Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-01-29
GOLDEN RULE" JONES
Toledo's Mayor Tells of His
Official Experiences.
NOVEL LAUNCHING OF HIS BOON

Chief Executive of Ohio City Say. lie
Really Enjoyed His singi- Handed
Campaign Against the older Par
Hes-how He spends His Time In
Improving the City over which He
Presides.
Il was born again. civlcally speak
Ing. with my first election as mayor OF
Toledo, o." said Samuel NJ. Jones re
Gently to correspondent OF the New
York Post. Prior to that had been
Republican Pharisee. | thanked God
every day that he had made me mem
ber of the party Of high moral ideas
One day | was induced to let my name
be used at a convention for nominal
ing Il mayor. That was in 1897. There
were three tickets up In that conven
| ton. the regular machine ticket and
two representing different efforts to
break the machine. My friends got
after me and had me nominated before
! was fairly aware what was going on
was royalty supported and elected
and became the Republican mayor OF
| Toledo. Then the fun began.
Although | was fifty years old. big
enough 10 know better, you will think.
! | W.. as ignorant as child of the me
chanical side of politics in public office
! ! didn't know the meaning OF the word
I hnh att 1A.l n
caucus in my life. still cherished the
old fashioned idea that when a man
became mayor of city he accepted
! the Office and administered II with a
! view TO the benefit of the whole pub
/ lie and that alone. soon had my
crowded around me- TO tell me to ap
! point So-and-so to one place because
he had swung so many votes in his
ward and to approve such and such Il
measure passed in council because tn
party managers were pledged TO it, and
this and that and the other thing OF
the same sort Were pressed upon me
till | was made half dizzy.
We'll. | rejected advice and refused
| favors right and left and got all the
party managers down on me as Il mat
ter of course. When my term ended,
had nothing TO show for ii on the par
tvs account except record for dut.
as well as | could see il. | attended
the Republican convention called to
nominate my successor. My own re
nomination was not thought of for n
moment by the machine. Some of my
old friends came to me and said
Jones, wish We could nominate you
/ Will you stand and make fight hereT
| answered: No; I've had enough.
Others said: See here, Jones, they've
put up big fight on you because you
haven't stood by the party during your
term, but if you'll promise TO be more
tractable next term we can nominate
you now out of hand Said /: My
friends, you know from what ! havt
done in the past just what should do
in the future. l couldn't do anything
else if tried. 1t isn't in me-
well, they went on and made their
nomination. Some Democrats came to
me and talked about my going over to
their party, but said: No. If you
want to vote for me you may. but
am not going to tie myself like tail
to any party kite A lot of independ-
ent citizens nominated me that year
and when the votes were counted l was
away ahead of the candidates of both
| the old parties. The third time-in
19O1--I was nominated again as an in
dependent, though the Democrats final
~ indorsed me, and | won once more.
Then there was big combination to
prevent my getting nomination again
from any source; that was last spring
"A good many people said, We'll, this
is the last of Jones' But | had my
doubts. When found that the party
oligarchies were getting all ready to di-
vide the spoils after the old fashion be-
cause they thought l was dead and
buried politically and that the great
mass of the people, who did not care
for parties. but did care for free popu-
lar government in the city, were not
going to have anybody to vote for.
said to my wife, 4 think I shall have
to run again She said: Now, don't be
so foolish. You know you didn't want
the office either time, and it's been
nothing but an expense and worry to
you. You're getting old enough to set
tie down and enjoy your home and
have little peace That's all true.
said |. Il didn't want the office. and |
have had lot of hard work. But when
they say I'm dead and buried | want
to see whether that is fact. | believe
there are more people in this city who
want me and need me than there are
politicians who want to see the last of
me-
$50 wrote short address to the
people and ca rried it to the newspapers
We have three daiies in Toedo-Re-
publican, Democratic and independent
All refused TO print it. They differed in
every other respect. but they were q
unit on the anti-Jones proposition They
had agreed among themselves that they
would not notice me in any way.
tried to get my address into one of
them by paying for it as an advertise
ment at space rates. but ii was no use.
There was only one thing left for me to
do. called my son Paul. who plays
the saxophOne in our band. Son. said
|. get your instrument and come down
the street this evening with me. Well
hnd the largest open space we can at a
corner where men are passing to and
fro. Wen have a mass meeting. And
what place is more appropriate than
the open air under the stars of heaven