Johnson’s success in Cleveland, obtained nominally as a Democrat,
though in his campaign he was as non-partizan as Jones himself, made
him the “logical” candidate of the Democrats in the state for governor,
and when he was nominated for that office he burst upon the old
Republican state like a new planet flaming in the heavens. Many of the
Democrats found that he was entirely too logical in his democracy,
since he was as like as not to denounce a Democratic office holder as
any other. He went forth to his campaign that year in his big French
touring car, a way entirely new to us, and in the car he went from
town to town, holding his immense meetings in a circus tent which was
taken down and sent on ahead each night. In this way he was entirely
independent of local committees, and they did not like that very well;
it had been his wealth more than his democracy that had made him seem
so logical as a candidate to some of the Democrats. Such a spectacle
had not been seen on our country roads as that great touring car
made; it was a red car, and the newspapers called it “the red devil”;
sometimes they were willing to apply the epithet to its occupant. It
was inevitable, of course, that provincialism should criticize him for
having bought his car in France instead of the home market, and I shall
never forget, so irresistible in retort was he, the instant reply he
made:
“That complaint comes in very bad grace from you protectionists. I
bought my car in France it is true and paid $5,000 for it, but I paid
you $3,000 more in tariff duties to let me bring it home. You made me
pay for it twice and I think I own it now.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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