Imperial Valley press., 1912-09-26
THEORAM JOHNSOvELT
SEEN BY SAM BLYTHE

Samuel G. Blythe. in his who's
who-and why" department in the
Saturday Evening Post says:
In order to make myself clear, let
me begin by saying that though The
odore Roosevelt is the Hiram John
son of Oyster Bay, Hiram Johnson is
likewise the Theodore Roosevelt Of
Sacramento-not forgetting, however.
that oyster Bay is on the Atlantic
coast and that Sacramento is only a
hundred miles or 50 from the Pacific's
edge.
should ii so happen that the two
should meet at Columbus, Indiana
which, IL l remember correctly, con-
tains the center of population in or
about a COW pasture-it would be quite
difficult to distinguish one from the
other; in fact, the Impression would
be that of a composite person, a sort
of Theoram Johnsovelt. for those two
boys do cut up about the same. If
Theodore has anything on Hiram in
the way Of strenuousness what il is
is not apparent to close observers of
the two in action. mad when it comes
to language they denounce, defy, de-
clare and declaim with equal facility
and ferocity. The only thing in Theo-
dore's favor is that he has had more
advertising than Hiram, having been
nearer the center of the stage for
some time back, as it were.
OF course when Mr.. Roosevelt de-
cided to form his new party and run
for president as the candidate of that
party it was an absolute certainty Hi
a,,II Il hA lat ut
president. Any other choice was an
impossibility. A lot of people said
Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver would
be the coloners running mate, but
that was absurd. Not that the judge
isn't a good Progressive and thor
oughly in sympathy and all that, but
he weighs only about ninety pounds,
and he would have seemed sort of
CHASTITY in the role Of Bull Moose No.
.; whereas Hiram is as thick through
the chest the colonel, and as col
umnar as to neck, and as square as
to chin, and as regular and moosey
as need be. So they picked Hiram
that is, the colonel did the picking
and thereupon the convention repicked
him, indulging in some congregational
singing the while.
There is one grand thing about Hi
ram just as there is about the colonel.
Whenever you ask any Californian
about Hiram-saying casually as If
you didn't care much, but merely in
quired for the purpose of keeping the
conversation going: What sort of
a chap is this man Johnson. anyhow"
you get an answer quick as a fash,
that informs you according to what
ever slant the persan answering may
have on Johnson. There is none Of
the -committal stuff: "Oh, hos .
good fellow" or "Fair-means well
and all that" There is never 4 word
of that Instead. you are informed
explicitly that Hiram Johnson IS the
grandest little patriot who ever trod
the soil of California or any other of
our choice collection of imperial COM
monwealths. the greatest eNemplar II
the reform in politics and the most
militant crusader the sun Of San Diego
ever shone upon or the fogs OF San
Francisco ever logged upon; or. con-
versely. you are told definitely that
Hiram Johnson is the biggest fraud.
the worst demagogue. the most selfish
OF all self seeking politicians of the
day, insincere and anarchistic and a
sad affair.
There is no middle ground about IL.
Hiram Is either the best or the worst,
according 70 the views of the portray
er. Every Californian has decided
opinions about him. He is that kind.
II would be impossible TO hold a non
committal idea concerning Johnson.
He isn't a non-committal sort of n
person. Indeed. he never non-com
mits. He commits and recommits, and
his friends cheer for him while his
enemies jeer for him and Hiram bats
six hundred in the ee-aHead- and
Hit-It League.
The way that man Johnson talks
out in meeting is enough to give the
usual trimming politician perpetual
asphasia. If he and the colonel ever
perform on the same platform you'll
hear as fancy a line of denunciation
of the bosses as ever was presented
for the consideration of the public.
Johnson may have had a word mine
ing machine in his earlier days, but
he discarded ii prior 10 the time he
went after the Southern Pacific crowd
in his campaign for governor of CAL
y
never used il since. Words are raw
material with him and he throws them
at his audiences and at his opponents
in the rough-large, rectangular, sharp
cornered words. When he starts out
to be earnest he is so earnest he gets
all in a lather about it. Being posi-
tive, he is positive. Hence his sup
porters hurrah for him even in their
sleep, and his non supporters view him
with alarm twenty-four hours a day.
Johnson is a lawyer, and he has
fused in California politics now and
then and here and there for some
years. Then came the San Francisco
graft trials and the shooting of He
ney. Johnson took up the graft cases
where Heney was forced to lay them
down because of his wounds, and he
finished them to the ultimate increase
of the population of San Quentin pris-
on. Along about this time, as an out
growth of the revolt against the polit-
ical activity of the Southern Pacific
railroad, the Lincoln Roosevelt League
came into being. A primary law was
passed and the time seemed ripe to
take one final swipe at the railroad
crowd.
Johnson was made the candidate of
the league for governor, and he went
out in an automobile and covered
that thousand mile long state from
end to end-criscross and up and down.
He chose for his simple and continual
text these few ringing words. "Kick
the Southern Pacific out of politics,
and organized a kicking posse that
had enough leg power to win him the
primary nomination. This attained, he