John A Johnson High School - Maroon Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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O WE, students of the johnson High School, know just why our High School is the John A. Johnson school and no other? Do we know how appropriate the name is and how we can help to make it more so? We cer- tainly should become acquainted with these facts, for in order to comprehend the why and wherefore of the name of our school it is necessary to know Governor Johnson, the man, his life, his works, and his career. He was born of Norwegian parentage on a farm near St. Peter in 1861, reared in what was at that time a wilderness of Minnesota. He went to the little backwoods school house until the time of his father's disappearance. The family's poverty became too hard to bear and he shared the burden of its support with his mother. She began to do washing. He, at the age of thirteen, began to work for the first person who would employ him. He went to St. Peter, got job after job, drug clerk, supply clerk, and did an odd job here and there, worked for a railway contracting firm, and finally became editor and part owner of the St. Peter Herald. In each posi- tion he worked faithfully and honestly, never shirking a hard task, and always rising. His entrance into politics began with his work on the St. Peter Herald. As state senator he was always identified with measures that were an improvement or of benefit to the state. While governor he accomplished much for lVIinnesota's political advancement. He took Minnesota's affairs in hand while she was yet a stand pattern and shone very dimly among her sister states. He introduced modern legislative methods. He originated the two-cent railroad fare law and the primary election laws. This little sketch of his early life is important only in that it shows what a man with an environment such as his can achieve by faithful work and honest effort. It is not necessary to name all the many reforms he brought about for us to see what a worthy man he was, but it is well for us to know the faithful way in which he per- formed his public offlces. A man without pecuniary means does not become governor three times in succession unless he be a worker and a loyal one at that-and johnson was governor three times! At the time of his death he was regarded as one of Minnesota's big triumvirate-Archbishop Ireland, James J. Hill, and Governor johnson. Throughout the country people who knew him were im- pressed immediately by three things-his straightforwardness and sincerity, his charm of manner, and his broad culture. So, where could a name more fitting for our school be found? No Minnesota man ever stood for higher ideals, no man could offer greater inspira- tion to our student body. May he long be honored and loved by the school!

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