Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-30
The Johnson Brothers as Street Rail-
way Promoters.
TEE THREE CENT FARE PROPOSAL
Many Bogus Mining Schemes Ex-
plotted in Wall Street.
[ENRY CLEWS' DILEMMA
,ecial Correspondence of The Evening Star.

NEW YORK, March %, 1901
| The Johnson Brothers appear to hold the
| center Of the stage at the present time in
at least two great states. The elder broth
| er is at the present time conducting an en-
| ergetic campaign for mayor of Cleveland.
the principal plank in his platform being a
| Scent fare proposition. Were it any other
| man who came to the front with PROPOSE
| ton to carry the people for Scent fare
| when a scent fare could be obtained he
| would be voted a subject At for a lunatic
| asylum But Tom Johnson has way Of
doing things different from all the remain
| der of the men on earth. His eccentricity.
his genius-can it what you will-has made
| him power in finance as well as politics.
After Bryan's defeat in 1895 Tom Johnson
appeared as the friend and hacker Of
Henry George when he ran on an independ-
ent ticket against Van Wyck. The death
| of Henry George and the election Of Van
| Wyck caused Tom Johnson to do some tall
thinking. AS final result he took to the
! tall timber" and he has only lately reap
| peared in public life as the candidate for
| mayor of Cleveland. One of the results of
the death of Henry George and the election
| of Van Wyck was that Tom Johnson,
| knowing that he would be bounded by
| democratic administration that he had
| dared to oppose, sold out his Nassau street
| railroad system in Brooklyn to the Brook
Ign Rapid Transit system. Had Henry
| George or Seth Low been elected mayor
| Tom johnson would have blossomed out
| as of the greatest street railroad men
! of the metropolis
| Advent of A. l.. Johnson.
| Now comes A. L. Johnson into the game
| of metropolitan rapid transit. Like his
| brother Tom. the democratic candidate for
| mayor of Cleveland, he is an advocate of
! cheap fares for the millions. He does not
| pose as a single taxer." like Tom Johnson,
| but he sets up the business claim that
| enough more people will ride at Scent
| fare as compared with a 5-cent fare to
| make the 3-cent fare proposition worth
| considering. A. l.. Johnson is the man
who succeeded in stirring New York city
| and Philadelphia as these two cities have
| not been stirred In years, so far as the
| transportation proposition is concerned. A.
| l.. Johnson has been associated with his
| brother Tom in the management of the
street railways of indianapolis. Detroit,
| Cleveland and Brooklyn, q Il together they
| have even invaded the London. England,
underground street railroad Held Pre-
| sumably he knows what he Is talking
| about, but when he discusses Scent fares
to Staten Island and scent fares from
Staten Island to Philadelphia there are
plenty of people who intimate that he is
only talking through his hat" A. L.
| Johnson Indignantly retorts that these
| same men laughed at him and at
his brother when they started the agl-
| The demand of the JohnsOns for all
of the vacant streets in Philadelphia,
| amounting to hundreds Of miles. and
| the proposition to give the natives of
| that town a scent fare to New York over
| an air line rapid transit railway, has
| caused considerable excitement in that
| city. But it is doubtful whether the ex
| citement in the Pennsylvania metropolis
| exceeds the interest stirred up in New
York city and vicinity over the Johnson
| brothers movements there.
Queer Schemes in Wall Street.
| 1t is reliably stated that there are at this
| moment more than 500 men in and around
| Wall street who backing schemes Of
| more less questionable financial status.
| Palmy days for some of them, too. and
| not few who several years ago were ION
! their uppers'' have found in this period of
| prosperity fine field for their wits. A
| number of them have made considerable
! money, and some of them have netted
| snug little fortunes.
| During the past two or three weeks
| many new mining schemes have come to
! the surface. Some Of the confidential adj
! vice sent out to probable investors is
| couched In that style which one would ex-
| pect to read from far-sighted father to a
wideawake son. With elegant grace of die
| ton some of these letters point out proba-
| bilities which not unnaturally catch many
! of the unWary. Just now there seems to
| be a revival of the mining boom of about
| three years ago. when Boston sent to New
| York some of the most novel creations of
| that kind. 1t is said that in New England
| and notably in Ohio theresis more worth
| less copper mining stock than in any other
! part of the United States. One man from
| Ohio q few days ago wrote to a prominent
! downtown stock brokerage house for in
| formation regarding certain securities, and
| in his letter said that he held stock in
! twenty-nne different companies, and his
| receipts from all of them in the shape of
| dividends amounted to II cents Following
| copper schemes come the zinc projects,
| and in these, as in others, a large amount
/ OF the stock Is In the hands of small hold
| ers. 1t said yesterday that one pro-
| moter had sold $500 shares of stock of
| copper mine, and while the whole plant
| was largely on paper, he nevertheless eff
| fected the sale of about 1000 additional
shares by eloquently portraying the neces-
| sity of sinking another shaft
Henry CIe,ss In a Dilemma.
| Many of the well-known millionaires
| have a habit Of going about New York
| with only a few cents of change In their
pockets. and perhaps none carried less
/ of the coin of the realm than Henry
| Clews. Not long ago he and Mrs Clews
/ dined at place where the bank-broker-
author was unknown and where the rule
was strictly cash down. knowing that
| his good wife generally had sufficient
money in her purse to defray any ordi
nary expense, he whispered when the
| finger bowls were brought: MY dear will
| you lend me enough to pay for the din
| ner? l forgot to bring any money" But
| Mrs. Clews. too. had forgotten to bring
| any money, and there sat this famous
| couple with millions at home but not a
| cent to pay hotel bills. The bankers ex-
| PLANTATION to the waiter not regarded
| as satisfactory. neither did the house I'M
| derstand. The proprietor, a fellow with
| out discernment or tact, was SO inclined
| to be incredulous that Mr.. Clews, disdain-
/ ing a controversy, quietly deposited his
| gold watch as pledge that the bill should
| be paid as soon he could send a mes
senger from his home. Mr.. Clews Is not
alone in getting into such scrapes. Other
millionaires have had similar difficulties.
There is a well-told story that John D.
Rockefeller happening to find his pockets
empty, once permitted a stranger to pay
| his fare on the elevated road.
| Representative Gardner Interviewed
| The suave Kentucky manners of a young
| ship news reporter one of our morn
| ing papers probably served the other day
| 10 increase the esteem in which Repre-
| sentative Washington Gardner of Michi-
gan holds himself. Arriving at the navy
\ yard late q interview the Congress-