Page:Forty years of it (IA fortyyearsofit00whitiala).pdf/186

 *crats 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."

Few have ever been vilified or abused as Johnson was abused in our state that year; his red car might have been a chariot of flame driven by an anarchist, from the way some of the people talked. Strange, inexplicable hatred in humanity for those who love it most! Tom Johnson campaigned that year on a