Jones, Samuel Milton, 1846–1904, American political reformer, known as “Golden Rule” Jones, b. Wales. He was brought to America as a child and worked in the oil fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. He invented improvements in oil-drilling machinery, and after the oil trust refused to handle these inventions, Jones manufactured them himself—very successfully—in Toledo, Ohio. He was noted for his advanced program of employee-management relations. Elected (1897) mayor of Toledo on the Republican ticket, he put into operation a comprehensive program of municipal reform. When refused renomination in 1899, he ran as an independent and overwhelmingly defeated both political machines. He was reelected in 1901 and 1903 and died in office. During his administration he established civil service and instituted the eight-hour day and minimum wages for city employees.
See his autobiography, The New Right (1899).
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