only tried to make good," replied, j Johnson. No boomerang was thrown in the second campaigu. If Johnson had not' . i i .1 -. nnml In 111.. 4-n.f. r n w n n governor he would have been sent back to the St. Teter Herald office. As it Is, he now stands in the glare of the presidential limelight. The wash erwoman circular promulgated by the unidentified asylum -inmate made him governor, but as governor he made good himself. Those years of struggle, of self effacemeut, of mother love and brotherly devotion in St. Peter gave him the stamina to make good. Whe6 some one asked him what he consid ered the most important result of his administration ras governor he replied: "Law enforcement. We have brought about conditions by which the state officers obey the law themselves and enforce lt." But Governor Johnson did not stop at enforcement of the laws on the statute books. By his Influence he brought about the enactment of new laws to meet conditions. One thing he did was to have the legislature give hlra a board of tax equalizers. John son appointed three of the best men In the state. Under the law this board had only advisory powers. Tte gov ernor used his discretion. The steel trust has immense mines in northern Minnespta. These mines were taxed on a valuation of $38,000,000 when Johnson took office. Now they are tax ed on a valuation of $191,000,000, and the poor taxpayer feels better. The electric railways uniting St. Paul and Minneapolis are paying twice as much1 taxes as they paid before the advent of Johnson. Tax dodgers have been wincing since Johnson became gov ernor. Strike Settled Without Riots. The way Governor Johnson settled a strike last summer shows his power as a conservative official. The miners in the Mesaba range went out, and there was imminent peril of violence. Instead of sending his state jnllltla to the scene Governor Johnson himself went, alone, ne talked with the strike leaders and with the employers. H visited the strikers and heard their grievances, ne gave them good ad vice. If they remained orderly, he said, no troops would be sent, but if they became violent he would be forced to quell their violence with sol diers. The strike was settled without riots. Some persons take pleasure In com paring John Johnson with Abraham Lincoln. This is due to the fact that both men had immediate ancestors of the kind that, as a rule, do not pro duce socjety swells. Johnson seems to have much of the homely honesty or Lincoln and more dignity than "Honest Abe." Whatever he may turn out to be In the future, we must go back to the original thesis and assert that If Johnson bad been a candidate for head sheik of Fifth avenue's Four Hundred or for chief chimpanzee of the Newport set that lunatic's circular would have defeated him." But he was running merely' for the governorship of the plain, common, sensible, intelli gent people of ar American common wealth. ' Women 9s Coats $3.83 for $5.75 Coats $6.67 for $10.00 Coats $10.50 for $15.75 Coats $15.00 for $22.50 Coats $20.00 for $30.00 Coats $26.67 for $40 Coats Children 9s Coats $1.67 for $2.50 Coats $3.34 for $5.00 Coats ' $5.00 for $7.50 Coats $6.67 for $10 Coats 114-116 W. 2nd St. Forest Saying Need . Thar clv.Ubmd nations- of the -world strike a.000.ogo matches every minute of thetweutyfour liuurs. Nearly, one half of these 'are Ignited in the United States. Americans use up the enor mous total -of 700,000.000.000 a year and have a larger match bill, than any other nation Th the world. Hundreds of factories over the coun try are engaged in this Industry about which the general public knows so lit tle. Some of the plauts Jre very large, one on the Pacific coast covering 240 acres, with thirty-two miles of rail road, which supply the match ma chines with 200,000 feet of sugar pine and yellow pine logs a day. A statement of the number of cubic feet of wood which actually is con verted into matches ench year would convey only an Inadequate idea of the number of trees required for the In dustry. For the manufacture of the match the best grade of wood is neces sary, bapwood. knotty or cross grain ed timber will not do. This makes it uecessary to search the best forests and pick out the choice trees only, and noth ing but the choice portions of the choice trees goes to the match machines. Seldom is the little spliuter tipped with sulphur or some other substauce, to be Ignited by friction, given even scant mention in the consideration of the depletion of the world's finest for ests, yet the manufacturers of these little fire sticks are as much coucerued over the timber supply question as any other class of men engaged in an in dustry whose welfare depends on the use of forest products. - It might be supposed that because matches are small the makers of them would utilize, scraps aud leftovers. This is never the case. Matches, are not byproducts. The match machine takes the finest timber, and what it rejects goes to the byproduct yard, anrt the byproduct end of the match busl ness becomes the largest end, so far as bulk is concerned. Aiuou the by products turned out by the large Pa cific coast factory just mentioned are 1,000 doors and 800 sashes daily. . As a matter of fact it would be im possible to carry on the match busi ness at all at present prices if the re jected lumber were not worked into something else. The room where matches are, made' is frequently the smallest department of a match fac tory. The larger portions contain the sawmills and planing mills, where doors, sash, shingles.' laths. , siding, posts, cord wood and many other sala ble commodities are made ready for market - f The ; United States does tot manu facture enough matches to supply the home market. Thoasands of dollars' worth are annually Imported from Germauy. Austria. France. Sweden and other countries. The Imports are largely safety matches, which can be struck only ou the box or other special ly prepared surface. Wood for matches Is a. much more Winter Cloaks, Suits, Turs At a Reduction a quite well known fact that no atore in the Tri-Cities handles ai large and well selected a etoclt of ready-to-wear garments as we do, and part experience has demonstrated the truth and reliability of every statement ever made hy us, so we now unhesitatingly say that this is the most extensive and lowest price sale ever conducted hy anyone in the Tri-Cities oriny r city for that matter. In values and choiceness of garments every woman will recognize in The Bee Hive's Clearance Sales the greatest bargain opportunities of the year. Id & The Tiee Hibe serious problem some; loNlw'Enro j pean countries thaTPlt is in the United ! States. The most suitable match tiiu ler Is pine, linden, aspen, .white ce llar, poplar, birch and willow. Oth ers, however, are occasionally used. Germany imports willow and aspen from Russia. Some time ago the Ger man match manufacturers petitioned the minister of agriculture to cause the foresters to plant aspen in the state forests to supply wood for matches without importing it A sim ilar petition to their government was presented by the Freuch manufactur ers of matches who wanted a homo supply. At the same time the Russian manufacturers of matches asked their government to take measures to check the export of match wood to foreign countries lecause the material was needed at home. In the United States as well as in Canada a diligent search for choice forests is maintained, and very large tracts have been lought by compa nies in the match busluess not only to meet' present demands, but to provide for years to come. In a single year one match company cut 225.000.000 board feet of pine In the lake region. The cut. however, in that instance was exceptionally large in order to save the timber, which was ' at that time threatened by the ravages of a bark leetle. There are mote than 150 match manufacturers In the ...United States and about half that number in, Canada." Matches are manufactured In many ways and with numerous kinds of machines. Nearly every manufactur ing company has machinery made spe cially for Its use and covered by pat ents, and it also employs processes dis covered or devised by its own chem ists and mechanics and kept secret toj prevent rtvais ironi ooraimng ana pror- iting by them. A single machine has been-known to turn out 177.020.400 matches lu one day, boxed and labeled ready for shipment. . Some matches are shaved with the grain from sawed blocks: some are cut both ways by saws? . In some fac tories the blocks are boiled to make them cut easily. By some machines a trailed or steamed log is revolved on its own axis, and n shaving the thick ness of a match is cut round and round. This shaving is at the sam lime cut into lengths and spilt into match sticks. There is hardly a limit to the varieties of methods employed. Round matches are made by forcing them through dies. The Japanese make paper matches, Which are wood after all. ., In common with other industries of the United States depending upon ex isting forests the match iSakers are within sight of u shortage in the wood supply. When present timber holdings have been depleted they cannotAie du plicated. ' If force'd to economize, the people of the United States might get along with fewer than twenty-five or thirty matches a day each, as at pres ent but they ..will ,probablr insist , on g) One-third of stvle an d character. Tur Coats $ 15.00 for $22.50 Coats $20.00 for $30.00 Coats $26.67 for $40.00 Coats $33.17 for $49.75 Coats $58.33 for $87.50 Coats ' $91 .67 for $ 1 37.50 Coats Suits $6.67 for $10.00 Suits ( $10.00 for $15.00 Suits $16.67 for $25 Suits $26.67 for $40 Suits Davenport Iowa having them aud wiil demand, as in Germany and France, that foresters plant and grow timber especially for matches. This could readily lie done if forests were placed under manage ment and were no longer" leTt to run wild and produce cord wood and brash wbeu they ought to grow merchant able timber. Conservative management of tim ber lauds is assured for only one-fifth of this country's forested areas, the part contained in the national forests aud under the administration of the United States forest service. P.y cut ting only the mature trees aud pro tecting the new growth by keeping out fires the national forests will 1k made to yield indefinitely. It cannot lie expected that this small part of the nation's forest will supply the demand for future generations, afftl the one hope in sight is that users of wood, in cluding the match manufacturers, will insure the permanence of their busi ness by applying the principles of for estry in the management of timber lands. A Cure for Misery. "I have found a cure for the misery malaria poison produces' says R. M. James of Louellen, S. C. "It's called Electric Bitters, and conies in 50 cent bottles. It breaks up a case of chills or a bilious attack in almost no time; and it puts yellow jaundice clean out of commission." This great tonic medicine and blood purifier gives quick relief in all stomach, liver and kidney complaints and the misery of lame back. Sold under guarantee at all druggists. CONSULT DR. WALSH FIRST. He Is the old reliable specialist, established In Davenport IS years. Dur ing that time over fifty specialists have come here and remained from a few week to a few years. Thejr took your money and left nothing: but broken promises. Dr. Walsh has remained here long enough to prove hla cures are permanent, for the people he cured lt years ago have remained eured. ' - X-RAY EXAMINATION FREE. YOU CAN DOJPT waste your time trying others, for you cannot get our treatment at any other place, aa moat of our appliances and treatments are the re sults of our own study and Invention, and you cannot get the same re mits without them. ' EES our new gigantic 8tatlc X-Ray machine. It In a wonder. We nse all forma of electricity, vibration and violet rays. Call and see a thoroughly equipped Institute. Consultation, nspection and explanation free and cheerfully given. . - HBMENBER, our treatment la the best and the cheapest. Don't pay your money for inferior treatment when he surest is the cheapest. Our guar antee is backed by 12 years of succes right here In Davenport and thou-, anda of cured and satisfied patients. Do business like a business man go where you can get the best for our money tf you are not sure. In vestigate, and- be sure you're right.' hen go ahead. f pation. neuralgia, palpitation of the to tne sex, snouid consult iJr. waian ana get tne Denent oi nis vast ex perience. MEN, we cure blood llsease, skin diseases, urinary and bladder disease hydrocele, nervous debility and 'special weakness, kidney, heart, liver, stomach and Intestinal diseases. Varicocele, removed In one treatment, painless and bloodless. Keep your muney In yeur pocket until you see It removed. - . Call or address Dr. Walsh or Chicago Medical Institute. 124 West Third street (near Main street), Davenport. Iowa. Hours, 14 to 12 a. va., 2 to 4:10. and T to 8:30 p. m. Sundays. from 1:0 to 11 a. m. , . .t " it i 19 'A BOSTON'S BARBER REGULATIONS. Beard of Health Orders Sterilization of All That Barbers Use on Customers. A special dispatch from Boston, May 5. 1900, to the New York Sun gives new regulations of the Boston board of health as to barber shops: ' "Mugs, -shaving brushes and razors shall be sterilized after each separate use there of. A separate, clean towef shall be used for each person. Material to stop the flow oC blood shall be used only in powdered form, and applied on a tow el. Powder puffs are prohibited. Wherever Newbro's Herpicide is used for face or scalp after shaving or hair cutting, there is no danger of Infec tion as it is antiseptic and kills the dandruff germ. Sold by leading drug gists. Send 10 cents in stamps for sample to the Herpicide company, De troit, Mich. Two sizes, 50 cents and $1. T. H. Thomas, special agent. Rheumatism Cured in Three Days. N. H. Langley, Madison, Wis., says: "I was almost helpless with rhenma- -tism for about five months. Had it In my neck so I could not turn my head, and all through my body. I tried three doctors and many remedies without any relief whatever until I procured Dr. Detchon's Relief for Rheumatism. In a few hour3 the pain was relieved and in three days th J rheumatism was completely cured and I was at work." Sold by Otlo Grotjan. 1501 Second avenue. Rock Island: Gust Schlegel & Son, 20 West Seconl street, Davenport 9. OT GET A SURE CURE ANY PLACE ELSE. I ' ' heart, or any other disease peculiar RIP ..i.-M i'