Whilst in Selma, he lead the movement which overthrew Republican rule, and served his party many years as chairman of county, congressional and state committees. He never held any office, and never sought any, until he became a candidate for governor. In the panic of 1893, he was one of the factors that averted financial disaster to Birmingham. He was one of the organizers and first president of the Sloss Iron & Steel Company; so that when he became governor he had behind him large business experience, and a wide knowledge of the conditions and resources of Alabama. He was nominated for governor in 1896, in one of the most exciting campaigns the state ever witnessed, and in spite of the opposition of the railroads, great corporations and money power. When he became governor he found a large deficit in the state treasury, the public schools languishing and the public credit impaired. When he quit office, after serving two terms, the deficit had been wiped out, the terms of the public schools largely extended, more competent teachers secured by wise laws compelling examinations, the credit of the state at the highest point ever reached, and the public service the most efficient in the history of the state. Every department of the state government had lasting impression made upon it by the firmness of his grip; the laws and policies he established, though severely criticised at the time, have remained, through adverse administrations, untouched, and stand yet as monuments to his justice and sagacity. We find from his record that he began ten years ago the fight on graft that is now sweeping the country; that he has a mailed fist that does cheerful and effective battle with corrupt interests and all interests that conflict with the laws and with the rights of the public, and that he can serenely stand under fire until an ultimate victory appears out of the smoke of battle. When we consider Mr. Johnston’s past services, his indomitable spirit, his unvarying regard for the public interest throughout his entire career, his fearlessness, aggressiveness and candor, his large experience in practical affairs, as well as American politics, it is not difficult to see why the people have chosen him for successive honors. It is rare that dominant qualities of the kind possessed by Governor Johnston are coupled with a personality so genial and winning and so rare a faculty for attaching warm friendships. The boy released from the Army of Northern Virginia, with his five scars, courageously leaving the home of his fathers to begin life in Alabama with a capital stock consisting of a mule and wagon and a box of tobacco, was no more friendly, no more kind-hearted and approachable than is now this man of affairs and broad renown, who has been chosen by the democrats of Alabama for succession to the United States Senate. * * * * *