Cox—The Man

by Roger Ward Babson

A Friend of Man

Because Governor Cox would not call out the militia during various coal strikes and refused to send troops to Cincinnati at the time of the street car strike and to Steubenville at the time of the steel strike, some have called him a radical. Such criticism simply shows ignorance on the part of him who criticises.

Naturally James M. Cox likes the working man and has a friendly feeling toward him. When Governor he worked hard for the new Ohio constitution. Before the new constitution was in effect, workmen’s accident compensation was voluntary; now it is compulsory. As Governor he went all over the state using his influence to get the voters to adopt the constitution, having personally visited eighty-eight counties. Ohio people tell me that the new constitution was adopted largely on account of Governor Cox’s personal campaign in its behalf. That service pleased the wage workers of Ohio greatly and they naturally say so. On the other hand, James M. Cox often gives very pointed advice.

In talking with the Democratic candidate I was impressed by his sane and clean understanding of the industrial situation. Yet I cannot say that I gained from him any hope of a panacea for our labor problems. He presented no vitally new ideas, and while I confidently believe that he has the grasp of the situation, in other words the vision, the hope of an immediate and complete solution of our industrial difficulties seems little short of absurd. Nor did I find Cox disposed to sanction campaign orating holding out such hope.

Cox stands for pure Americanism but Americanism of the democratic type rather than of the imperialistic type. He favors progress and reform but insists that it must come about thru the ballot and not thru direct action. What he is saying today along these lines is reported constantly in the newspapers. Hence, it might be well to refer to what he said before he had any idea of ever being a candidate for the Presidency. The following prepared by him, is taken from the Resolutions above referred to:

“We are living in the most thrilling time in all history, and our resolves are centered in the contribution to our children and our children’s children of that measure of human contentment, justice and opportunity which will record us as the worthy sons of worthy sires. Confident that we must progress from the fundamental base of American ideals conceived and vitalized by the founders of the Republic, we pledge ourselves in firm and harmonious resolution to gain inspiration from the creed of pure Americanism, rather than from the disordered doctrines that find expression elsewhere. If peoples from overseas desire to live with us and become a part of the nation’s life, they must accept, in the first instance, this condition, namely that principles of government must change thru the evolution and processes of calm, human intelligence and that the mind of the majority, rather than the violence of a minority, must be the determining factor. We have been thrilled and reassured by the militant declaration made to this conference by the Secretary of Labor, Hon. William B. Wilson, that any alien who seeks to invoke force rather than reason against our form of government must and will be treated as an enemy of our institutions and sent out of the country.

“It is our expressed belief that any doctrine which inveighs against both God and government is a poisonous germ in human thought and must be treated as a menace to the morality and the progress of the world. It has been insidiously planted in some parts where the discontent growing out of unemployment brought fertile opportunity. Government, which derives its power from the people, must keep vigilant watch in the maintenance of public confidence, and inasmuch as the need most pressing now is to provide the means of giving every man a chance to perform the function God intended, we, as the representatives of States and municipalities, enter most happily into the suggestion that we coöperate our energies with those of the National Government. Its perspective is wider. It is guided by a fresher experience in things that are vital, and from it should come the expression of a dominating policy and the initiation of such practical methods as will match preachment with performance....

“Regardless of certain disordered statements by delegates to this Conference, its outstanding feature, nevertheless, has been a militant note of confidence in our government and industrial stability. The world in part is to be rebuilt. The patriotism, resource, ingenuity and unselfish spirit of our people saved it from destruction, and what these elements have accomplished in protection they will guarantee in preservation. We face the future, firm in the belief that the Almighty intends all things well, and that there remains for us and the generations to come full compensation for the service given, and the sacrifice made in support of the ideals of democracy.”