OST people in Minnesota feel a personal pride in John A. Johnson. His hold on the State is more than political. It is an enthusiasm for the man that has broken down party lines to a great degree. Johnson's personal strength has made him a political giant, and in two elections Minnesota has honored him rarely. By the indorsement of his State he has been raised in four years' time from the obscure desk of a country editor to a conspicuous place in National politics.

Johnson's great success at home has given him an emphatic lift into the larger field. His first Minnesota victory, in 1904, drew attention for the moment as a freak of politics; but the second victory, in 1906, was the greatest popular indorsement the Northwest has ever known. It told the country plainly that in Johnson, the Democratic conqueror of a Republican State, Minnesota had produced an extraordinary man.

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He is essentially a Minnesota product, with just such parentage and early surroundings as thousands of others. In ancestry he is wholly Swedish, but Minnesota-born, and the first "native Governor the State has had. Though able to read the Swedish language, he has never spoken anything but English. John Albert Johnson was born in 1861, on a farm near St. Peter, Minnesota. His parents were early comers on that wave of Scandinavian migration that has peopled so much of Minnesota's soil. He was reared in St. Peter, and lived there till his election as Governor. The story of his boyhood is one that compels sympathy and admiration, and offers one reason for his hold on the people. It is not a strange or a unique story-that of a father's desertion, a mother's struggle for her little ones, and a boy's sacrifice of schooling and recreation to help the family. Other boys have done the same, but not many have had the buoyant spirit to overcome their handicap and

turn it to account. In Johnson's case his boyhood service made for strength and leadership, and developed a manhood broad and sympathetic.

The true story of those early years had to come out, because a false one was circulated; and the facts, once published, brought a great wave of human sympathy into a political campaign. Thousands of women, as well as men, became missionaries in the Johnson cause.

It goes without saying that the mother of the Johnson family was an exceptional woman. Her face in the portraits that remain shows strength and nobility of character.

She helps to account for John A. Johnson. In those early days she worked hard for her young children, but at thirteen John, of his own motion, quit school to become a wage-earner. He got a place first in a grocery-store, and soon after in a drug-store. From the age of thirteen he never had another day's instruction, but never ceased to be a student.

At fifteen John was earning money enough to support his mother and the younger children. He made his mother stop working for other people, and from that time on was head of the family. The burden was heavy for his years, but he was never a drudge. He was interested in everything. An older friend gave him a start in the right sort of reading, which he followed up eagerly, but he had time for all the activities of the village. He never missed social functions, he joined societies, sang in a church choir and a male quartet, and was always a leader among the young people of the place.

In politics Johnson was first a Repub lican, but he became a convert to the Democratic party on the issue of tariff revision, and when in 1886 the stockholders of the St. Peter Herald wanted a Democratic editor, they selected the young dispenser of drugs. He was not a writer, but he was wide-awake, he knew the people, and they knew he had a good head on him." Another man

had to look after the mechanical side of the newspaper, but John A. Johnson made a successful editor from the start. Naturally, he was more active than ever in local affairs. He managed the county fair, got up lecture courses, joined the National Guard and rose to be Captain of the local company. Of course he took a hand in politics. He could

spellbind" a little then, for as a boy he practiced oratory in secret places. In 1894 the Democrats of the county nominated him for State Senator, but he was unable to overcome the Republican majority. He made more friends, however, and in 1898 fought a "second battle." He was elected.

The term embraced two regular sessions of the Legislature and one special session. He belonged to the minority, and did not aspire to leadership. Though everybody liked him, his colleagues never regarded him as a "heavy-weight." His tendency then was to be easy-going, and he certainly had not found himself or come to realize his powers.

In 1899 Minnesota had a Democratic Governor, John Lind, and Senator Johnson, till the last day of the session, was a supporter of his policies. On that last day he broke over. Anti-imperialists were agitating for the return of a Minnesota volunteer regiment from service against the Filipino insurgents. Governor Lind advocated the recall in a message, and a Democratic Senator brought the question up by a resolution. Every Republican opposed the resolution, and every Democrat but Johnson supported it.

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Deplorable as I believe this war to be," said Senator Johnson, "I for one believe that we should join together to uphold the hands of Government, regardless of the political color that may be lent to the situation. I believe the regiment should remain in the Philip pines as long as the Stars and Stripes are liable to insult. If this be political treason, make the most of it."

During this same session there was a contest over a bill to increase the gross earnings tax on railways from three to four per cent. The bill was beaten in the Senate by one vote, but Johnson was consistently for it, and had the sat

isfaction of helping it to passage in 1901. Meanwhile, he was considered a good enough Democrat to present Governor Lind's name before the State Convention in 1900 for a second term nomination.

The Convention speech made a good impression, and so had Johnson's legislative record. These things and his Swedish parentage, a valuable political asset, attracted the attention of the slatemakers, so in 1902 there were a good many Democrats who wanted to run Johnson for Governor. But Governor Van Sant, Republican, was running for re-election on his "anti-merger" record, and Johnson read the sign wisely. He vetoed the use of his name, and escaped a fatal collision with an idea. Van Sant and his anti-merger crusade were indorsed by 62,000 plurality, the largest ever given a Governor up to that time.

Johnson tried for re-election to the Senate, but the Republicans put up another Johnson, and beat him. That defeat was great good fortune. Had he been elected Senator again, Johnson would not have been eligible to the office of Governor in 1904.

The Republican party in Minnesota was driven to schism in that year of 1904 by a bitter pre-convention fight. The railway interests supported R. C. Dunn, former State Auditor, who had openly defended the merger of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific roads. A barrel was tapped for Dunn, and he got control of the Convention from the Van Sant organization. Dunn disfranchised 113 delegates from Minneapolis, a high-handed proceeding that shocked the whole State. The anti-Dunn Republicans revolted.

The day after that Convention John A. Johnson stopped in St. Paul on his way north to deliver a Fourth of July oration. Here he met three Republicans, two of them old colleagues in the Senate, and one a newly elected Senator. They urged him to run for Governor as a Democrat, or even as an Independent, and in chorus declared that he would certainly be elected by the Republican voters of the State. Johnson treated the thing as a joke and made his escape, but other Republicans made the same

Republican State Central Committee. Adolph O. Eberhart, of Mankato, last of the trio, is now Lieutenant-Governor of the State, and a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor.

Shortly after this a conference of State Democratic leaders was held in St. Paul. They saw some hope of success. After canvassing the whole situation they in

dorsed John A. Johnson, who was not present. That indorsement was published, and letters began to flood the editorial rooms of the St. Peter Herald, signed by Republicans of standing and influence, begging Johnson to accept.

Still he doubted the possibility of a victory. He had no money to spare for a political campaign, and native caution told him to keep out. He wrote some of his friends that he could not run. They still insisted, and the most urgent was Frank A. Day, of Fairmont, another editor. It was apparent now that the coming Convention would nominate Johnson unless he barred the gate.

One afternoon, Day, at Fairmont, got a telegram from Johnson, at St. Peter, saying, "I have just written a telegram to the St. Paul Globe which will make it impossible for me to accept the nomination." Day hurried to a telephone, reached Johnson at St. Peter, and induced him to hold the telegram pending a talk. Day came over on an evening train, and on the Johnson veranda they talked till three o'clock of a summer morning. Day prevailed, and Johnson did not send the telegram. He made his arrangements for a campaign of Minnesota.

Johnson was nominated by acclamation.

He set a new mark in State campaigns that fall. In forty-two working days he made one hundred and three speeches, and reached all but ten counties of the eighty-four. Morning, afternoon, and night meetings were alternated with rough railway journeys. The pace was tremendous for any man, and Johnson was not fully recovered from a third operation for appendicitis. The cheering crowds sustained him with hopes of success, and at every town he made votes, while his opponent was losing them. He did not attack Dunn. The Republicans were attending to that, and Johnson devoted himself to making friends with the people.

Roosevelt carried Minnesota by 216,651 votes to 55,187 for Parker, or almost four to one. Yet Johnson, labeled the same as Parker, received 147,992 votes to 140,130 for his opponent. It was demonstrated in that election and in the next that party labels have ceased to cut

much figure in Minnesota. Outside the office-holders, there are not many thickand-thin party men to be found, and Johnson is one of the reasons for this new spirit of independent thinking. The direct primary law is another.

The new Governor began right by making high-grade appointments. His ambition was to get the best men and make records for efficiency in every department. He has kept the standard up well. A large measure of the public confidence in the Governor has come from his success in selecting material for the public service.

Members from State institution towns used to be mainly local champions. Johnson in the Legislature had fought for the St. Peter Insane Hospital, and had opposed the Central Board of Control idea. In the thick of this fight he helped to saddle the State University with the suzerainty of the new Board. Yet as Governor he stood for the Board of Control and its non-partisan plan, protecting its members from political influence. The University was set free once more, with his full approval, and put into the exclusive hands of its own Board of Regents.

Johnson's attitude toward the University was guessed at for a while. He was a Regent ex officio, and by appointments was able to control the Board almost from the start. There was some nervousness around the campus. The Governor said nothing till he had attended one or two meetings of the Regents. He made up his mind that there was too much interference by Regents in the internal affairs of the institution. One day at the capitol he asked President Northrop into his private office.

"I wanted to tell you," he said, " that I am a friend of the University and I want to be a friend of yours. I want to help as far as I can toward the success of the University. You are its President, and you can count on me to stand by you in everything. I don't want anybody else to be President while you are in that position. If the time comes when I think you are not the man for the place, I will tell you before I tell any one else. Meanwhile I want you to count on me, and to call on me any time you need support."

The atmosphere was cleared. They shook hands on the proposition, and ever since have been firm friends. As for the University, politics is still rigidly banished from its affairs.

Governor Johnson has rather set a new mark in attending to such duties as the regency and membership in other State boards. He has never given perfunctory service. He attends nearly every meeting, stays from first to last, knows what is going on, and takes an active hand, not as a governor or an overlord, but as a member like the rest of his associates.

In his dealings with the Legislature Johnson has never been dogmatic. He has firm ideas about executive encroachment, and has never forced matters on legislative attention.

Both Legisla

tures have been about three-fourths Republican, but relations have been pleasant. The majority paid little attention to the Governor's first inaugural. Some of his recommendations went through, as a "wide-open " tax amendment to the Constitution, an inheritance tax bill, an act placing the State Insurance Depart ment on a salary basis, and improvement of the laws against timber trespass. The proposals of a State immigration bureau and a separate training-school for delinquent giris were not acted on till two years later. His personal platform in the message included these ideas, either rejected or ignored: A four-year term for Governors, with one-term limit; reduced freight rates, abolition of railway. passes, an employers' liability law, a liberal forestry policy, and a non-partisan judiciary law.

Early in this first term a crisis was reached in the affairs of a large Minnesota life insurance company. Examiners had found mismanagement of a criminal nature. On a statement by Insurance Commissioner O'Brien, the officers of the company were summoned to the capitol by the Governor himself. The tale of their misconduct was related to them and their resignations demanded. They resigned, and a committee of Minneapolis business men, at the Governor's request, took charge of the concern. They arranged a reorganization, under which the company has been restored to public

confidence. One of the officials who resigned is in State prison, and another was convicted, but escaped through the meshes of the law.

Johnson's leadership in the movement for uniform State laws on life insurance has been generally acknowledged, notably in a special message by President Roosevelt to Congress. It was upon Governor Johnson's suggestion to the President that the Commissioner of the District of Columbia called a National meeting of Governors, attorneys-general, and insurance commissioners. This body selected a committee of fifteen, headed by Mr. O'Brien, of Minnesota. The committee's output was a model code of laws regulating life insurance, which has been adopted almost entirely by Minnesota, and with little change by Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia, and North Dakota.

It must not be supposed that Governor Johnson has been the only progressive force in the State since his inauguration. The radical Republicans kave kept pace with him. He has often acknowledged the co-operation of other State officials. Republican members of the Legislature during his first term fought for a two-cent fare law and a reciprocal demurrage law, both of which the Governor recommended at the next session. In the last year there has been a great awakening for law enforcement in the State, resulting in Sunday closing of saloons everywhere. In this movement the Governor was not a necessary factor and had no part.

The second State campaign for John A. Johnson was in 1906. The Republicans had difficulty in agreeing on a candidate. The man with largest following in their convention was feared by the corporations, who threw votes to a less "dangerous" man and nominated him. Though the nominee was not a corporation man, he was branded as such from the start, and the growing radical sentiment in the Republican party was sullenly hostile to him.

Johnson made another whirlwind campaign. He eclipsed his previous record, making 119 speeches in seven weeks, and reaching 78 counties of the State. As in the first campaign, he paid his fare for every mile traveled, and twice when