Read Online My Story by Elizabeth J. Hauser - Free Book Online
Authors: Elizabeth J. Hauser
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contest went on for a long time. By and by the odds seemed to be in our favor. Two councilmen, Crowley and Smith by name, who had always voted with the Simms-Hanna interests, lined up on our side. I could not understand why.
Finally, it occurred to me that possibly Simms might be able to throw some light on the subject. One night I hired an old public hack and drove over to his home on the west side. In response to my knock he came to the door himself â in his shirt sleeves and chewing tobacco as usual.
âCome in, Johnson, come in,â he said, showing no signs of surprise or any other emotion at the sight of me.
He gave me a chair near the stove, and taking another, sat down to listen to what I had to say. I came to the object of my visit at once, asking him to explain about Crowley and Smith. He was impassive, non-committal, almost silent for a long time, but finally in disjointed sentences I got the following from him:
âYouâre a smart young feller, Johnson. Beat me, didnât ye? Yes, ye beat me. Folks might say I ainât very smart. Everybody knows Hannaâs smart, though. Takes moreân a fool to beat Hanna. If you beat Hanna, nobodyâll say that any damn fool could beat Simms. Ye beat me; I want ye to beat Hanna.â
So with the votes of Crowley and Smith we did beat Hanna, but without a vote to spare. Our ordinance got just the nineteen votes necessary to pass it.
Could anything show more forcibly than this incident does the game of politics as it was played in Cleveland then and as it is played in other cities? Think of a single man being able to control the votes of two councilmen to satisfy a desire for personal retaliation or revenge! Think of men elected to public office with no more conception of their obligation to their constituents, the community, than to permit themselves to be so used!
Taken all in all, that was the biggest street railroad fight of my life, and its innumerable and annoying details severely taxed my optimism many times; but after all, I had the best of it, for besides being possessed of the enthusiasm that went with my temperament and my youth (I was not yet twenty-eight), I had the popular side of the contest in my favor. Looking back upon it now, I realize that that was the real reason for my success, although at the time I actually attributed it to my own business sagacity.
That venture turned out to be the most profitable of any of my street railroad enterprises. My competitorsâ prophecies that it would not pay failed dismally. Of course one of the immediate effects of my securing the franchise was to compel the other companies to follow our example and operate through lines at a single rate of fare.
That street railroad fight begun in Cleveland in 1879 was no mere battle but the beginning of a thirty yearsâ war, though certainly none of us then engaged in it had the slightest idea what was to come. Yet, I have alwaysthought that Mr. Hanna anticipated many of the possibilities of the great struggle which was to follow, for it was after my first victory over him in the matter of gaining the right to operate over his lines that he telegraphed me in Indianapolis proposing a partnership and a consolidation of our interests. I wired my refusal.
When I met him the next time I was in Cleveland, Mr. Hanna asked me why I had declined his proposition, pointing out as advantages to such an arrangement his acquaintance and influence with bankers and his familiarity with the political end of the game and my knowledge of and experience in the street railroad business itself. My answer was that we were too much alike; that as associates it would be a question of time, and a short time only until one of us would âcrowd the other clear off the bench;â that we would make good opponents, not good partners.
I never have had any occasion to modify that opinion.
As Mr. Hanna and I fought in Cleveland, so do other individuals, other interests
Finally, it occurred to me that possibly Simms might be able to throw some light on the subject. One night I hired an old public hack and drove over to his home on the west side. In response to my knock he came to the door himself â in his shirt sleeves and chewing tobacco as usual.
âCome in, Johnson, come in,â he said, showing no signs of surprise or any other emotion at the sight of me.
He gave me a chair near the stove, and taking another, sat down to listen to what I had to say. I came to the object of my visit at once, asking him to explain about Crowley and Smith. He was impassive, non-committal, almost silent for a long time, but finally in disjointed sentences I got the following from him:
âYouâre a smart young feller, Johnson. Beat me, didnât ye? Yes, ye beat me. Folks might say I ainât very smart. Everybody knows Hannaâs smart, though. Takes moreân a fool to beat Hanna. If you beat Hanna, nobodyâll say that any damn fool could beat Simms. Ye beat me; I want ye to beat Hanna.â
So with the votes of Crowley and Smith we did beat Hanna, but without a vote to spare. Our ordinance got just the nineteen votes necessary to pass it.
Could anything show more forcibly than this incident does the game of politics as it was played in Cleveland then and as it is played in other cities? Think of a single man being able to control the votes of two councilmen to satisfy a desire for personal retaliation or revenge! Think of men elected to public office with no more conception of their obligation to their constituents, the community, than to permit themselves to be so used!
Taken all in all, that was the biggest street railroad fight of my life, and its innumerable and annoying details severely taxed my optimism many times; but after all, I had the best of it, for besides being possessed of the enthusiasm that went with my temperament and my youth (I was not yet twenty-eight), I had the popular side of the contest in my favor. Looking back upon it now, I realize that that was the real reason for my success, although at the time I actually attributed it to my own business sagacity.
That venture turned out to be the most profitable of any of my street railroad enterprises. My competitorsâ prophecies that it would not pay failed dismally. Of course one of the immediate effects of my securing the franchise was to compel the other companies to follow our example and operate through lines at a single rate of fare.
That street railroad fight begun in Cleveland in 1879 was no mere battle but the beginning of a thirty yearsâ war, though certainly none of us then engaged in it had the slightest idea what was to come. Yet, I have alwaysthought that Mr. Hanna anticipated many of the possibilities of the great struggle which was to follow, for it was after my first victory over him in the matter of gaining the right to operate over his lines that he telegraphed me in Indianapolis proposing a partnership and a consolidation of our interests. I wired my refusal.
When I met him the next time I was in Cleveland, Mr. Hanna asked me why I had declined his proposition, pointing out as advantages to such an arrangement his acquaintance and influence with bankers and his familiarity with the political end of the game and my knowledge of and experience in the street railroad business itself. My answer was that we were too much alike; that as associates it would be a question of time, and a short time only until one of us would âcrowd the other clear off the bench;â that we would make good opponents, not good partners.
I never have had any occasion to modify that opinion.
As Mr. Hanna and I fought in Cleveland, so do other individuals, other interests
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