Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-08-17
JOHNSON TELLS OF
LIES AND CORRUPTION
Good City Executive Is One Who
Acts Quickly and Is Some.
times Right.

tons Magazine. Tom L.. Johnson. the
late may" OF Cleveland, Ohio. SAYS.
III the railroads l fought III Ohio
had not been able to corrupt the Of
ticials of the state and had been COM
pelied to pay in their just and due
taxes to the state. and had cleveland
got her share OF the tax money lawfully
due her. II would have iishtencd the
Indebtedness OF every citizen in cleve-
land. Public works OF all kinds could
have gone forward without any linan-
cial setbacks. city and citizen alike
would have felt the benefits from this
money. But no. The railroads lied. the
auditors winked, the people We're
cheated and the money stayed where
1t could do the least good and the most
harm-fn the pockets of privilege. And
this sort of thing is gong on every
day OF your lite in your own city. out
through the counties of your own state.
IN your state houses and under the
dome OF the national CAPITOL
He then tells OF his first campaign
n election to the mayoralty in 1901
and OF the beginning of his famous
hight to wrest the lake front from rail-
roads. which. though he is now dead,
still goes on.
Steam railroads over the possession of
the lake front of Lake Erie" he says.
AS a citizen l had brought suit to pre-
vent the then mayor, Honest John
Farley. from signing an ordinance
passed by q crooked council settling
this controversy by conveying the land
IN question to the railroads without
compensation. The founders of the
city of Cleveland, wise in their day and
generation, had set apart land on the
axe 1font to be used as a public wharf
n landing place for the of
the great lakes. In the '4Os the city
had sold to the Pennsylvania and 9TH
er steam railroads a strip of this
ground $50 feet wide. The railroads
mad extended this and by using the
!ake frent as a dumping ground and
filling between the shore and rows of
piles driven i'm the X The litigation
which had been going on for years.
was over several hundred feet of made
land, the accretions to the strip which
the railroads had purchased and on
located.
A Large Stake.
This made land was estimated to
be worth from $4,000 900 to 500. OOO. GOO
at the time l brought my suit to en-
!olh the city from settling and it has
increased enormously in value since.
This case has been in the courts prac-
tlcally ever since the railroads began
making the land and it has recently
been decided in the city's favor by tha
court OF common pleas n the circuit
court. The supreme court of Ohio can
nafdiy TAN to uphold the decision OF
tne lower courts that the CITY had no
right to dispose of this land.
Ihe people We're deeply interested in
1nls controversy and the fact that the
chamber OF commerce. made up of H.
oVo business men. supported the settle
ment proposed b. the Farley adminis-
tration. added to their feeling of ont.
rage. In contests between the people
and privilege the chamber of COM
lnefce was with privilege and against
ene people on every question which
came up while l was mayor
Il was elected mayor Of Cleveland
April |, 1901: The law provided that
the mayor-elect could take office az
soon as he had qualified, and it was
customary to do so within two or three
weeks after election. My injunction
ing the ordinance in the lax front
case was to expire at IL a.. M. April
ftn, and 4 did not propose to let pre-
cedent stand in the way of the hest
method of dealing with that matter.
therefore, requested the members of the
board of elections to work day and
night in order that the vote could he
before the expiration OF the
injunction. At 1923 a. M, April 4th-
just 81 minutes before the Injunction
expired, the board completed its labors
ana the official count. 1 took
the oath OF office and filed my bond at
lO:3O a. M. n went directly to the
mayor office.
Move Out.
MIR. Farley looked UP as I came in
ungraciously, Well. Tom
when are you going to take hold?'
replied that I hoped he would take his
time about moving his belongings, but
mat 1 had been mayor for several min
utes. One of the very early acts of nv
administration was to cause the intro
auction of an ordinance in the council
repeating the ordinance Of the Farley
administration in the lake front mat.
ter.
There were innumerable other mat
GERS calling for my immediate atten-
ton when l became mayor and I acted
as quickly as possible in as MANY di-
rections as l could. The secret of a
quickly n is sometimes right.
\ ordered strict inspection os
theaters and other public buildings.
made war On billboards. ordered Old
crane structures torn down, put a force
OF white wings to work cleaning up
the downtown streets. inaugurated
steps looking toward a better lighting
Fystem. set the law department hunt
ing up expiring street railway fran
Chises. moved to reduce water rates.
had a contest with the Pennsylvania
Railway company over the ownership
OF 20 streets. looked after some CITY
eases pending in the federal court. es-
tablished a department examiner to
Keep an eye on all departments of the
city government. o. down the keen
OIL the grass signs In the parks. COM
,nents in h parks. ana a number OF
other things.
"Of course, all these activities cost
money. n as there was not sufficient