Books: The Progressive Democracy of James M. Cox
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Charles E. Morris >> The Progressive Democracy of James M. Cox
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THE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRACY OF JAMES M. COX
by Charles E. Morris
Secretary to Governor Cox
CHAPTER I
THE NEED FOR A DOER
There come times in the affairs of men which call for "not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work." Such a time is at
hand. A great war, the most devastating in history, has been
concluded. Its moral lesson has been taught by its master minds
and learned in penitence, we may hope, by the erring and wrongly
willful. But the fruits of victory are ungathered and the
beneficence of peace is not yet attained. The call arises for a
"doer of the work."
Two great political parties in the United States, both with
splendid accomplishments behind them and both with grave
mistakes as well, have attempted to respond to this call, and
America, whose proudest boast is that it has always found a man
for every great occasion, chooses between them. It is a solemn
and serious hour. For it has been America's special fortune that
its great teachers and leaders and doers have been found at just
the proper time.
This knowledge of the certain right decision of our country is,
we might almost say, a part of its very fiber abiding with the
persistency of a fixed idea, a part of the heritage of the
nation, scarcely needing to be taught in the schools, obvious
even to the casual student from an alien land. For our
historical records glow with the stories of the appearance of
_the_ man; and the thought of a friendly destiny seems not easy
to banish. Time has given so often either the inspired teacher
of the word or the doer of the work that there is more than a
faith and a hope, nay almost a conviction, that it cannot fail
now when the agonized appeal of the world beckons America to
complete her high mission to humanity upon which she embarked
when she threw her power and might on the scales in war.
Those who insist that the fulfillment of that mission lies in
keeping the solemn promises make in France, accepted by friend
and foe alike, for a League of Nations to end war, to see that
retribution becomes not blind vengeance, to set the tribes of
the earth again on their forward journey, present as their
leader James Monroe Cox, Governor of Ohio.
A party of traditions, a party that has directed in every
critical period save one since the Republic began, has said that
he meets the requirements of the time. That party chose him
because of his record for doing, because there was an inner
conviction that he could enter upon a still larger field with a
growing, an ever-expanding capacity.
This, too, furnishes a fitter chapter in the history of country
and party. For the wise selection of men, even obscure men, has
been the tower of our national strength. America had her Thomas
Jefferson to expound for all the world the real underlying truth
of her Revolution. The equality of rights and duties spread from
a dream of philosophers to be the doctrine of warriors for
freedom. There was her George Washington to hold together the
tenuous bands of freedom. She found her James Monroe to lay the
foundations of the doctrine that stern moral precepts forbid the
violation of sovereign rights of the nations. She brought forth
her Andrew Jackson to make the country in his time safe for
democracy, and to establish for all time that no single money
baron, nor yet any collection of them, is superior to the power
of all the people.
In later time she had her Abraham Lincoln, now in the judgment
of the succeeding generations but little beneath the Savior of
men, preserver of the Union for its larger duties. She had in
this day her Woodrow Wilson, builder of the newer policy of
world union and recognized spokesman of freedom in the death
struggle with military autocracy. It is of history that Lincoln
and Wilson both were stricken down with their work incomplete.
After Lincoln there was no doer of the work to finish his task
and the evil of those who perverted the exalted purpose of the
Civil War continues even unto this day.
Coming into the arena of national affairs when even America
seems to doubt and when the selfish motive of fear threatens to
palsy the nation's hand, Governor Cox became the man to
vindicate the statements and the pledges given before all the
world. His introduction to the conscience and intellect of the
country was a demand that the faith be kept.
Out of the night of war, the League of Nations has long been a
supreme issue with Governor Cox and he was chosen to carry the
standard because he had expressed the sentiment most strongly,
most clearly and with greatest emphasis.
Doers have ever been practical men, and such is Governor Cox.
But practicality need not, and does not, imply a lack of vision.
There is such a thing as ideality in vision and a practical hand
to make good the picture of the mind. The combined qualities are
considered as essentials to the adequate man of the times, for a
vision of a new world order is the rarest gift of the century,
but the man with the dynamic force and the cunning skill to make
this new dream come true has been wanting.
History--political history--was changed profoundly when
President Woodrow Wilson was stricken. Men were slow in rallying
to his cause, there were even clouds of doubt, ominous and
disturbing, when the party he led to two victories prepared in
the late June and the early July days of the year 1920 to state
its position, its hope and its aspirations.
In the state in which Governor Cox held leadership there was no
doubt. His own Ohio knew long ago that at the Democratic
National Convention in San Francisco its chosen spokesmen would
communicate but two mandates on behalf of the vast majority of
the people. One was that Ohio could do no less than be faithful
to its greatest executive and the other was that the nation's
faith and honor must be kept stainless.
Through Governor Cox that message has been sent to the length
and breadth of the land. As seen by him, the appeal to the
American people is one which began with the first plea to the
world powers for such a concert as would banish the continual
threat of war. This plea was made to warring powers when the
World War began in 1914 and it was renewed at each favorable
opportunity during the years when America hoped that the war
might be brought to an end before the last great neutral power
was drawn into it. Heeded by the Allies, the voice of reason was
rejected by the Central Empires, and from that hour there came
the conviction among the earnest lovers of peace that only the
imposition of peace would furnish a new basis for world concord.
Few men were more downcast than this same man when long and
vexatious delays in the United States Senate ended at last in
the recalcitrant refusal of the masters of the majority to
ratify the Treaty of Versailles. It is but a fair and truthful
statement to observe that, although his judgment of the mind of
the people told him that the party which went before the country
to vindicate the sacrifices of the men in the trenches would
have a most compelling issue, he had no wish for such partisan
advantage. As a Democrat, history will tell that he sought only
fair compromise on the treaty, even suggesting any honest
settlement that would hasten America's entrance into the League.
In his address of acceptance, then, Governor Cox stepped to the
fore with the tersest of utterances as to his position on the
League, compressing it all into "I favor going in."
If this question is not answered now and affirmatively, Governor
Cox believes that there may be delay until nations once more
have borne their crosses on Calvary and until further blood and
treasure are wasted. And so he says now: "I favor going in."
CHAPTER II
COX THE MAN
Men of great versatility are most difficult to picture
comprehensively. Perhaps this is the reason that no pen-portrait
of Theodore Roosevelt ever seemed quite complete. There was in
every single sketch something that seemed to be left unsaid, a
point made by one was certain to be omitted by another. Cox is a
man after the Roosevelt type. They were fast friends and they
had many ideas in common. They often exchanged views upon
progressive issues and found themselves largely in accord.
Neither was static in mental processes and their dynamics were
often of the same sort.
But while Governor Cox's intimates compare him often with
Roosevelt, they prefer to liken him to Andrew Jackson. For Cox
is the true Twentieth Century Jacksonian, they say. Like Andrew
Jackson, Governor Cox can improvise the organization of a
political campaign better than any man of his time, save Colonel
Roosevelt, and the masterful Colonel won only when he had great
resources at his command. Cox seems to have reached back into
history and grasped the idea of the manner in which Jackson's
men worked with resources so small that they had to pass
newspapers of their faith from hand to hand.
Largely, it seems, because no war came along when he was free of
family responsibilities Governor Cox has no martial record. He
might have been a soldier of the Roosevelt type had he lived in
other circumstances but his youth was spent in the drudgery of
toil and there was no chance for education in a military
academy.
Still they call him "fighting Jimmy," and those who have been
through a campaign with him know what they mean. As a boy there
was never need to drive him forward to personal combat and in
the man the juvenile tendency continued until he was well past
the forty-five-year mark of middle age.
If one were to inventory his external features there would
appear a compact, muscular individual of about five feet six
inches in height and of one hundred and seventy pounds in
weight, every ounce keyed up to the efficiency of successful
performance. motions indicate a man of quick decision, a
tendency to suddenness that many older than he have sought to
check in his earlier years. It is a proverb among those who know
him best that when Governor Cox makes an instant decision he may
be mistaken but that when he thinks it over for a single night
he is never wrong. As the years in a varied experience have
passed this disposition to think everything over has grown and
grown until snap judgments no longer are taken. This may be the
reason why men say that he has improved as an executive from
year to year and why his later acts and deeds have the rounded
out and complete aspect that is lacking in the earlier. The
nature of Cox himself is for "action," even when it seems to
take the form of experiment. In simple justice it must be said
that he has never been an adventurer, but he is willing to
tackle problems before other would seize hold of them. His first
administration, he thinks, was his best, for much more was done,
but his last is his best, Ohio judgment has decided, because it
repressed tendencies to go the wrong way, taking perhaps the
Gladstone view that a statesman deserves more credit for
defeating unwise legislation than for securing the enactment of
good. As Governor, Cox has been willing to risk defeat for
principle.
A trait of character is told in the story of school and taxation
legislation. He was warned that progressive steps would
encompass his defeat. If a composite answer could be formed to
all the suggestions of this sort, it would be something like
this: "There is need for improving our schools. Time will
vindicate it."
Something else of character may be learned from the manner in
which Governor Cox redeems pledges. When he was sorely beset by
his political foes in 1914, it was represented to him that the
liquor interests might be made to do service if licenses were
withheld until after the election. And the answer given was
something like this: "The pledge was given that the license
system shall not be prostituted to partisanship. That pledge
will be redeemed."
The forebodings of the worldly wise were not disappointed. The
liquor interests contributed heavily to the opposition candidate
and supported him so well that he won the election.
Cox hates war even if he made a remarkable record as war
Governor. But he likes the smoke and fury of political contest,
and he thrives on campaigns. He has a fashion of leading his
party organization and making it do his will, and like all men
or this sort, he has been accused of being dictatorial. Yet none
denies that he gives a fair hearing and is open to conviction on
disputed issues.
He has a power of expression in a few words, portraying a whole
field of action. Tending to go into great detail in public
matters, he comes to the heart of an issue with a laconic
expression that tells all there is to be told. "I favor going
in"--on the League of Nations is one. Assuring his supporters
that the proposal for separate peace with Germany was "opening
their front lines," he drew a word sketch of a gigantic contest
in which he as a general had sensed a rift in the opposition
ranks and had broken through a whole army.
Associates of Governor Cox say that he is daring because of his
strong sense of justice. The question is frequently asked by him
as to whether a proposition is fair to all sides. Readiness to
trust in him as an arbitrator has brought many issues to his
desk that are not part of a Governor's official duties. Disputes
between interests and differences among organizations, no less
than capital and labor disagreements have been left to his
decision. It is an evidence of the trust in the sense of justice
in the man.
There is a notable habit in him of picking men quickly for
tasks. It is not claimed for him that he has never made mistakes
in his estimate of men, but they are comparatively rare.
Governor Cox is the only man ever nominated for President who
owns wealth--real wealth. His personal fortune is handsome. That
was a point of criticism when he began to get acquainted with
the country, but it is no longer. The reason is to be found in
the fact that he has a natural appeal that makes his associates
forget money. Nor is the charge ever seriously made that his
broad sympathy is affected. When he is best known, the wealth he
owns is least often mentioned.
They do not refer to a wealthy man whose possessions are an
outstanding attribute as "Jim" or "Jimmy." Cox, the man of
affairs, is overshadowed by "Jimmy Cox."
As with all powerful leaders, no sketch would be complete if it
did not allude to a certain imperiousness that is in the man.
This quality has made foes but that was inevitable. One who has
risen by his own efforts has had the pushing impulse, of course.
It tells something of the Cox character that he has become a
forceful speaker only in the last ten years. When he first
entered public life in 1908 his style in speaking lacked force
and his manner was hesitating and uncertain. A course of self-
discipline and training led to constant improvement, and while
there has never been a pretense of oratorical flight, issues and
questions are discussed plainly and effectively. There is a
penchant for reducing statements to simple and understandable
terms and for stating his conviction with a measure of
aggressiveness that carries conviction.
As a candidate he has always believed that the people are
entitled to the fullest information possible and to see and hear
those who seek their suffrage.
Like Roosevelt, the more strenuous sports and recreations
attract him far more that does the swinging of the golf stick.
He is an expert marksman and has astonished military men on the
rifle range by what he can do with a gun. His ancestors were
squirrel-hunters, and his sure eye was an inheritance from them.
The Governor likes to rough it in the Northern Canadian woods,
spending at leisure a couple of weeks with only his son, James
M. Jr., now a boy of 18, for his companion. He prides himself
upon his ability to cook a fish after it is caught, and to
plunge in the lake as an evidence of his swimming ability. When
in Columbus his form of exercise is walking, and younger men of
sedentary pursuits find that he can tire them.
Quitting school at an early age, Cox's education has been
acquired through much private study. He knows no language except
English. His range of reading covers a wide variety of topics,
the favorite of which are the political sciences, and outdoor
life. He does not lay claim to literary excellence or perfection
of style, and is a man of serious bent of mind, speaking only
when he thinks he has a message to carry.
The name under which he has been known to the country, James
Middleton Cox, seems to be an error which only lately his
friends have corrected. In the old family Bible the name of
James Monroe Cox appears, indicative of a family admiration. The
name which appears signed to all official documents is James M.
Cox. The Middleton seems to have had its origin in a bit of
journalistic levity, probably having reference to Middletown,
Ohio, the city in which he got his early training as a newspaper
reporter.
The Governor's family consists of his wife, a little daughter,
Anne, who is slightly less than a year old, a married daughter,
Mrs. Daniel J. Mahoney of Dayton, and two sons, James M. Jr.,
and John, age ten.
While the Governor's devotion to the equal suffrage cause has
been of many years' standing, the interests of Mrs. Cox are of a
domestic nature. The time not devoted to her baby daughter is
spent in the outdoors, he hobby being her garden.
CHAPTER III
WHY COX IS A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
James M. Cox is a candidate for President because he hopes to be
the instrument of divine Providence in a great accomplishment.
He knows that the man who secures America's adherence to the
League of Nations is as certain of a permanent place in the
scrolls of fame as those who laid the foundations of freedom or
those who preserved it in the days of fiery trial. To a famous
correspondent, Mr. Herbert Corey, who put the question, "Why do
you wish to be President?" The Governor has answered: "It
affords an opportunity to take hold of a knotty situation (the
League) by the back of the neck and seat of the pants and shake
a result out of it."
The answer rings true to the man. The candidate has called it an
issue of supreme faith, elaborating his views in a recent
communication to the "Christian Herald," in which he has said:
"'Fighting the good fight of faith'--these words from the
epistle to Timothy might well be our text for this campaign
before the American people, which, within the limits of our
strength, has been carried to every fireside in this broad land
of ours. Ours is a fight of faith--faith with a world that
accepted our statement of unselfish purpose, faith with fathers
and mothers, wives and loved ones, who gave their sons, husbands
and brothers to war upon war, faith with those who made
sacrifice in homes, faith with those who toiled, faith with the
living and faith with the dead.
"If there were in this contest nothing but the question of
whether one or the other of two editors should sit in the seat
of power, nothing but whether one organization or another should
taste the sweets of office, we could not insist that there is
involved a fight of faith. There is, indeed, an issue between
two views of government, one looking forward and the other
backward. But temporary control by one side or the other for a
brief period of four years is not necessarily a supreme matter
of faith. We might try one or we might, in a spirit of
experiment, try another.
"In speaking of this we would have our personal fortunes
forgotten. They are of transient interest to ourselves and we
might say of less interest to others. To hold the exalted office
of President of the United States, to occupy the place of
Washington, of Jefferson, of Lincoln, to be looked to for
leadership in public questions, to be the first citizen in this
great land is not a trifling but a gigantic ambition, worthy of
all honest striving but involving, in the ordinary sense, no
supreme issue. So if personal reasons only animated us, we could
not muster the temerity to state our case with the ardent zeal
that controls us.
"But the motives that guide us are of greater import. As leader
of a great organization which has had its part in interpreting
the aspirations of the American people, and in shaping
Americanism through the generations we have been invested with a
sacred commission, a mandate sanctified by the reckless bravery
of our sons and ennobled by the heart impulses of our daughters.
Through circumstances not of our own choosing we have become the
custodians of the honor of the nation, we have been called to
fight the good fight of faith.
"We as a party willed otherwise. In the face of bigoted denials
of our good faith we sought only concord of all our people in
the tasks of American in the world. There was glory enough for
all and we never advanced the claim that it was a partisan matter
until the fact had been established through long and weary
months of purposeful misunderstanding and unconscionable
intrigue for party advantage by our opponents. There is in this
no suggestion of unkind sentiments toward our leading
adversaries. We can utter the sentiment voiced on the hill above
Jerusalem and when America has come to understand we stand ready
to blot out a dark chapter of our national life and to pronounce
a pardon upon a course of conduct charitably covered by 'they
know not what they do.'
"There ought to be in this a special appeal to believers in the
living faith. Its purpose to give to all the universal benefits
only a share of which it claims for itself, its conception of
the Golden Rule as the practical basis for dealings with the
world, its high plan to save the weak and feeble from the power
and will of the mighty--these things, we say, are of the very
essence of the true faith.
"It is not a subject for marvel then that practically every
denominational and interdenominational gathering of religious
men that has been held since the Versailles covenant was adopted
has included an endorsement of that great document. Aloof from
the contentions of partisans, freed from the bigotry engendered
by factionalism, looking upon national questions through the
windows of light and truth, the banded followers of the Man of
Nazareth have seen the question that is presented shorn of false
claims. In a word, Christians, speaking organically, with a
voice that could not be misunderstood have stated that they wish
the League of Nations.
"For such a League, for the only league now in existence or
which has a fair chance of coming into existence, we are
contending. Could the question be lifted from the arena of
partisanship and could the referendum which we have invoked be
by direct ballot, there would be no opposition. Unfortunately,
our system of government has not provided a choice so direct,
nor a manner of expression that would leave so small doubt as to
the sentiment of America. We say this from a field of personal
experience for like the certain rich young man of Biblical
story, we, too, have seen the type of uncompromising partisan
who 'turned away sorrowfully' for party seemed more important
than duty or honor.
"It matters little whether we say that we feel deeply for those
across the seas in their troubles when we fail to act in their
behalf. The successful issue of the war left a duty on our
hands, a duty like that which we performed in Cuba nearly a
generation ago and like that which has been brought close to
completion in the Philippines. We faced a Christian duty toward
our associates and even toward the people of enemy lands. It was
our obligation to bind up the wounds of the war and to show by
example the fulfillment of high ideals voiced by the leaders of
the world thought.
"There came to us the divine opportunity to act quickly and with
high Christian purposes. We might with one stroke have become
the counselor and friend of all humanity, its guarantor that all
the forces of morality would be enlisted upon the side of peace.
But the precious moments were wasted in fruitless discussion, in
idle bickerings, in invention of fancied situations, purposely
forgetting that the great purpose of the League of Nations was
to band the world together in a great brotherhood against war.
We were to lead the nations back to peaceful ways but through
our own wavering we actually, by reason or a small coterie of
men, we think wrongly advised, have drenched Europe and Asia
with new wars.
"The great heart of America has always been right upon this
great issue. There has never been a time when associations of
men and women, independent of partisanship, have turned from the
League proposal. America gave freely in alms to every war-torn
nation in the world. She sent her devoted bands of workers to
relieve distress. She sent her nurses to heal the sick. She sent
her contributions to feed the hungry. She opened her warehouses
to clothe the naked. She willingly gave her talent, through
private auspices, to help bring life back to normal. Her men of
finance gave counsel; they offered credit and we applauded. We
were touched by the works of associations and individuals to
lessen war's terrors and to refound the wrecked civilization.
But foolish men, vain men, envious men forbade our government to
do in larger form the same sort of acts which, done by private
auspices, we applauded as evidence of Christian purpose.
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