Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1908-12-12

pthor. but they managed 10 I've tn the
same town By tapping over into the
national situation Now. OF these for
iner business and political rivals Han
ma Is dead and johnson Is broke. Such
are the vicissitudes Of this ball OF mud
in the twentieth century.
Cleveland was not big enough 10
hold Tom johnson as a traction mag
nate, SO he captured the lines i'm Do
froit, Brooklyn and elsewhere andAalso
started rail- mills In Pennsylrania.
Then he saw the error Of his way,
withdrew from business. quit being q
captain OF industry and became a re-
former pure and simple. In his cam
paigns for mayor he told the people
that he had been taking their money
away from them In five cent fares and
otherwise. but that he would not do 1t
any more and. as he knew the game.
he would stop the other fellow from
doing it likewise He not only won
out In four successive elections, but
got the best OF his enemies In the
courts and elsewhere and continued In
his career Of victory till his three cent
lines finally went into the hands OF q
receiver and Tom himself went bust
ed. That is rather expensive lighting,
but he says the seven years In which
he has been engaged In Ii have been
the best of his life, so there Is little
use of shedding tears over a reverse
| that the victim himself does not weep
about. He makes no high browed
| claims to having been martyr or any
thing OF that sort, but says he was
selfish in following his ideals because
1t made him happier than any other
possible course could have done. He
adds, however, that II he had desired
! to betray the people Of Cleveland ne
could still be living on Good Times
avenue with paltry five millions OF
kso in the bank. But what are i've mil.
lions to the fun he has had wallopine
his political opponents and making the
purse proud traction kings jump side
/ ways?
Fond Of Automobiling.
His fine Euclid avenue home, where
he has entertained his political follow
ers. Single Takers and political reform
ers from all over. will now have to b
Isacrihced; also his automobiles, which
have not only been part Of bis cy
clonic campaigns, but his one form Of
recreation. But he says he started llft
in cottage, and, as he Is about t
start 1t all over again, It is the cottags
for his once more. Likewise, since b.
| made his fortune, both financial and
| political, out of street cars, he is no
TOO proud to ride on street cars him
| self. That is not exactly what he said
and have not time to hunt up hi
precise words and put quotes on them
but that expresses In my own kind o
loose talk general impression Q
what he gave out. Most of wha
these big men say is written by som
reporter anyway, so you may as wei
take my version as any other.
One of the things l like about John
son Is that he was christened Tom AM
not the more pretentious Thomas
which is a fiction, since any Thoma
that amounts to anything and is
good fellow Is called Tom by every
body and only has Thomas put In til
Bible and ON his tombstone. TIL
three cent mayor" prefers not to sal
under false colors, so it is Tom for hi
all the way along the llne.~~ What
good enough for man to live by
good enough to be born by and to di
by even though It Is nothing NOR,
than a front name.
Most Merry Fighter.
Tom johnson married his cousin. an,
when he did IL he had little cash an,
only fair prospects, but his father-in
law said he made up for these def
ciencies By a magnificent stock o
home grown nerve. Now that he Il
again out of cash and has only fai
prospects his nerve seems to stay b.
him. Some kinds of nerve only ill Il,
with that fatigued feeling. but John
sons variety Inspires US With respect
He is about the nerviest fighter tina