Evening star., 1942-04-15

minded, bad times" were cornbated
by ever pushing the frontier west
ward This, he said. was a safety
valve"
In the bitter days OF the early
COS when blight like this lay on
the land" he said. ''as a little boy
I saw prairie schooners going past
the door in Kansas-day after day
hour after hour-ruined families
headed into the sunset"
Forced to Take Trail.
His family finally felt forced Ia
take that trail. He recalled living
in a sod house at what became
Okmulgee, Okla, saying My ia
ther was In that SOD house because
of just such an economic catas-
trophe as this depression"
Robust and imaginative at Is. he
ran away from home-then in Alva
Okla.-to answer the Spanish
American War call for volunteers
His father had him returned TO his
studies and in 1901 the youngster
graduated from the Oklahoma
Northwestern Normal School.
The itch for the military re-
manned, however, leading to a West
Point appointment In the spring
OF 1908 he was awarded lieuten
ancy in the cavalry.
He did relief work for sufferers
from the San Francisco fire of 1906 +:
spent the following two years in the
Philippines and next superintended
Yosemite and Sequoia National
Parks In turn.
Such peaceful posts as the latter
meant opportunity for reading. writ
ing and study-his main interests.
He turned out two adventure novels
for boys, Williams at West Point"
and Williams on Service"
Once in the Army" he recalled
In after years. Il was stationed at
Orc Blanco in Arizona and have
unused on the dogtooth of Babo-
quieveri Peak, which can be seen
on a bright day from the Gulf of
Lower California. lao miles away"
EHtcTtu tduI@0la u.
Those thoughts must have turned
to his father and the law. for he had
the Army enter him in the Univer-
sity of California. He earned a be-
lated bachelor of arts degree in 1915
and became a doctor Of jurispru-
dence the succeeding June.
His scholastic accomplishments
were honored there in later life by
election to Phi Beta Kappa. On
that occasion, he looked back: "I
was drawn from here pell-mell by
the arson, rape and murder of the
Villa raid on Columbus. N Mex, to
put into work the benefit of my law
course as Judge advocate to Gen.
Pershing."
For several torrid months he held
that trying position with the puni-
tive expedition that President Will
son ordered into Mexico because of
the rowing Villa bands.
When some quaint Quirk of diplo-
macy stultifled PerShing at Mani
quipa and ordered him not to 60 out
and take Villa, trick that he could
have turned any night" said Gen.
Johnson. "the general ordered me to
put in my time on a study of the
Mexican political system to see if
there had been 10 years Of revolution
there and every form of government
known"
To the study Of governments in
general that this young officer then
undertook he attributed an invalu-
able understanding of relationships
between federal. state and county
forms. The sheriffs Office interested
him as much as the Presidents.
1T was the broad foundation for
the selective service law and its
administration" he stated of the
study. 1t gave him assurance, when
the time arrived, in going ahead with
draft preparations regardless of red
tape. He knew the great American
Continent that was his field, its
laws, citizens and customs.
October, 1916, brought him to his
first Washington duty, as assistant
to the law officer at the Bureau of
Insular Affairs.
Ripped Army Red Tape.
The next April, when the war tor
nado was about to hit, he was made
deputy provost marshal general, still
captain. BY mid-May he was a
major; by August a lieutenant
colonel; in January a colonel and on
April IS. 1918. a brigadier general.
Between those two Aprils he
crammed epic activity. At the War
Department they still tell that he
began preparing for the draft even
before war was declared on Ger
many. When that declaration came,
Congress had yet to debate the draft
bill. and costly delay in starting the
A. E. F. seemed inevitable.
But when the law was enacted 1t
turned out that this brash subordi-
nate already had millions of reg
lstration blanks not only printed, but
mailed. The machinery was ready to
function and superiors could not OBJ
ject, though they better understood
why, in younger days, fellow officers
had fastened the nickname of
''Toughy" on Gen. johnson.
1t was Gen. johnson who directed
the registration of 24,234 900 men,