The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-04-11
TOM |. JOHNSONIS
DEAD At THE
AGE Of 81
Stormy Career Came to an End
Last Night
HAD BEEN ILL FOR A YEAR
Was Four Times Mayor Of Cleveland
champloned Three-cent
Trolley Fares
HAD BEEN ILL FOR A YEAR

Cleveland, o., April IL. Tom. l..
Johnson, twice Congressman from the
Twenty.nrst Ohio District, four times
Mayor Of Cleveland, champion of
three cent street railway fare, and
prominent advocate of the single tax
theories of the late Henry George,
died in his apartments in the White
Hall, East 10th Street, at S:45 o.
clock last night after long illness
Death was caused by cirrhosis of the
liver. He was 81 years old.
known of late mainly as the great
champion of the three-cent streetcar
fare and the single tax theories, Tom
Il. Johnson, at one time occupied
leading position among the street
traction fnanciers of the country. His
prominence as an advocate of ex-
IRENE radical notions hid his career
as one of the men who by sheer ma
tive ability had raised himself from
penury to great wealth, and men for
got in the demagogue the inventor
who had devised many improvements
in the equipment OF street cars, and
the shrewd man OF affairs who had
matched himself and won against pow
ers in the financial world,
He was born on July IS, 1854, at
Georgetown, Ky, the son of Robert
Johnson, well-known pioneer. After
attending the commin schools he start
ed work as errand boy, and then clerk
in the Office of the Louisville Street
Railroad Company. 1t was an excel
lent training for a man who all his
life was TO deal with street railroad
ing. He learned the practical side
of the work and also the secrets OF
business diplomacy with its dealings
with owners Of rights of way and
franchise granting Aldermen.
It was in 1891 that Tom Johnson
entered Congress. He had already
been defeated once on account of his
boldness in announcing his single
tax views, but in 1890 his fiery cam
paigns carried the day and he was
elected by a majority of 1920.
For two terms he served at Wash
lineton and il was five years after he
had retired. in 1900 that Mr. John
son began the fight with which his
name has of late been chiefly connect
led. He then stood for Mayor OF
| Cleveland, taking as the principal
Ipiank in his platform the institution
LOT three-cent street car fares. He
Justified this stand by declaring that
las he had himself been in the bust
ness he could say with authority that
cents was a paying fare
He carried the election, but he
found it different matter to win the
street car fight. Every step that
/ Mayor Johnson took was fought in
Ithe courts and in the six years that
Ipassed before three-cent fares were
ACTUALLY granted no less than thirty
nine injunction suits were brought
against him.
When at length Johnson did secure
the operation of a three-cent fare over
a portion OF the city it was found that
! it could not be made to pay Desper-
Iafe devices were adopted in the way
Iof alteration of routes and starving of
service, but the financial difficulty re-
NAMED To add to the troubles OF
/ the Mayor came a strike among the
Imotormen and conductors. The pub
lie began to feel that the three-cent
/ .are. for Which it had suffered so
imuch inconvenience, was not likely to
be attended by good service, and its
disgust came to a head with the fall
ing of the traction properties into the
hands of receivers.
Mayor Johnson had been elected
regularly since 1900, but when he
presented himself a fifth time in 1910
the middle class vote turned against
him and he was defeated. From that
time his story was that Of misfortune.
lie had been Obliged while still May
or in 1908 to give mp his home on
Euclid Avenue and his automobiles,
and it became known that his fortune
had been dlspeled in his long politi-
cal andmunicipal fight. lie fell into
ill-health as well, and though he still
spoke of taking up the fight again he
was forced to sink into the back
ground