Bisbee daily review., 1908-05-17

Governor Johnson, Of Minnesota, ant his prospects of securing the presi dential nomination, the inhabitants of this little town have a unique inter est in the convention for upon its outcome depends the answer to the one question which everyone here is asking will John Johnson come back to St Peter, to look after his news paper and be one of us agadn?" 1ne business men are asking this Ques- tion. The women and children are anxious to lear the answer. The of fee force, from the devil up to Henry Essler, Johnson's business partner in the St. Peter Herald news paper enterprise, are eager to mo out whether or not the boss" will ever return to his job of editing his weekly paper.
 When John Johnson stepped on board the train to go to St Paul to take charge of the affairs of the pee pie in the big marble statehouse, ns turned around to Henry Essler and said. I'll be back in two years, Hen ". Try to keep the subscribers in line, and don't let the ads. get away from you; keep the job work going" Two years passed, with Joansvu vt, the Governors job at St Poul. but he didn't come back. He had looked after the peoples business as he had his own job work, and the people ap- preciated it. They couldn't afford to let a good man out, so they hired him for another two years. In the meantime, Essler. looked after the pa. per and St. Peter waited for Johnson to come back homo.
 Now it has come to pass that John sons fame has grown beyond the township line. The State of Mime sota was not big enough to hold 1t. and now the Minnesota executive Is one of the most talked of men for the position of standard bearer for the Democratic party in the next cam paign. The eyes of all St. PeteI al e strained toward Denver to learn if their idol Is to go to Washington. They wish him success from the bottom of their hearts, but secretly and earn estly what they want to know is whether John" Is coming back hcme to attend to the job work and writs tie locals on the old paper.
 Hes too good man to lose" said ole of the old residents of the town voicing the feelings of che rest "T'hats why we lost him. ehst tfe I legislature took him and then the State made him Governor. Now n looks as if the country wanted him and if it does, the State won't be able to keep him any more than We were. You see we are interested because we know him. We have watched him grow up here and win ys first life battles. While others wondered at his success, we did not wonder, be cause We know on what firm founda- tions of character and ability it was based. He's bound to win out be cause his whole life has been win, ning out-against hardships. poverty and obstacles of every kind"
 Go to anyone in St Peter and they will say the same thing in different words and they will Follow it with an account of the Governors life. They will tell how, when his drunHen father abandoned his mother, the lad quit school and started to work to help support her. They will tell how he worked in a country store for s1O a week and later in drug store and in a railroad contractors office, and how he kept on educating himself by reading at night so that he would not lose the advantages of a higher schooling.
 John A. Johnson was born in St Peter, Minn., in 1861, while the civil war was raging. His father and mother were poor immigrants from Sweden who had come to this country e1gnI years before. Johns boyhood was unhappy. His father was a ne'er-do- reel who brrught Restitution to the family and when only twelve years old the boy left school to help sup port, as well as providing for a broth CT and sister. :.
 When he was selected as editor of the St. Peter Herald by it's owners, he set to work unhesitadngiy, al though he knew no more about ed itorial work than he did about pre- historic archaeology. His friends lent hom the money to buy a half interest in the paper. He tackled the job ard mastered 1t
 When he was elected state senator he did the same thing, and he repeal ed the action when he took his place In tbe statehouse at St Paul as the chief of the state Those who know him best have never seen him hest- tare over an act Always he has seemed to know, instinctively. the right thing to do without puZzlins over the problem.
 Gov. JohnSon's first nomination to office came in 1894, when he was 33 years old and had just welded Miss Fillmore M. Preston. He was then the leading democratic editor in the state. Fpo-n being a power fn the newspaper world to being a power tn politics was a natural step and ore that Tor Johnson. with his energy and capacity for public service, was inevitable. The democrats nominated hin for the state senate, but although ns made a hard fight he was not able to overcome the republican majority. again in 1898, however, ne vas successful and in that and the following session of the legislature he made a record for integrity and abil- fty that gave aim the leadership ot his party in the successful fight Tor an increased gross earnings taI on the Minnesota railways.
 The story of his sensational cam paign for governor in 1904 is well known. Nominated in the year of the Roosevelt land slide, he campaigned on state issues from one end Of the state to another, and when the voCos were counted h November, 1t was found that he had been elected by the safe margin of 5000, although Roose- welt swept the state with a plurality of 151, 900.
 So John Johnson packed his grip, said goodbye to St Peter and the