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:

“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.