Las Vegas optic. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1908-1921, 1911-04-11
HAD AN ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER
SERVED TWO TERMS IN CON-
GREss AND WAS FOUR TIMES
MAYOR OF HOME CITY
GREAT SINGLE TAX ADVOCATE
AS A TRACTION MAGNATE HE
MADE AND LOST FORTUNE
OF $2o,ooo.ooo

Cleveland, o., April 11.-Tom l..
Johnson, twice congressman from the
twenty-first Ohio district, four times
mayor of Cleveland, champion of g.
cent street railway fare and leading
advocate of the single tax theory of
the late Henry George, died here at
S:45 O'Clock last night, after long
illness. He was 81 years old.
Mr. Johnson had been ill for more
than year, but his condition was not
thought serious until he suffered
relapse on Wednesday, March Is. He
had been gaining strength ever since
he came home after spending the
summer on Nantucket island.
The body of Mr.. Johnson, will be
laid to rest Thursday in the johnson
family lot in Greenwood cemetery,
Brooklyn, N. Y, in the shadow of
the monument that marks the grave |
OF Henry George, the great single tax
er whose disciple Johnson was. There
will be no public services.
Hard Hitter, Staunch Friend
A strong fighter, hard hitter, a
staunch friend-such man was Tom
L. Johnson. With complexity of po-
litical views which caused much ami
mostly and resulted in his being
known as political paradox" he
combined a charm of personality that |
gained him many close friends. To fu-
ture municipal history he perhaps will I
be best known as the father of the g.
cent street railway fare in America.
Tom Loftin Johnson was born in
Blue Springs, KY, July IS, 1854. His
father, General William Johnson, for
many years prominent in Kentucky
politics, lost his all in the Civil war,
and young Tom, when Is years old,
was thrown on his own resources.
The traits of character which in later
life made him prominent figure in
national affairs, early manifested
themselves; and he promptly cornered
the street sales of all the morning
newspapers in Stanton, Va. Later he
got work with the street car company
at Louisville, KY, where he received
81 a week, and it was in this humble
capacity that the future street car
magnate gained his first knowledge
of the business in which he later won
fame and fortune.
While in the employ of the street
car company he invented a slot ma
chine for collecting fares, and 1t was
this that gave him his first start on
the road to success. He was one OF
the first to see the great future OF
electricity as a locomotive power and
before he was % years old he had
borrowed money, bought railroad
in indianapolis and blossomed forth
a full-f1edged capitalist. He was mar
ried early in life to Margaret ]. John
son, daughter of Colonel Robert
Johnson, of the Confederate army,
girl who, in addition to great beauty
and gracious charm of manner, was
wealthy in her own right
The young capitalist early mani
tested a desire for picking up street
railways in various cities and became
known as the trolley king" con-
trolling lines in Indianapolis, Spring
field, Ill, New Orleans, st. Louis,
Brooklyn, Columbus and Cleveland
Virtually everything he touched pros
pered. and in 1907 his fortune was
estimated at s2O,0Oo,0oO.
Disciple Of Henry George
Perhaps the most potent factor in
Johnson's later life was his meeting
with and subsequent friendship for
Henry George, the single tax advo-
cate. 1t is said to have been on
Georges advice that Johnson first en-
tered politics, running for congress,
but being defeated in his first race,
IN which he campaigned on the free