The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-21
Minnesota Governor a Unique Figure.
HIS RISE A RAPID ONE.
Was Proud of Fact That He
 Began Life as Poor Boy.

DGgdli LilG 0S FuUI DUy.
 A ONE pessimists say that oppor
 tunity for the American boy has passed, but the career oi
 the late John 4. Johnson, gov ernor of Minnesota, does not prove it When Johnson was nominated for gov ernor in 1904, to lead forlorn hope as everybody supposed, his political ] opponents published broadcast the statement that his father had died g ] drunkard in poorhouse and that his i mother had taken in washing. The report was investigated and proved ! true, but it did not have the effect that it's circulators had hoped. The same kind of American manhood that had elected the rail splitter, Lincoln, 1 president, arose for Johnson. He was /. elected, although the remainder of his ticket was showed under by nearly [ 100000 majority. Not only so, but he has been elected twice since, the only Democrat chosen in his strongly Re publican state. In 1900 Johnson was the most prominent candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination second to Bryan.
 Governor Johnson died as the result of the fourth operation for appendi- citis, or, more correctly, the adhesions resulting from former operations for appendicitis, the first of which occurred fifteen years ago. He was born in Minnesota in 1861, the son of poor Swedish immigrants.
 The last notable utterance of Gov ernor Johnson was an appeal for the west to stand together and look out for it's own interests, which President Taft regarded sof~sufficient importance te refer to in bis Boston address, made at the very time that Johnson was pre- pairing to undergo the operation which resulted in his death.
 Nominated For Governor.
 In 1904 the Democrats of Minnesota nominated for governor a country edi- tor, the St. Peter Herald man. John Johnson was a pretty good country ed ttor, too but there were some 700 oth- CTS in Minnesota. St. Peter is a small town, and the Herald is a small paper. But it is not necessarily true that a small paper in small town had a small man at the head of it. Plenty of instances to the contrary might be cited, but Johnson's is enough. For fifteen years Editor Johnson had run the editorial end of the Herald, while his partner, Henry Essler, had run the mechanical end. Both took a hand at the business end. Johnson became sec retary and then president of the state editorial association. So the other edi- tors knew him, and they liked him.
 Johnson hnd served one term as a Btate senator, and some of the politi- clans knew him and liked him too. But he was defeated for reelection, being Democrat in a Republican district, and when his party placed him at the head of the state ticket he was plain John Johnson. country editor.
 Minnesota's normal Republican ma jority is between 60,0O0 and 7O,OOe. The Democrats. had little or no expec- tation of electing Johnson. One reason they picked him for the candidacy was that he was a Swede and would get the Scandinavian vote, which in Min nesota is a considerable factor. They hoped he, at any rate, would make a decent showing, and most of them would have been satisfied with that But Johnson, having accepted the nom- nation, made a systematic campaign. His opponent, State Auditor Dunn, was not altogether popular in his own party. Dunn's unpopularity helped Johnson, against whose record nobody had anything to say. Johnson's popu- larity increased as Dunn's decreased Something had to be done for Dunn.
 Ten days before election some boom : erang thrower in Minnesota printed and distributed a circular setting forth that Candidate Johnson's father had been a drunkard and had died in the poorhouse and that his mother had taken in washing. You cannot find in Minnesota today the thrower of this political boomerang. Most likely he is and was then an inmate of the asylum for the insane.
 Some supporters of Johnson, too much excited to know a golden oppor- tunity when they met it face to face, were perturbed by this circular and urged the candidate to make a strong
  denial of the statements.
 q can't,'' was Johnsons quiet reply. Story Quickly Went the Rounds. The reason he couldn't was that what the circular said about his parents was true. A St. Paul newspaper which supported him sent a staff correspond ent posthaste to the little town of St. Peter. The staff man investigated the immediate antecedents of John John son. The repertorial assignment would have delighted any good newspaper man. It is not often that a reporter str1es such human interest," color. The Story of John Johnson of St. Peter, as published in the St. Paul paper, quickly went the rounds of the Mime sota press; also it went the rounds of the corner groceries and the drug stores and the country hotel offices, where governors are made and presidents are prepared from the raw material. The St ~Ea11I roportor disoovarad that