OCR Text |
Show GOV. JOHNSON RESIGNS POST Retains Senatorship and Announces An-nounces Resignation to Be Effective March 15. POPULAR IN STATE Runs Ahead of Ticket in California Cali-fornia by Nearly 300,000 Plurality. SACRAMENTO. Cal., March 12 Governor Hiram W. Johnson, United States senator-elect, announced his resignation from the governorship here loday, effective March 15. Announcement followed an unsubstantial unsub-stantial report that he would resign the senatorship and keep the governorship. gover-norship. Governor Johnson's second term of four years was slightly more than half enniplete.!. lie wa- . ! u-d r.'ui' d States senator, running on the Repub lican and Progressive tickets, by nearly near-ly 300,000 plurality, although the state went Democratic for the presidency by a plurality of 3700. The gfovernor Is registered as a Pro gresslve. An effort was made by many of his supporters in the state to persuade him to remain in office until December, as some other governors gover-nors including LaFolletti of Wisconsin, Wiscon-sin, have done under similar circumstances. Gov Johnson will be succeeded automatically auto-matically by William D. Stephens of Los Angeles, a former congressman Stephens was appointed lieutenant governor by Gov Johnson, after a considerable con-siderable interval, following the death j of Lieut. Gov. John Eshleman. February Febru-ary 28. 1916. In a statement the governor said: ' I have had in mind but one thought I my obligation and my duty to the people of California, who by overwhelming over-whelming majority, have expressed confidence in me and who have treafed i me with a generosity seldom accorded to any man in public life. Our nation now confronts a great international j crisis in which California should play a due part. "The extra session of congress renders ren-ders it important that every represen- tatlve should lend his presence and his aid in this crisis." |