Bisbee daily review., 1908-05-17
'GOv. JOHNSONS CAREER
 WATCHED AT q. PETER
How It Came to Pass That Johnsons Name Has Grown Be- yond the Township lne-First Prominence Came
 After He Tackled Job as Editor of Country
 Newspaper Making Big Success of 1t ~

and there he stayed. Johnson grew
 on Minnesota The more the peopIG
 knew q him the better they liked him He didn't do anything spectac- ular. He just sat at his desk in the big state house and attended to the
 peoples business as If the state was
 private corporation of which he was
 the Aead-and the public liked the innovation and the results he got for them. They liked 1t so much that in 1906 they diCided to keep him right there by giving him plurality ot
 72.000 over Cole, his republican op- Donent. The victory was absolutely a personal indorsement for the balance )f the republican ticket was elected by handsome madorities.
 Quietly but effectively Governor
 Johnson got out after the big law
 breakers with a correspondingly big
 stick.
 During the four years he has been
 acting governor of Minnesota the as-
 esSed valuation of the United States steel corporation has been raised from S32,000,000 to S190,000, 900. and the steel corporation, ip lieu of a further increase of taxation, is build
 ing a S2O,000,0O steel plant in Du- luth. Railway rates have been re duced from 10 to 30 per cent Min nesota has, secured the two-cent railway passenger rate. Largely up-
 on his initiative the system of taxa tion was reformed; laws were enact
 ed providing for the equitable taxa tion of sleeping car companies; a
 modern law of mortgage taxation
 was passed. Reciprocal demurrage laws were adopted, while orders of
 the railroad and warehouse commis-
 sion were made immediately effec- tive.
 A free state employment bureau in the interests of labor was created and has been conducted with most satisfactory results. An immense
 system for the drainage of swamp
 lands was inaugurated. A law was passed providing Tor municipal own
 ership of public utilities, Governor
 Johnson outwitted the twine trust bs appealing to the lgislature for au- thority to sell the product of the state twine plant outside as well as within the state At his suggestion railway passes wer abolished in Min nesota, while his part in insurance reform WAS so significant tat Presi- dent Roosevelt publicly recognized
 him as the leader in the national campaign for the reformation of in-
 surance methods.
 All these things have endeared the nan to Minnesota St. Peter folks admire him just because he is John"
 because they know him so thor oughly. They know he is not p-s-
 ,itical faddist, but a firm believer in
 certain political principles which
 form the basis of practical democ-
 racy. They know he is a dependaore democrat-the same yesterday, today and forever-not a republican one
 day, a democrat the next and an ill
 dependent the day after. Above all party consideration they know he is a MAN spelled with capital letters, and
 that is why the people of St. Peter,
 while they are anxiously watching
 Denver, and would like to have John
 come nome again, still feel that their
 loss will be the whole country's
 gain, and they are hoping that the outside world will come to know him as they know nim now.