Part 1 (2/2)

CHAPTER II

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 see 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 ressive issues and found theely 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 in better than any man of his time, save Colonel Roosevelt, and the reat resources at his corasped the idea of the manner in which Jackson's men worked with resources so small that they had to pass newspapers of their faith froely, it see when he was free of family responsibilities Governor cox has no ht have been a soldier of the Roosevelt type had he lived in other circuery of toil and there was no chance for education in aJin with him knohat 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 ell past the forty-five-year e

If one were to inventory his external features there would appear a compact, ht 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 ht to check in his earlier years It is a proverb a those who know him best that when Governor cox makes an instant decision he le 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 judger 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 co 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 o the wrong way, taking perhaps the Gladstone view that a statesislation than for securing the enact to risk defeat for principle

A trait of character is told in the story of school and taxation legislation He arned that progressive steps would encompass his defeat If a coestions of this sort, it would be so our schools Ti else of character may be learned froes When he was sorely beset by his political foes in 1914, it was represented to hiht be made to do service if licenses ithheld until after the election And the answer given was soiven that the license systee will be redees of the worldly ere 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 sns He has a fashi+on of leading his party organization andit do his will, and like alldictatorial 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 feords, 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 Ger their front lines,” he dreord 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 ar 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 hiht many issues to his desk that are not part of a Governor's official duties Disputes between interests and differences areements have been left to his decision It is an evidence of the trust in the sense of justice in themen 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 ealth--real wealth His personal fortune is handsoet 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 e 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 wealthyattribute 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 pushi+ng i 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 hisand 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 state his conviction with a ressiveness 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 hiolf stick

He is an expert e by what he can do with a gun His ancestors were squirrel-hunters, and his sure eye was an inheritance froh 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 hiht, and to plunge in the lake as an evidence of his swi ability When in Coluer men of sedentary pursuits find that he can tire thee, cox's education has been acquired through lish 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 aonly when he thinks he has a e 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 faned to all official documents is Jain 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 fahter, Anne, who is slightly less than a year old, a hter, Mrs Daniel J Mahoney of Dayton, and two sons, Jae ten

While the Governor's devotion to the equal suffrage cause has been of , the interests of Mrs cox are of a dohter is spent in the outdoors, he hobby being her garden