Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-12-27

Sometimes when you lay your head
on the pillow at night after hard day
and YOU are contented in the safety
and seclusion Of your home. you close
your eyes in peace and comfort and
begin taking those long, easy breaths.
Then, somehow. the pinfeathers poke
their sharp ends through the pillow
slip and no matter where you turn
your face, those pinfeathers keep polk
ing through and prick you.
Ever had that experience?
Well, that's Johnson all over again.
He never gives you any rest when he's
campaigning. He usually strikes where
you're not.
Napoleon never would have reached
the throne of France had he not revo-
lutionized time. In those early cam
paigns against the Austrians in Italy
he defeated armies much greater than
his own by marching faster than
armies had ever marched before and
striking the enemy from unexpected
quarters.
JOHNSON A NAPOLEON.
Johnson is Napoleonic in his cam
paigning. In 1910, with reputation
that hardly extended across San Fran
cisco bay he ran for the Republican
nomination for governor. The Old
Guard in California didn't want him
and did everything in its power to
make that campaign a weak, ineffec-
tive effort.
johnson toured the state from one
end to the other in an automobile and
everywhere he went he told the folks
he would kick the Southern Pacific
out of politics il he was elected gov
ernor. He knew how to talk to the
people. He didn't have big audiences
and he didn't get much publicity, aside
from that which the old Southern Pa
eific machine stirred up against him.
And this machine was i'm such bad
odor with the people that they sur
missed this fellow Johnson must be a
regular guy or the railroads wouldn't
be so deeply concerned about him.
From his election to the present
year, his record has been one of prom
| ises kept to the people. Although he
refused to take stand on suffrage the
women Of California believe he gave
! il to them. The direct primary was
effective before he became governor
or he might have been a private citi-
gave them a voice in selection of can
didates. He has marvellous facility
for taking credit for all that is good
and making the other fellow bear the
brunt of all that Is rotten.
SO HE DOES IT.
AS governor, Johnson passed laws
to destroy all parties, the Republican
party, of course. being the individual
he was after. The people thwarted
this legislation twice by referendum
Then, seeing he could not wipe out the
Republican party by legislation, he de-
cided to control 1t.
When the time was ripe he did that
very thing. He had passed law per-
hitting the candidate OF one party to
seek the nomination in another. Sc
after being reelected governor, he
sought the nomination for United
States senator as Progressive. in
which party there remained only a
handful of votes. He was not opposed
there.
Then he also sought the Republican
nomination, and by a series of clever
political maneuvers, as adroit as any
Napoleonic coup, he won the Republi-
can nomination.
He had whipped the Old Guard or
their home grounds.
Johnson had a big program mapped
out for himself in 1910 when he be.
came governor. Succeeding legisla.
lures have turned out innumerable
laws that extend popular government
humanitarian treatment and othel
things that the people wanted. Ht
Il
"Foks-jnst folks" Is a common ex
, preston of his.
MUCH YET AHEAD.
Johnson has carried out the bigges
part of his program, but he still ha
a great deal of work ahead of him
, particularly in the matter of election
laws. The California laws are a fright
full mess And the growth of the stat
along many lines has made it neces
) sary for q great deal of new legisla
ton to be enacted.
) II may be news to you to know tina
) While he was elected United State
J senator IN November. he does not in
+ tend To take office until next Decem
Der. He has appointed w. p. Steph
ems as lieutenant governor to take tn
, place Of the late John Eshleman, bu
4 Stephens is not the vigorous leader tina
t Johnson is. He doesn't rule with tn
Z iron fist, as Johnson does.
@ Johnson wants to round out hi
governorship with the coming legis
: lature. and that won't be through un
til long after March, so he has decid
ed to remain governor until the De
c eember session of congress when h
: will go to Washington.
This is an unusual procedure, BIT
n johnson wants it that way, and h
usually gets what he wants.
When he takes his seat in the Unit
\ ed States senate, he will be one of III
Il most conspicuous members in thu
II body. He has a way of making h
il presence felt.
II HE is A FIGHTER.