EARLY MANHOOD
James M. Cox’s earliest recollection is of being set on the kitchen
floor inside of a big old-fashioned horse collar. This enabled him to
play and crawl around without getting into mischief while his mother
did the house work. When I spoke of the incident to one of his own
neighbors, the neighbor grunted and said to me:
“Guess they put Jimmy in the horse collar so he would get used to one.
He was usually getting one on or off an old horse. Certainly if any
boy was brought up to work, Jimmy Cox was.”
FIRST REAL JOB
Upon leaving the Amanda School, the boy did not go back to the farm.
He was determined to get to work, and was willing to do almost
anything else, honorable, in order to get a start. He earned money at
several odd jobs. He acted as tutor, as janitor, as newsboy and as
printer’s devil. His first regular work after leaving school was
teaching in “the little red school house.” Many thought he would be a
school teacher for life, being so much interested in history,
geography and other subjects. He seemed to have a natural knack for
seeking the truth and teaching it to others. Those who remember him
say that he stood for more liberty than did the other teachers and
allowed the scholars more freedom. On the other hand, they say, he
took much more pains in explaining to the boys and girls what is right
and what is wrong. In those days, school teaching was more of a
physical than an intellectual task. Corporal punishment was in vogue,
and a school teacher was supposed not to argue but to rule with the
aid of a rod. Cox disagreed with this custom and preferred the now
accepted methods of teaching. Instead of relying for discipline upon a
piece of bamboo, he appealed to the hearts and the reason of his
scholars.
Among the schools in which he taught were the Tytus School, which was
two miles north of Middletown, and the Rockdale School, which is in
Liberty, a township several miles down the valley. These were all
little one-room buildings. Cox taught three terms.
Mr. Cox tells me that he owes much to these early years of school
teaching. His success in leading, rather than driving, men may be due
to these early experiences. Perhaps his attitude on many current
questions was really determined by his experience with his scholars in
the little red school house. He believes that human nature is the same
today as then, and the same in Massachusetts and California as in
Ohio. He believes all men should be educated and led rather than
driven and forced. Hence he is opposed to the use of clubs or bayonets
by either capital or labor so far as possible also he is opposed to
the use of force in solving international questions. He believes in
creating, through religion and education, within the people’s hearts,
a desire for better things.
ENTERS NEWSPAPER WORK
During the summers and on Saturdays he did newspaper work of various
kinds. The printing press and its product always had a great
fascination for him. I am told he had from the first the natural
instincts of a successful reporter and was exceedingly good at writing
headlines. I asked him why he leaned so to the newspaper business, and
he replied:
“My mother taught me that I should lead others,--that I should be a
worker and a leader, rather than a loafer and a follower. Hence I went
into school teaching, although doubtless I was glad to get a job of
any kind. One day, however, I was impressed with the opportunity of
becoming a much bigger teacher by reaching a great many more people
thru a newspaper. It was with this idea that I went into newspaper
work when the opportunity came and gave up the classroom.”
He was now twenty-one years old. He had reached the time when he must
decide upon his life work. Mr. Baker tells me that he told the boy he
should either be a school teacher or a newspaper man and not try to be
both. Mr. Baker was apparently very strict with him and insisted that
he should keep regular hours and apply himself closely to work. The
boy loved to read and argue, which had a tendency to interfere with
his daily tasks. He spent his Sundays either at church or amidst his
books. He read the classics through and through. He loved biography
and history. His friends tell me that he would read not only the best;
but he would urge them to do likewise.
While James was teaching school, Baker had purchased the _Middletown
News-Signal_. As already stated, the young man worked upon this at odd
times. Now, however, he gave it all his time and served as reporter,
make-up man and pressman or typesetter, as necessity called. In
addition to working for the _Middletown News-Signal_, Cox was also a
country correspondent for the _Cincinnati Enquirer_, the leading
paper of that section.
GOES TO CINCINNATI
One day a railroad wreck occurred[1] at Heno, Ohio, a village near
Middletown, and several employees of the National Cash Register
Company of Dayton, Ohio, who were on a picnic, were killed. Altho the
various Cincinnati papers had several correspondents along the line of
the railroad, Cox was apparently the only reporter who got his story
in on time. His energy and versatility apparently so appealed to the
managing editor of the _Cincinnati Enquirer_ that they offered him a
position on the _Enquirer_. Mr. Baker of the _News-Signal_ advised him
to accept it. In speaking about the Cox of those days, one of his
associates says:
[1] The wreck was on what was then the Cincinnati, Hamilton &
Dayton Railroad. The line is now owned by the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad Company.
“Cox’s success was due to his ability to understand and talk the
language of the average man. He seemed to have the ability to keep in
touch with the aspirations and thoughts of his fellow citizens.”
Jim Falkner, the veteran political editor of the _Cincinnati
Enquirer_, says that Cox’s stories were notable for their simplicity.
They not only told the facts, but they were told in a way which the
average man understood, believing he was getting a square deal.
According to the records, Cox started with the _Cincinnati Enquirer_
at $20.00 a week. That was in 1892. He worked for the _Enquirer_
diligently for two years.
From all accounts, Cox’s work on the _Enquirer_ was satisfactory,
although nothing extraordinary. Altho now in the twenties, he had
risen quite rapidly in newspaper work. From the _News-Signal_, at
$6.00 a week and board, to the regular staff of the _Cincinnati
Enquirer_ was a fair jump. He apparently enjoyed the work, and the
editors apparently liked him. It is said that he might be there today
had it not been for a certain incident. Various accounts are told
regarding this event, but the most authentic account is as follows:
A story was brought in by Cox which reflected on one of the big
railroads operating in Ohio. The story was truthful and well written,
but it was very displeasing to the railroad interests. These
complained to the editor of the _Cincinnati Enquirer_. The editor was
in a quandary as to what to do. He could not discharge Cox because of
the truthfulness and excellence of the story; while he could not
offend the railroad people by keeping Cox at such work against their
wishes. Finally he hit upon the happy idea of promoting Cox to a
different position. According to all reports, this was distinctly a
better position, but the extra money did not appeal to Cox. He
apparently felt that a moral principle was involved. If his newspaper
story was untrue, he was willing to be discharged, but if the story
was true he believed that his editor should reprimand the railroad
company for complaining. Apparently the editor did not agree with him,
and thereupon Cox resigned.
COX IN WASHINGTON
In 1894, Paul J. Sorg, of Middletown, was elected to Congress to fill
an unexpired term of Congressman George W. Houk. For some time Cox
apparently had been desirous of going to Washington to have a larger
opportunity than the newspaper work afforded him. Some of his friends
say that he was disappointed at what he found in the big city
newspaper. One there lacks the freedom of expression which all
red-blooded men love. In the city newspaper he came in conflict with
interests which, while at Middletown, he did not know even existed.
The little country newspaper is a simple community affair, but the
big city daily is by nature a great commercial enterprise. Cox was
perhaps disappointed in the commercialism of it all. Apparently his
desire from the first was to improve conditions and lead his fellow
men toward a healthier, happier and more prosperous life. He had hoped
to do it first thru school teaching, then thru newspaper work, but now
he felt that perhaps his opportunity was to be found in Washington. He
thereupon applied to Congressman Sorg for a position as private
secretary, and went to Washington for this work. Congressman Sorg
talked the matter over with Mr. Baker, and they agreed that it would
be a good undertaking both for the Congressman and for young Cox.
Sorg was a self-made man, who had accumulated considerable money in
the tobacco business by energy and industry. Mr. Cox doubtless had
these same qualities then as he has them today. At any rate, he
appealed to Sorg, and off Cox went to Washington. Sorg finished out
that term and was re-elected. Again Cox went to Washington with him.
Congressman Sorg, however, did not care for political life. His health
began to fail, and with it his mind. After two terms, he did not seek
re-election. He returned to Ohio in 1897 and Cox went back home with
him. Mr. Sorg is now dead, but Mrs. Sorg is still living in
Middletown. She is a woman of very large means. They all returned to
Ohio together in 1897.
In talking with men familiar with Cox in those days, all say that he
was a great worker and had tremendous energy; but he insists he was no
more industrious than are the secretaries of most Congressmen. It is
his experience that they all have to work. The success attained by
many political leaders is due to their secretaries. Mr. Cox himself
owes much of his success in recent years to the very efficient
secretary which he had during his last two terms as Governor. I refer
to Mr. Charles E. Morris.