His Mother
When the boy was in his teens, his mother left Jacksonburg and went to Middletown, Ohio. What the reason for this was I do not know. Later a formal separation took place and the father married again. He is now living at Camden, Ohio. Although James has always been fond of his father and now often motors over to Camden to see him, his real friend was the mother. The tie between the boy, the man, and the mother was quite exceptional. She lived to the ripe old age of eighty-one, having died only three years ago. Mr. Cox says that the greatest pleasure he ever obtained from being Governor was to have his mother witness his inauguration. In this connection, I shall mention a story which I heard in Dayton.
Mr. Cox was nominated for the Presidency at the San Francisco Convention late on the night of July 6th. He was sitting in the office of the Dayton News with his wife, watching the press dispatches as they came over the wire. Finally, the news came that he had been nominated on the final ballot. He seemed stunned for two or three minutes, and then rose, went across the room, kissed his wife, took her by the arm, and the two went home. The people of Dayton knew nothing about it until they read the papers the next morning. Therefore, the Governor had a few hours to himself. How did he use them? I am told that he got up early, ate a light breakfast and went out to his mother’s grave. There he stayed for a few moments in meditation and prayer. Then he came quickly back to where the people already were gathering to meet him. From that moment up to this writing, he has been in a whirl of excitement, but those few moments at his mother’s grave apparently gave him a start in the right direction. This right start has enabled him to meet squarely and answer honestly the pressing questions which continually come to him.
The United Brethren
The United Brethren in Christ have their headquarters in the Otterbein Press Building at Dayton, Ohio. Bishop A. T. Howard, D. D., and other prominent men in that denomination live in Dayton and vicinity. There are a great many adherents to this denomination thruout Ohio and adjoining states.
The United Brethren is distinctly an American religious sect, which was originated in the latter half of the Eighteenth Century under the leadership of Philip William Otterbein. Altho this man was pastor of the Second Reformed Church in Baltimore and had for his associate Martin Boehm, a noted Pennsylvanian preacher, the movement worked westerly to Ohio and Indiana. Otterbein and Boehm did a great work and their followers and teachings distinctly influenced the early life of Mr. Cox.
The ecclesiastical policy of the church is Wesleyan; but its theology is Arminian. Arminius was a Dutch theologian who was one of the first to oppose the stern teachings of Calvin which had been carried so far as to almost eliminate the freedom of will. Arminius started a new sect in Europe which took a much more liberal position, which insisted that man can have the assistance of God and man, but is of himself free and able to perform right or wrong.
The United Brethren believe in the sovereignty of God, but that it is so exercised as to permit the freedom of man. Thus James M. Cox spent his early years in an atmosphere which was saturated with this spirit of freedom as opposed to the arbitrary use of force or even legislation. Without doubt this early teaching influenced Mr. Cox’s entire life. As one reads his speeches on Internationalism, Industrial Relations, and especially Prohibition, the theology of Otterbein and Boehm is quite apparent. Altho he is now attending with his wife the Episcopal Church, he is still a member of the United Brethren and instinctively a follower of that religion.