CHAPTER XI
OTHER FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
I have always found Mr. Cox very sound on economic problems. His ideas on taxation are not popular with the politicians; but are sound from the economist point of view. He is opposed to the present form of taxation which increases prices and retards development. He believes that present Federal taxes should be repealed and instead constructive laws should be enacted. He believes in taxation which will tend to develop improvements rather than retard them; taxation which will tend to retard consumption rather than increase it; taxation which will result in reducing waste rather than in encouraging it. On the other hand he believes that the Government should do all it can to suppress profiteering, and concerning this he states as follows:
Opposed to Profiteering by Capital or Labor
“If I am called to service as President, means will be found, if they do not already exist, for compelling these exceptions to the great mass of square-dealing American business men to use the same yardstick of honesty that governs most of us or else suffer the penalty of criminal law. To avoid such action on my part these profiteers are today working for my defeat.”
Concerning industrial disputes, the Governor says:
“Many captains of industry, guided by a most dangerous industrial philosophy, believe that in controversies between employer and employee their will should be enforced, even at the point of the bayonet. I speak knowingly. I have passed thru many serious industrial troubles. I know something of their psychology, the stages thru which they pass, and the dangerous attempts that are sometimes made to end them. Disputes between labor and capital are inevitable. The disposition to gain the best bargain possible characterizes the whole field of exchange, whether it be product for product or labor for money. If strikes are prolonged public opinion always settles them. Public opinion should determine results in America. Public opinion is the most interesting characteristic of a democracy, but it is the real safety valve to the institutions of a free government. It at times is necessary for the Government to inquire into the facts of a tieup, but facts, and not conclusions, should be submitted. The determining form of unprejudiced thought will do the rest. During this process, governmental agencies must give a vigilant eye to the protection of life and property, and maintain firmness but absolute impartiality. This is always the real test, but if official conduct combines courage and fairness our governmental institutions come out of these affairs untarnished by distrust.
“Morals cannot easily be produced by statute. The writ of injunction should not be abused. Intended as a safeguard to person and property, it could easily by abuse cease to be the protective device it was intended to be. Capital develops into large units without violence to public sentiment or injury to public interest—the same principle should not be denied to labor. Collective bargaining thru the means of representatives selected by the employer and the employee respectively will be helpful rather than harmful to the general interest. Besides, there is no ethical objection that can be raised to it. We should not, by law, abridge a man’s right either to labor or to quit his employment. However, neither labor nor capital should at any time or in any circumstance take action that would put in jeopardy the public welfare.”
“We need a definite and precise statement of policy as to what business men and workingmen may do and may not do by way of combination and collective action. The law is now so nebulous that it almost turns upon the economic predilections of judge or jury. This does not make for confidence in the courts nor respect for the laws, nor for a healthy activity in production and distribution. There surely will be found ways by which coöperation may be encouraged without the destruction of enterprise. The rules of business should be made more certain so that on a stable basis men may move with confidence.”
Education
James M. Cox is an ardent advocate of education. He believes that the chief function of government is to protect men in their freedom of effort and rights of ownership and that other things must be left largely to the church and the schools. He believes that it is impossible to make men honest by legislation and only as men’s hearts are changed can legislation be of any avail. He is especially interested in the education of the great mass of aliens, negroes and others in this country who have been attracted here by various causes. Concerning this he says:
“Unrest has been reinforced in no small degree by the great mass of unassimilated aliens. Attracted by an unprecedented demand for labor, they have come to our shores by the thousands. As they have become acquainted with the customs and opportunities of American life, thousands of them have become citizens, and are owners of their own homes. However, the work of assimilation too long was merely automatic. One million six hundred thousand foreign-born in this country cannot read or write our language. Our interest in them in the main has been simply as laborers assembled in the great trade centers, to meet the demand of the hour. Without home or community ties, many have been more or less nomadic, creating the problem of excessive turn-over, which has perplexed manufacturing plants.
“But this has not been the worst phase of the situation; unfamiliar with law, having no understanding of the principles of our Government, they have fallen an easy prey to unpatriotic and designing persons. Public opinion has had no influence upon them because they have been isolated from the current of opinion, all due to their not being able to read or write our language. It is the duty of the Federal Government to stimulate the work of Americanization on the part of church, school community agencies, State governments and industry itself.
“In the past, many industries that have suffered from chronic restlessness have been the chief contributors to their own troubles. The foreigner with European standards of living was welcomed, but too often no attempt was made to educate him to domestic ideals, for the simple reason that it adversely affected the ledger. It has been my observation that the man who learns our language yields to a controlling public opinion and respects our laws; besides, in proportion as his devotion to American life develops, his interest in the impulsive processes of revolution diminishes. We must be patient in the work of assimilation and studiously avoid oppressive measures in the face of mere evidence of misunderstanding. We have a composite nation. The Almighty doubtless intended it to be such. We will not, however, develop patriotism unless we demonstrate the difference between despotism and democracy.
“There must be an awakened interest in education. The assumption that things are all right is an error. There is more or less of a general idea that because our school system generally is satisfactory and in most instances excellent, sufficient progress is being made. The plain facts reveal two startling things: one, a growing decimation in the ranks of teachers, and the other, the existence of 5,500,000 illiterates. It is true that 1,600,000 of these are foreign born. The army of instructors has been more or less demoralized thru financial temptation from other activities which pay much better. We owe too much to the next generation to be remiss in this matter.
“Very satisfactory progress is being made in several States in the teaching of native-born illiterates. The moonlight school in Kentucky, has, in fact, become a historic institution. The practice has spread in other Commonwealths, and bands of noble men and women are rendering great service. There should be no encroachment by the Federal Government on local control. It is the healthful, reasonable individualism of American national life that has enabled the citizens of this republic to think for themselves, and, besides, State and community initiative would be impaired by anything approaching dependence. The Central Government, however, can inventory the possibilities of progressive education, and in helpful manner create an enlarged public interest in this subject.”
Interested in the Farmers
From boyhood Mr. Cox has always been interested in the farmers. He believes that agriculture is the most important form of industry. He insists it is the basis of industry because upon it depends the food supply. The drift from countryside into the city carries disquieting portents. If our growth in manufacturing in the next few years holds its present momentum, it will be necessary for America to import foodstuffs. It, therefore, develops upon government, thru intensive scientific coöperation, to help in maintaining as nearly as possible the existing balance between food production and consumption. Farming will not inspire individual effort unless profits, all things considered, are equal to those in other activities. To check the depleted ranks in the fields Governor Cox recommends the establishment of modern state rural school codes. Concerning this and other rural questions, he says:
“The Federal Government should maintain active sponsorship of such. Rural parents would be lacking in the elements which make civilization enduring if they did not desire for their children educational opportunities comparable to those in the cities.
“The price the consumer pays for foodstuffs is no indication of what the producer receives. There are too many turn-overs between the two. Society and Government, particularly local and State, have been remiss in not modernizing local marketing facilities. Municipalities must in large measure interest themselves in, if not directly control, community markets. This is a matter of such importance that the Federal Government can profitably expend money and effort in helping to evolve methods and to show their virtues.
“The preservation of foodstuffs by cold storage is a boon to humanity, and it should be encouraged. However, the time has come for its vigilant regulation and inasmuch as it becomes a part of interstate commerce, the responsibility is with the Federal Government. Supplies are gathered in from the farm in times of plenty. They can easily be fed out to the consumer in such manner as to keep the demand in excess of that part of the supply which is released from storage. This is an unfair practice and should be stopped. Besides, there should be a time limit beyond which perishable foodstuffs should not be stored.”
Interested in the Home Owner
I have often referred to Secretary Wilson’s statement that no man was ever known to hang the red flag of anarchy over his own hearthstone. Mr. Cox says:
“Multiply our home owners, and you will make the way of the seditious agitator more difficult. Bring into the picture of American life more families having a plot of garden and flowers all their own and you will find new streams running into the national current of patriotism. Help to equalize the burdens of taxation by making the holders of hidden wealth pay their share with those whose property is in sight. In short, remove the penalty imposed upon home-building thrift and thousands of contented households under the shelter of their own roof will look upon government with affection, recognizing that in protecting it they protect themselves.
“Common prudence would suggest that we increase to our utmost our area of tillable land. The race between increased consumption and added acreage has been an unequal one. Modern methods of soil treatment have been helpful, but they have their limitations. There are still vast empires in extent, in our country, performing no service to humanity. They require only the applied genius of men to cover them with the bloom and harvest of human necessities. The Government should turn its best engineering talent to the task of irrigation projects. Every dollar spent will yield compensating results.”
Miscellaneous Matters
A study of James M. Cox’s speeches shows very clearly that he stands for a budget system, the right of free speech and assembly, the strengthening of the Federal Reserve System, the re-organization of our consular service, and some liberal provision for our ambassadors and foreign officers especially in countries where we have foreign missionaries together with improvement of the various executive branches of the government.
Mr. Cox insists that if elected he would surround himself with unselfish men with highest purposes who are unselfish in their desire to be of service to all alike. He insists that he will be no “party President,” but will work for the entire people whatever their creed, color or political faith. In talks with him and a story of his records, I believe this is true.
In closing this story of Cox I cannot do better than quote his concluding remarks to his Acceptance Speech which were as follows:
“How misguided some of our people are: Recognizing that readjustment must be made, they believe that they will fare better if they cast their fortunes with those with whom they voted in days gone by. They do not sense the dangers that threaten. The sort of readjustment which will appeal to our self respect and ultimately to our general prosperity is the honest readjustment. Any unfair adjustment simply delays the ultimate process, and we should remember the lesson of history that one extreme usually leads to another. We desire industrial peace. We want our people to have an abiding confidence in government, but no readjustment made under reactionary auspices will carry with it the confidence of the country.
“If I were asked to name in these trying days the first essential overshadowing every other consideration, the response would be confidence in government. It would be nothing less than a calamity if the next administration were elected under corrupt auspices. There is unrest in the country; our people have passed thru a trying experience. The European war before it engulfed us, aroused every radical throb in a nation of composite citizenship. The conflict in which we participated carried anxieties into every community and thousands upon thousands of homes were touched by tragedy.
“We want to forget war and be free from the troubling thought of its possibility in the future. We want the dawn and the dews of a new morning. We want happiness in the land, the feeling that the square deal among men and between men and Government is not to be interfered with by a purchased preference. We want a change from the old world of yesterday, where international intrigue made the people mere pawns in the chessboard of war. We want a change from the old industrial world where a man who toiled was assured ‘a full dinner pail’ as his only lot and portion.
“Now how are we to make the change? Which way shall we go? We stand at the forks of the road and must choose which to follow. One leads to a higher citizenship, a freer expression of the individual and a fuller life for all. The other leads to reaction, the rule of the few over the many, and the restriction of the average man’s chances to grow upward. Cunning devices backed by unlimited prodigal expenditures will be used to confuse and lure.
“I have an abiding faith that the pitfalls will be avoided and the right road chosen. The leaders opposed to democracy promise to put the country ‘back to normal.’ This can only mean the so-called normal of former reactionary administrations, the outstanding feature of which was a pittance for farm produce and a small wage for a long day of labor. My vision does not turn backward to the ‘normal’ desired by the Senatorial oligarchy, but to a future in which all shall have a normal opportunity to cultivate a higher stature amidst better environments than that of the past. I am praying toward the sunrise of tomorrow with its progress and its eternal promise of better things. The opposition stands in skyline of the setting sun, looking backward, to the old days of reaction.”
CHAPTER XII
HIS RECORD
Shortly after his nomination for President in 1920, I told Mr. Cox that I was writing a story of his life. He answered:
“Well, Babson, please omit all the unessentials and even the things which I have said, and—so far as possible—confine it to my record and what I have done.”
Therefore, in this closing chapter, I wish to record some of the things which he has actually done and for which I am indebted to his friend and associate, Mr. E. H. Moore. Most of these things Mr. Cox, either as Congressman or as Governor, actually started, put thru or consummated. A few of them he simply aided by his influence, but all he believed in and worked for and saw accomplished.
All classes of citizenship have confidence in Mr. Cox because he accepts safe counsel and is a careful judge. Among the legislative measures above referred to, let me enumerate:
Business Service
A public utilities law providing property revaluation as a basis for rate making.
Provision for court appeal from the utilities commission decision to the court of final jurisdiction, preventing delay and loss.
Prohibition against injunction on rate hearing without court investigation.
A uniform accounting system applied to public utilities.
A state banking code with close coöperation with the Federal Reserve system, bringing all private banks under state supervision.
A blue sky act to encourage proper investment and to protect against fraudulent securities.
Labor Legislation
A compulsory workmen’s compensation law, admittedly the best in the Union and which has been accepted as the model by other progressive states.
A State Industrial Commission with powers to handle all questions affecting capital and labor, with a state mediator as the keystone.
Complete survey of occupational diseases with recommendation for health and occupational insurance.
Full switching crew law for all railroad yards.
Legislation strengthening the use in the state of railroad safety appliances.
A full-crew law.
A twenty-four-foot caboose law.
Reduction of consecutive hours of employment for electric railroad workers.
Obstruction of fixed signals prohibited.
Safeguarding of accidents in mines by proper illumination.
Extra provision for dependents of men killed in mines.
Increased facilities for mine inspector operation.
Protection of miners working toward abandoned mines.
Elimination of sweatshop labor.
Provision for minimum time per day.
Prohibition of contract labor in workhouses.
Eight-hour working day on all public contracts.
Elimination of the “fellow-servant rule,” “contributory negligence,” and similar rules as to industrial accidents as a part of the administration of compulsory workmen’s compensation, re-establishing faith in the courts.
Verdict by three-fourths jury in civil cases.
Shortened litigation and lessened expense by giving appellate courts final jurisdiction except in extraordinary cases.
Laws to provide against adulteration of food-stuffs, and prevent combination to fix prices.
Social Service
Establishment of a state tuberculosis hospital and district hospitals thruout the state by county action.
Adoption of health code giving state health commissioner regulatory power over subdivision officials, with a special appropriation to combat epidemics and contagious diseases.
Formation of a state-wide social agency committee, bringing into mutual operation all recognized social agencies of the state (the only one of its kind in the Union), having complete coöperation with state departments.
Additional provision for care of feeble-minded, including erection and equipment of a new institution on the cottage plan, with appropriation for a tuberculosis hospital.
Provision for additional cottages at the hospital for epileptics.
Establishment of a Bureau of Juvenile Research with provision for thoro mental and physical examinations of all juveniles committed to the institutions of the state; for final placement in the institution best fitted for the ward’s needs. This bureau is primarily a mental hygiene clinic, coöperating with other mental clinics thruout the state and maintaining a permanent central registration of mental defectives, looking toward elimination of causes which produce defective children.
Codification of child laws with establishment of child welfare department.
Compulsory provision for mothers’ pensions.
Creation of a Board of Clemency, to be in constant session for consideration of release, parole, and probation of persons under penal sentences.
Indeterminate sentence law under which first offenders are given every opportunity for rehabilitation, so that no men shall be deprived of the opportunity of making a new beginning.
Purchase of a penitentiary farm and building of a new penitentiary in the country.
Employment of prisoners in road work, including the manufacture of road building machinery and material, with compensation of prisoners for all work done, with earnings over cost of maintenance paid directly to dependants of prisoners.
Recommendation and passage of state legislation for woman suffrage.
Educational Developments
Consolidated schools in excess of 1200, with full high school courses, have supplanted more than five times that number of one-room school houses.
A complete supervision of school courses and textbooks has been established.
Agricultural Legislation
A law combining all agricultural activities under jurisdiction of an agricultural commission.
Provision for study of farm credit plans.
Protection against sale of untested fertilizers.
Provision for destruction of and remuneration for diseased cattle.
Compulsory orchard spraying law, with spraying material under license.
Establishment of breeding service at institutional farms, and the building up of pure-bred herds thruout the state.
Passage of a pure seed bill.
Establishment of producer-to-consumer market bureau.
Enlargement of agricultural aid thru the experiment station and state agricultural college.
Good Roads Program
Beginning in 1915, with an annual revenue of three and one-half million dollars, with a carefully planned system of inter-county and main-market highways under state supervision with federal aid, the program for Ohio was extended until now there has been made available from state sources the sum of thirty million dollars annually for the maintenance and upkeep of main roads.
Legislation for the use of the split log drag on graveled connecting roads.
Provision for the united action of township, county commissioners and state highway department on all road work.
National Ideals
In closing let me quote once more from Mr. Cox, mostly from an address before the Iroquois Club at Chicago, March 25, 1920.
“Public officers are the representatives of government and they promote or diminish confidence in our institutions either by wisdom or error. Never before has there been such a pressing necessity for plain good faith on the part of those in whose hands rests governmental power as exists today.
“We must give immediate attention to matters of domestic concern. Our whole economic status seems to be unnatural. Prices are high and they will remain so until we seriously dedicate our efforts to the wiping away of things that came with the war.
“A considerable factor in the high cost of living is the continuance of the excess profits tax. In establishing the selling price of its product, every business establishment sets aside a reasonable profit and then adds to it the amount that must be paid to the government. This is done in turn by the manufacturer, the jobber, the distributor and the retailer, the inevitable result being a staggering cost to the consumer.
“Approximately four billion dollars will be necessary to conduct the department of government and to meet sinking fund and interest charges. Almost half of this could be derived by applying a tax of from one to one and one-half per cent on the volume of business done by any going concern. It would be a simple matter to collect this tax; the tax-payer would not be confused by it, and it would be neither cause nor alibi for excessive prices.
“I favor the abolishment of the federal inheritance tax just as soon as we can get along without it. This method of taxation should be left to the states. Tax on inheritance is based upon the principle of government being compensated for service rendered in conveying property from one generation to another. A man makes a will and it has a definite force and effect because the law legalizes it. The right is given to him by the state and the process of the distribution of his estate is thru the agency of local government. The federal authority has nothing to do with it, therefore the compensation for services rendered should be to the states.
“There is some hysteria over the subject of active elements in this country that are menacing to the government. There is no immediate danger in the situation, altho it might easily be aggravated if the governmental policy of restraint and common sense that has endured thru the years, were to become one of force and terrorism. There must be no compromise with treason, but the surest death to Bolshevism is exposure of the germ of the disease itself to the sunlight of public view. In the old days, the treatment for scarlet fever consisted of an intensive attack on the high temperature of fever. The result was a reaction on vital organs that left permanent affliction. Now the fever, under restraint, is permitted to run its course and what was once regarded as a very serious ailment is little more than a simple malady.
“We must protect ourselves against extremes in America. The horrors and tragedies of revolution can be charged to them. If government is assailed, its policy must not become vengeful. Our fathers in specifying human freedom, and providing guarantees for its preservation, recognized that among the necessary precautions was the protection of individual right against governmental abuses.
“If the alien, ignorant of our laws and customs, cowers in fear of our government, he is very apt to believe that things are much the same the world over, and he may become an easy convert to the doctrines of resistance. The skies will clear, but meanwhile, government must be firm yet judicial, uninfluenced by the emotionalism that breeds extremes. The less government we have, consistent with safety to life and property, the better for both happiness and morals. A policeman on every corner would be a bad index to the citizenship of the community, for it would reflect a foolish concept of conditions by the municipal officers.
“In this, I merely seek to give point to the necessity now that the war is over, of junking the most of our institutions devoted to war, and scaling governmental machinery down to the very point of necessity and efficiency. It is idle to talk of reducing governmental expense if the nation has to be armed to the teeth, and vast armies and navies will be necessary if the concerted plan of international peace fails. The guarantee against war is credit against which a debit charge must be made, and after all, this is the very crux of the controversy over the League of Nations.
“Finally, there can be no result worth while unless the nations of the earth assume a definite obligation one to another. The mere promise of this country to place its responsibility on the shifting sands of congressional caprice is a travesty to human intelligence. We are seeking to shake ourselves free from the cost of war, and yet the task of readjustment along the line of constructive economy is faced at the very outset with the question of what our military and naval policy shall be.
“Let us meet these questions as brave and unselfish men, with our eyes focused on the star of righteousness. Let us be liberal, but practical; let us be kind, but firm; let us be patient, but persistent. The great need today is not more government, but better government; not government in the interest of any one class, but government in the interest of all classes, yes, in the interest of all nations.”
In this little volume, I have attempted a review, as fair minded as lay in my powers, of salient facts in the life of one of America’s conspicuous citizens. I can not in my own judgment class Governor Cox as at present more than that—one of a rather large group of America’s conspicuous citizens. Not a eulogy of a presidential candidate, but a record of the facts with which the American public should be familiar—this was my purpose.
And yet, I shall not deny that in this simple objective I hope for a further result. That result must come if better knowledge begets better judgment.
Such a pitiful mass of mere comment we meet everywhere about men in public life! Campaign pyrotechnics, political bombast, editorial puffs—or bitter attacks, untruthful insinuations, appeals to blind prejudice!—and only here and there, amid all such chaff, a kernel of fact!
Hence this presentation of the life of Cox—not opinions about Cox, not words surrounding Cox, but the facts inherent in Cox, what he said, what he did, what life he has lived to this day.
I should welcome nothing more than a similar presentation of the life of Senator Harding, written by a sincere admirer, yet one whose admiration does not make him blind to objective truths.
That I admire the man Cox is evident from this volume. This admiration is based partly upon my observations thru personal contact and partly upon my observation of the things this man has done. His record as governor is truly remarkable and it may be that we shall yet discover in this simple, plain Ohio newspaper publisher, one of America’s historically great men.
But far more than in the man Cox am I interested in the principles for which he stands. He is the exponent today of all our forces of liberalism. And liberalism in my opinion is a synonym for true Americanism, not the rhetorical Americanism of phrase makers, but genuine Americanism.
A well-known Boston business man a few days ago accosted me thus:
“Mr. Babson,” he said, “you are known as an adviser for business interests, an expert on finance, an authority on investments. Why do you ally yourself with political interests that are hostile to all our financial interests?”
I answered him by saying:
“I advise investors as honestly as I know how regarding their investment problems. I also reserve the right and the duty to express myself to the public as honestly as I know how regarding public problems. I am not in the slightest allied to any political group; but my financial interests must not and will not taint my political views.
“Incidentally, I am not publishing advice regarding Mr. Cox. I am simply a recorder of facts, including facts which are anything but campaign material in behalf of the governor’s political advancement.
“But if I were to put the proposition on sordid grounds, I might, if it were not against my principles to mix political views with the pure routine of business statistics and business forecast, proceed to show why the financial interests should ally themselves at this hour with all the forces of liberalism.
“For the question of the hour is not embodied in the issues as they appear before the public. These issues are but the expressions of the fundamental issue,—the contest of liberalism and reaction.
“If we have a period of reactionary rule for the next four years, not only will labor suffer, but all industry must surely soon suffer the consequences—the consequences of attempting to fight the inevitable onward march of Father Time.
“Reactionary business men in America do not appear to realize that they are walking hand in hand with the ultra-radicals. In England, the financial interests have awakened, for there the ultra-radicals are plainly on record as opposed above all else to the compromises of liberalism because as they frankly admit, such liberalism ‘tends to preserve the present system of society instead of hastening the upheaval.’
“The greatest danger in America today comes from those who, seeing the steam escaping from the safety valve, are crying loud to shut the valve.”
THE END