Politics
Marston was active politically and called himself an "independent". He was raised a Republican, but swung back and forth between Democrat and Republican, supporting the party or person most likely to push for reform. He supported California's reform-oriented Progressive Party in the 1910s and early 1920s.
Marston ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 1913 (against Charles F. O'Neall) and again in 1917 (against Louis J. Wilde). The 1917 race in particular was a classic growth-vs.-beautification debate. Marston argued for better city planning with more open space and grand boulevards; Wilde argued for more business development. Wilde called his opponent "Geranium George", painting Marston as unfriendly to business. Wilde's campaign slogan was "More Smokestacks", and during the campaign he drew a great smokestack belching smoke on a truck through the city streets. The phrase "smokestacks vs. geraniums" is still used in San Diego to characterize this type of debate.
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