The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-13
GREATEST LAWYER
In America Is Man Who Has Never
Been interviewed
lBroadwav MagazIne.l


The problem of the railways today. what
they shall do to p!acate the courts and
legislatures and how. is one demanding
the most extraordinary legal ability. The
men already before the public who have
the equipment for this task are few IN
number.
There is oae great lawyer who may
prove to be the Moses that shall lead the
railroads out Of the wilderness of hostile
legislation. man who is at once SO emf
nent and 50 picturesque that his name de-
serves ia be the last word in the discus
sion of the subject-JOhn G. Johnson Of
Philadelphia.
There are ninety-five Johnsons in
Who's VINO" but not this johnson.
There are no full-page stories of his LAW
battles in the Sunday papers. He has
never been photographed. He has never
been interviewed. He has practiced law
for forty-five years. and been a leader of
the American bar for twenty years; and
yet outside OF his clients and a small
group OF personal friends. John q. John
son is comparatively unknown.
II was Johnson who argued the first of
the antitrust cases before the United
States supreme court. and won IT, getting
the sugar barons out of trouble. When
the two cent-rate law was passed in
Pennsylvania last year. it was Johnson
who had il declared unconstitutional and
thrown on the scrap heap And not for a
quarter Of century or more has there
been a great lawsuit in Philadelphia in
which Johnson was not on one side or the
other
He IS in nv opinion not only the great
est lawyer of the present generation.
said James NJ. Beck of New York. but
in his versatility he is the greatest law
yer that the American bar has yet pro-
dHced.
This extraordinary man was born about
1910 in Philadelphia. From the first he
had no one TO help him but himself. He
faced the world as an office boy. and
forced his way up by doing a weeks
arlr dar nd rvx-o
things only. ne has ever cared for-art
and the law. He is intensely fond of his
profession for its own sake. The diff
culties of "A great lawsuit fascinate him.
But he is also one of the highest Amer
lean authorities on paintings. Every art
dealer knows him. He has transformed
his house on South Broad street Phila-
delphia. into a picture gallery. Il is jam
med with pictures from kitchen to gar
ret. Practically his entire fortune has
been sent TO enrich the artists of the
world.
Personally. John G. Johnson is large
framed. massive man. who can be
brusque and gentle at will For society
he cares nothing: he is too busy. His
few intimate friends regard him as
superman. and as for young LAWYERS they
adore him. because he is always willing
to listen to their troubles and give them
advice.
In pleading a case johnson is irresisti-
BILE. He hammers out his argument as
He makes no long speeches. He is not
eloquent. in a rhetorical sense His lam
guage is not ornate or polished. In one
suit-a gas lease in which fifty millions
were al stake-he spoke exactly twenty
three minutes. and won. His method is
invariably TO select the main point of
his case and emphasize it with tremen-
dous force and an amazing knowledge of
the law.
Other lawyers have no fault to find
with Johnson, except that he refuses 10
charge high fees. In this regard he is
incurable. The biggest fee to his credit
is said to have been one of $4,000 which
he received from the sugar trust, in the
famous Chapman case. ten years ago But
usually his fees are regarded as mere
pittances by his fellow lawyers ! was
told of one instance in which Johnson
had saved a New York street car COM
pany from losing a franchise. He sent
bill for 5000. II promptly mailed him
a check for So. 900. The next day il re-
ceived a check from johnson for s2O9o
with this short explanation-''No gifts"
Such is the master lawyer who Is ex
pected to solve the railway riddle in case
Its solution must be fought out in the
higher courts. But / offer his name az
a mere guess. 1t is much more likely
that the coming railway lawyer is todav
unknown-as unknown as Abraham Lin
coin was in 1850. or Andrew Cargenie in
1870. or Theodore Roosevelt in 1883.