“The decision which retained Moxham in the mill and turned me adrift,”
he said, “was both a wise and a fortunate one. Moxham was better suited
to the position than I was, and, moreover, I was thus thrown into the
work for which I was adapted.”
Quickly, the boy, who was then nearing manhood, passed from one place
to another in the company’s service until, after a few years, he became
superintendent. Then he set about building up the railway and putting
it on a paying basis. By a wise system of improving the accommodations
and reducing the expenses, he was successful in this effort, and he
forthwith began to look around for fresh fields for his ambition. But,
in the meantime, like most men who are conscious of their strength
and ability to cope with the world, and like many who are not, he had
entered upon matrimony. His bride was his cousin, Miss Margaret J.
Johnson, of Louisville, Kentucky.
At the time of his marriage, Tom L. Johnson was but twenty, and was
just beginning to get a secure footing in business. But he was not
content with his limited scope of action. Moreover, his employers
wanted to help him forward, recognizing his ability. Of his own
initiative, Biderman Du Pont, one of the owners of the railway, offered
to his _protégé a loan of_ $30,000, with which to try his fortune. The
possibility of security was, of course, out of the question.
“Take it, Tom,” he said, “and if you live, I know you’ll pay it back;
if you die, why, I’ll be out just so much. But I’m gambling on your
living.”
“And later,” remarked Mr. Johnson, “I had the pleasure of associating
two of Mr. Du Pont’s sons with me in business matters, and thus enjoyed
the satisfaction of partially repaying his kindness.” With the generous
loan, the young financier organized a triumvirate for the purchase of
the street railways of Indianapolis, thus taking the first step in
the course which led him in turn to absorb the lines of Cleveland,
Detroit, St. Louis, Brooklyn and other cities. In Indianapolis, he
pursued, with benefit to himself, the system which had been successful
in Louisville,—cheap fares and good accommodations, with increased
transfer privileges.
From that time on his career is an illustration of the benefits of
expansion. The days of the cable and electric cars came, and the new
inventions were immediately extended to the lines under his control.
By that time he had become strong enough to conduct his operations
independently in his own behalf, or in conjunction with Moxham,—whose
retention in the mill, by the way, had been but of temporary benefit to
him, owing to the failure of the concern.
Like other practical men who have risen from the bottom of the ladder,
Mr. Johnson familiarized himself with every detail of his business,
even to the mechanical difficulties involved. This he proved by
inventing a brake for cable-cars, which came into extensive use.
“PROGRESS AND POVERTY” CHANGED HIS WHOLE LIFE.
One day, while traveling, Mr. Johnson came across a book which
was destined to influence his career vitally. This book was Henry
George’s “Progress and Poverty.” There, he thought, was the solution
of the great social questions of the age, and from that moment he
was an ardent “single-taxer.” Indeed, the desire to benefit his
fellowmen by opening their eyes to what he considered the truth, had
become his first consideration in life, more important even than his
business. Forthwith he set about to convert his father and partner,
and when, soon thereafter, the chance for action on a larger stage
presented itself, he was himself irresistibly impelled to seize it,
despite distrust in his own ability. Owing to his uniform plan of
considering the comfort of the public in the operation of his railway
lines, he had earned for himself unsought popularity in the city of
Cleveland, where rival companies had practiced a reactionary system of
niggardliness and indifference. The reward came not only in financial
prosperity, but also in the form of an unexpected nomination to
congress.