United States Senator Hiram W. Johnson entered upon his political career just ten years ago. A practicing attorney in San Francisco and regarded as one of the leading men of his profession in his native state, he had attracted wide attention by his masterly handling of the prosecution of Abraham Ruef, the boodling boss of the city by the Golden Gate, after Francis J. Heney, assistant district attorney, had been shot down in court. Johnson stepped into Heney's place and, without compensation, fought the case through bitter weeks to a verdict for conviction.

Johnson's courage and fighting ability, demonstrated during this trial, led to his being chosen to lead the forces of good government in 1910 against the powerful political machine controlled by the Southern Pacific Railroad. He gave up his law practice and entered earnestly into the fight, running the length and breadth of the vast state in an automobile and speaking in every city, town and hamlet. In every speech he promised that-if he were elected he would immediately oust the railroad from its political connections and give the government of the state into the hands of the voters.

He won at the primary and he won at the result of the same sort of campaigning at the November election. Taking office at the beginning of 1911, he immediately carried his pre-election promises to a 100 percent fulfillment. Men opposed to Johnson at the beginning of his political career are now openly in the fight in his behalf.

His national record has been one of forward-looking Republicanism. He supported every war measure and was a member of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. He led the fight for the return of the American troops sent to Siberia. He fathered laws for the amelioration of wage conditions among Federal employees. He has been one of the leading opponents of the League of Nations, and was the only man in the nation with the courage to follow President in his tour of the country and present the arguments against the League.