Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-26

, disguised beneath the cover of ''wcl-
/ fare commissions.
TT WOULD be unfair TO deny Gov
L crnor Johnson thc credit for much
legislation of enlightened character.
California was far behind in such mat
tcrs. and If pcrchancc Johnson's sub
scrvicnt Legislature deserved the epi-
thct of freak" which has generally
been applied to it. due appreciation must
be recorded for the institution Of many
needed reforms. The drawback was
that these reform and welfare measures
good as well as bad-were carried out
! by the institution Of numerous highly
paid commissions, which cost the people
Of the state exorbtant sums and each of
which became source of patronage to
the governor for his machine. This
! patronage was abused in shocking
| manner.
a large number of legislators were
given lucrative positions. Saloonkcep-
ers, professional gamblers, id omne
genus, who controlled large blocks of
votes, were taken care of and even
dominated the Republican county com
mittee Of San Francisco. The number
Of state employees increased by leaps
and bounds. and the expense of running
the state government jumped from
SS,376,2 ,29S in 1910 to $15,GS1 ,043 in
1916.
THE political degradation Of Califor
l. mia under the Johnson machine pre-
sents dark picture. The Obcdicnt Leg
islaturr placed the additional burden of
! taxation. necessary to meet the vastly
increased expenditures. upon the public
SprVirp rnrnprnt inns mud fnplaI thn
pie into believing that this came out of
their fat profits and not out Of the
pockets of the consumers. The owners
OF these corporations were rendered
thoroughly dOcilC under the threat of
contiscatory taxes without redress. and
oven today. in the primary just held
many of them came tamcly to heel :.
realizing their impotence to kick against
the pricks.
The story of Johnson cspousng tho
Progressive party and his disfranchising
forms chapter by itself but to tell it
would transcend the limits Of this arti-
cIc. Here is no question of the right or
proprcty of changing political ale
glance. II is the question of utilizing n
personal machine to seize and change n
party organization. Johnson. through
his complete control Of the Republican
state committee, secured the nomination
as presidential electors Of mon pledged
to vote for the Progressive candidates,
and prevented the names of real Ropub-
lican electors from appearing on the
ballot. To pcrpctuatc his control.
despite the collapse of the Progressive
party. hc secured the passage of an
! infamous primary law that permits any
man to vote in the primary of a party
regardless Of his own party af1iliation.
His attacks on the Republican party
were violent and offensive. yet when it
served his purpose he directed his fol
lowers to vote in the Republican pri-
maries, and thereby obtained again the
control Of the Republican party organ
ization for the purpose Of securing the
nomination for United States senator.
Another step also was necessary. The
constitution of California forbade a
governor TO become candidate for sen
atOr. He had this provision repealed.
The iniqutous primary law made pos =
sible at the same time political deals
and trades with the Democrats.