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.