New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1901-06-01
TOM JOHNSON, MAYOR OF CLEVELAND
One OF the Most Original and Interesting
Figures in American Public Life.

One Of the Most Original and interesting
Figures in American Public Life.
One of the most interesting ex-
periments in municipal government
in this country is being undertaken
in Cleveland, Ohio, by the biggest
mayor, physically and mentally, in
the United States. Tom l.. johnson
weighs two hundred and seventy
pounds, and his finely shaped head
looks rather large even for his body.
He is the only mayor in the country
who had national reputation be-
fore he took the office. Two years
before he announced himself as a
candidate, he declared that in the
future he purposed devoting the
greater part of his energies to the
social and economic principles with
which he has long been identified.
Measured by conventional stand
ards, he is perhaps the most para
doxical man in this land, certainly
in public life. He is a millionaire
many times over, and an enthusias-
tic worker for the single tax. He
is manufacturer of steel rails, and
an advocate of free trade. He has
made the greater part of his wealth
in building, developing, and specu-
lating in street railways, yet he
believes in municipal ownership of
these roads. His explanation is
simple. He opposes certain things
and fights for others in which he
believes-that is principle. He
conducts his affairs under existing
laws and conditions-that is bust
ness.
Until the new order Of things
comes about-and no one is work
ing harder for the change-Tom
johnson will probably continue to
make money, as other men do,
through the benevolent protective
tariff and the manipulation of street
railways. At the age Of forty seven
he Is a very rich man. He may be
worth ten millions, or twenty; and
he made every dollar of it himself.
He earned his first nickel selling
newspapers; for the Civil War had
ruined Colonel A. w. Johnson, his
father, who moved from Scott
County, Kentucky, to Louisville
when the present mayor Of Cleve-
land was child.
Tom johnson began the study of
the street railway problem from the
coign of vantage of an errand boy.
He has been Tom johnson ever
since, and he would hardly re-
cognize his full name, Thomas
Loftin johnson, if he saw it in
print. Boy and man, poor and rich,
he has always been democratic,
fearless, genial, aud aggressive, a
man with indomitable and highly
intelligent energy. He early learned
to work steadily towards goal,
and to this day, when an important
problem is before him, he will
stay at his desk sixteen and even
eighteen hours a day, eating his
food there and smoking all the
time.
He rose rapidly in the Louisville
street railway service, and when he
was twenty one he knew all that
there was to be learned about the
business. He needed only capital
to branch out for himself. This
he gained by inventions, among
which we're a "nickel in the slot"
box for cars without conductors, an
automatic switch, and, later, a car
fender and a pattern of steel rail
that had been almost universally
adopted.
With the money gained from his
inventions, Tom johnson bought a
street car line IN Indianapolis. It
had few rattletrap cars drawn by
discouraged mules, and a franchise.
Al Johnson, Toms brother, seven
years his junior, worked on this
line as conductor, and subsequent
ly became foreman of the stables.
1t was reorganized. and made a
good street car line. The people of
Indianapolis were proud of it, and
it paid. Tom johnson sold it out,
and turned his attention towards
Cleveland. About twenty one years
ago he bought shoe string line,
and began business with nineteen
mules and four second hand cars.
There were plying smiles in Cleve-
land for the round, smiling, ener-
getic young man, because people
could not help liking him. Mark
Hanna controlled the principal
system Of local railways, and what
chance had this youngster of twenty
six who had entered the field against
himi
Tom johnson regularly worked
sixteen hours day, improving and
extending his tracks and paralleling
those Of his rival. Before long
there was a fight, and it was hard
one. The mutual respect which
Mr.. Hanna and Tom johnson have
for each other-in business, not
politics-bears testimony to this
day to the vigor Of the struggle.
In the end, Johnson won. Street
railways were his business; with
Mr.. Hanna they we're only side
issue. Il was charged then, as it
has been many times since, that Tom
johnson was full Of gnile, and that
he did many things that could not be
countenanced under q strict code of
ethics.