The record-union., 1896-11-17
(From the Sunday News.)

The McClatchys, who have at last
got in a blow at Sacramento that it
may feel more and more as the years
roll on, have braZenly taken to boast
ing of their treachery to this COM
munity and, since the election, engage
in brutal and untruthful comment up
on the defeat of Grove L. Johnson. The
same malicious disregard for truth
that has characterized the Bee in
the past is invoked to slur Mr.. John
son, while in the eyes of every citizen
of this community it but emphasizes
the contempt of that paper for the pub
lie interest when it's own malevolent
ends stand in the way.
When the Bee" said that Grove L.
Johnson was defeated because "he
lacked principle and fairness and knew
no standard except self-interest, and
that every step in his career during
the present campaign demonstrated
that fact to the men whose suffrages
he was seeking" they uttered blank
falsehood. There is not voter in
the district who does not now that Mr..
Johnson was actuated at all times in
his Congressional career by a devotion
to the interests of his constituents
rarely equalled and never to our
knowledge eXcelled. He treated every
body with a fairness that left no cause
for complaint. Whenever Californian
applied to him or a Californian inter-
est needed attention he was quick to go
forward. 1t was the principle Of his
public career to serve his constituents,
and his record proves that
Indeed, we are sure that had he
trained his course to suit his own ends
he would have been elected. Had he
followed his manifest personal concern
and consented to become traitor to the
greatest interest of Sacramento he
would have followed the demagogues
and Joined in the general abuse Of the
Southern Pacific. We happen to know
that an offer of support was made to
Mr.. Johnson by his bitteTest enemy
upon the condition that he would join
the, other Congressman in the fight
against the funding bill and denounc-
ing the Southern Pacific. But Mr..
Johnson spurned the proposition. He
would be loyal to the place and people
of his home even If it cost him defeat.
That refusal marks the character Of
the man. He knew full we'll the de-
unciation and villification that would
be heaped upon him for declining the
invitation to join the anti-railroad cru
sade; he was conscious that the mo-
nnent he declared in favor of fairness
as between the people and the corpora
ton he would be savagely assailed, and
that all the artifices Of the denagogue
would be invoked to traduce him. Yet
Grove L. Johnson was not the kind of
man to falter when he believed himself
to be right. Every voter knows that
Mr.. Johnson was defeated because he
defended the funding proposition. But
for that fact he would have been tri-
umphantly elected. The opposition to
him on that account was both unrea-
soning and fierce. Abuse and vitupera-
ton We're the weapons used to meet
his argument; logic was never con-
sidered as an essential, or even as i'm
portant Misrepresentation and CAL
umny followed him everywhere. In
this kind Of warfare the Bee was a
correct counterpart Of the blackmail-
ing Examiner"
The Second District never had a
Congressman who so fully and faith
fully represented it's people and inter
ests as thoroughly as did Grove L.
Johnson. In one term he leaped to the
front rank of American public men.
We believe that his defeat is source
of regret to all true Californians, and
we fear that it viii prove to be a
serious blow to Sacramento. Nobody
,xults in his overthrow save personal
enemies like the McClatchys or black
mailers like the Hearsts.