Miscellaneous Matters
A study of James M. Cox’s speeches shows very clearly that he stands for a budget system, the right of free speech and assembly, the strengthening of the Federal Reserve System, the re-organization of our consular service, and some liberal provision for our ambassadors and foreign officers especially in countries where we have foreign missionaries together with improvement of the various executive branches of the government.
Mr. Cox insists that if elected he would surround himself with unselfish men with highest purposes who are unselfish in their desire to be of service to all alike. He insists that he will be no “party President,” but will work for the entire people whatever their creed, color or political faith. In talks with him and a story of his records, I believe this is true.
In closing this story of Cox I cannot do better than quote his concluding remarks to his Acceptance Speech which were as follows:
“How misguided some of our people are: Recognizing that readjustment must be made, they believe that they will fare better if they cast their fortunes with those with whom they voted in days gone by. They do not sense the dangers that threaten. The sort of readjustment which will appeal to our self respect and ultimately to our general prosperity is the honest readjustment. Any unfair adjustment simply delays the ultimate process, and we should remember the lesson of history that one extreme usually leads to another. We desire industrial peace. We want our people to have an abiding confidence in government, but no readjustment made under reactionary auspices will carry with it the confidence of the country.
“If I were asked to name in these trying days the first essential overshadowing every other consideration, the response would be confidence in government. It would be nothing less than a calamity if the next administration were elected under corrupt auspices. There is unrest in the country; our people have passed thru a trying experience. The European war before it engulfed us, aroused every radical throb in a nation of composite citizenship. The conflict in which we participated carried anxieties into every community and thousands upon thousands of homes were touched by tragedy.
“We want to forget war and be free from the troubling thought of its possibility in the future. We want the dawn and the dews of a new morning. We want happiness in the land, the feeling that the square deal among men and between men and Government is not to be interfered with by a purchased preference. We want a change from the old world of yesterday, where international intrigue made the people mere pawns in the chessboard of war. We want a change from the old industrial world where a man who toiled was assured ‘a full dinner pail’ as his only lot and portion.
“Now how are we to make the change? Which way shall we go? We stand at the forks of the road and must choose which to follow. One leads to a higher citizenship, a freer expression of the individual and a fuller life for all. The other leads to reaction, the rule of the few over the many, and the restriction of the average man’s chances to grow upward. Cunning devices backed by unlimited prodigal expenditures will be used to confuse and lure.
“I have an abiding faith that the pitfalls will be avoided and the right road chosen. The leaders opposed to democracy promise to put the country ‘back to normal.’ This can only mean the so-called normal of former reactionary administrations, the outstanding feature of which was a pittance for farm produce and a small wage for a long day of labor. My vision does not turn backward to the ‘normal’ desired by the Senatorial oligarchy, but to a future in which all shall have a normal opportunity to cultivate a higher stature amidst better environments than that of the past. I am praying toward the sunrise of tomorrow with its progress and its eternal promise of better things. The opposition stands in skyline of the setting sun, looking backward, to the old days of reaction.”
CHAPTER XII
HIS RECORD
Shortly after his nomination for President in 1920, I told Mr. Cox that I was writing a story of his life. He answered:
“Well, Babson, please omit all the unessentials and even the things which I have said, and—so far as possible—confine it to my record and what I have done.”
Therefore, in this closing chapter, I wish to record some of the things which he has actually done and for which I am indebted to his friend and associate, Mr. E. H. Moore. Most of these things Mr. Cox, either as Congressman or as Governor, actually started, put thru or consummated. A few of them he simply aided by his influence, but all he believed in and worked for and saw accomplished.
All classes of citizenship have confidence in Mr. Cox because he accepts safe counsel and is a careful judge. Among the legislative measures above referred to, let me enumerate: