EDITORIALS
WE WHO SEEK to appreciate the great soldier of the common good who has passed on, must remember what were his ideals. He fought for the progressive wing of the Democratic party, but he was not a...
...He saw poverty as a social thing, not as an individual thing...
...Knowing the game as it is played, he refused to play it, and never faltered in victory or defeat in the faith that no good can come of evil...
...The people understand—and that understanding is evidenced by the two hundred thousand who thronged the streets when Cleveland's great Prophet of the Better Day was borne away, to rest by the man who brought him the light by which he walked so straightly and so strongly—Henry George...
...I will not simply beg, urge, plead, coax, or advise in an impotent manner and thrust responsibility on others...
...He was in the charmed circle of captains of industry, and he stepped out among the people as one of the people...
...But let nobody think of that as a great sacrifice on his part...
...He used up his great powers in the service of the people...
...but had no faith in the permanent value of amelioration...
...The features of commission government that make it truly democratic, are the initiative, referendum and recall...
...In short, he was no cologne-water reformer, but one who believed in the supreme efficacy of the Christianity of democracy to save and lift up society—not through an individual here and there, not piecemeal, but from bottom to top, from mudsill to minaret...
...All praise to the legislators who so steadfastly followed the people's will...
...Here was a Governor with courage...
...Passing through the beautiful grounds of the capitol that night on our way to the hotel, I remarked to U'Ren: 'It seems that in the last election you moved the governor's office from San Francisco to the capitol building here at Sacramento.' " 'Yes,' he replied, 'now the Railroad might as well hang up a sign, TO LET—Offices, Capacious and Secluded, formerly used as the seat of government.'" On March 28 the California legislature adjourned its Thirty-ninth session...
...There was something more than words behind that utterance...
...He did not believe in palliatives...
...Money is not in the habit of staying long in the hands of those who do not devote themselves to it, and so Tom L. Johnson's riches, most of them at least, slipped away from him...
...Milton T. U'Ren of San Francisco, in the brilliantly-lighted chamber of the California House of Representatives, listening to the new Governor, Hiram Johnson, deliver his inaugural address...
...The word comes: "But even with a majority of honest legislators, had there not been in the office of Governor that dynamic force for political liberty and decent government, Hiram W. Johnson, the Thirty-ninth session had been much like its predecessors as to actual accomplishment for good...
...Concerning it, this has been written: "Of all the legislatures ever in California, it alone represented the real majority of the citizens of the state...
...They were being shown...
...He fought for the progressive wing of the Democratic party, but he was not a Democrat merely—he was a democrat...
...Men looked at each other with new hope in their eyes...
...As a man, we may not gauge him fully at this time, but we can get some glimpses of what he was by thinking of what he might have been...
...The square jaw was set...
...In a certain sense of the expression, he made no sacrifices...
...They stood afar and looked on...
...Here was an Inaugural which came true...
...Look around you now: there are other groups like that one...
...An "Inaugural" Which Came True FROM GEORGE JUDSON KING of the National Referendum League we have received the following little story of the opening of the California legislature: "On the night of January 3, I stood, with the Hon...
...The air grew electric...
...A Praiseworthy Message GOVERNOR WILSON'S special message to the New Jersey legislature, urging that the initiative, referendum and recall be included in the commission government bill, is a praiseworthy appeal to the lawmakers to do their full duty to the people...
...Thus ran the In ugural...
...He fought for municipal ownership of street railways and other public utilities, but he was more than an advocate of public ownership—he looked forward to the time when all such things shall be run free for the benefit of all, just as elevators are run in public buildings, the cost to be paid through public income from things rightfully belonging to the people in their collective capacity...
...Governor Wilson says:— "The reforms suggested for the adoption of the cities do not consist merely in putting their government into the hands of a small commission...
...He was a rich politician, and he refused to use his money in politics...
...They have laid the foundations for political and economic justice in California...
...A thrill ran through that vast audience and it broke into applause...
...They were not wanted...
...He was poor and became rich through his genius for money making...
...It is a fulfillment and a prophecy...
...The Governor himself says, "the list of victories is a splendid one...
...No empty platitudes, no clouds of words, no evasion, no back-up after the campaign,—but a plain statement which meant: I gave these pledges...
...I will redeem them so far as in me lies...
...Mr...
...He did as much as any public officer with the same opportunities, to ameliorate the condition of the poor...
...As a rich man he might have gone on until he became as powerful as Carnegie or Rockefeller—he had the genius for big business and the start in it...
...He regarded it as a curable thing, not as an integral part of civilized life...
...U'Ren called my attention to the group...
...He was a beneficiary of the tariff, and he embraced free trade...
...We must have the initiative and referendum and recall * * * the power of the people in government must be restored.' "The clenched fist of the speaker came down like a trip hammer...
...It is an inspiring record...
...Back of this change and in addition to it are the initiative, referendum and the recall, measures which enable the people to correct the mistakes of their governors, to adopt measures upon their own initiative, when necessary, and to recall from office unsatisfactory officials...
...Members of the legislature took notice...
...A partial record of its accomplishments in keeping faith with the people is given on another page of this magazine by Mr...
...In this we see the foreshadowing of a state of things in which nobody will be rich and everyone will be happy...
...but he could be happy in no other way...
...He will bring the Roll Call into service...
...Instead, he gave himself...
...Yet had we won only the initiative and referendum and recall, the session would have been abundantly worth while...
...go into every district and tell the people how their representatives served them...
...In former years, working men did not attend the inauguration...
...A public servant was actually keeping faith with his people...
...Opponents of popular government, fearing to defy public sentiment, always seek to vitiate good measures by inserting "jokers" or striking out the vital provisions...
...He fought for his city, but he was more than a city builder—he was a prophet of the City Beautiful, the City Democratic, the City of the Future without poverty...
...I will fight...
...But what of the man in the Governor's chair...
...He might have come to the giving of millions for libraries, foundations, institutes, and institutions...
...His voice rang clear and strong...
...That is significant/ he whispered...
...He was a monopolist, and he declared for the abolition of all monopoly, including the monopoly of land...
...This fighting Governor will now make a tour of the state...
...The sentence cut the air like a knife...
...In short, Tom L. Johnson was a single-taxer first, and everything else afterward...
...He believed that the evils of society result in the main from monopoly of natural opportunties, that greed itself is the natural armor developed by human nature to meet hard conditions, that it will disappear with the conditions that cause it, and that with it will pass most of our crime, most of our suffering, most of our sin...
...but he never accepted the cruel doctrine that every man may do as he did if he is only frugal, temperate and industrious...
...Yanckwich, who followed its work from day to day on the ground...
...They had gone to see if he was the same individual after, as before, election...
...In the center aisle stood a stalwart working man, his little boy in his arms, his wife seated at his side...
...The people, not merely Society, are here tonight...
...Governor Wilson understands this...
...Again the people approved...
...His message should be a watchword in every state where the people are trying to get commission government for cities...
...It spells a new day for our state.' "The new Governor was speaking—'the Southern Pacific must be kicked out of our politics...
...There was represented the culture and wealth of California—and something more...
...There is yet work to be done in California...
Vol. 3 • April 1911 • No. 16
