The Progressive Democracy of James M. Cox | Page 2

brought forth her Andrew Jackson to make the country in his time
safe for democracy, and to establish for all time that no single money
baron, nor yet any collection of them, is superior to the power of all the
people.
In later time she had her Abraham Lincoln, now in the judgment of the

succeeding generations but little beneath the Savior of men, preserver
of the Union for its larger duties. She had in this day her Woodrow
Wilson, builder of the newer policy of world union and recognized
spokesman of freedom in the death struggle with military autocracy. It
is of history that Lincoln and Wilson both were stricken down with
their work incomplete. After Lincoln there was no doer of the work to
finish his task and the evil of those who perverted the exalted purpose
of the Civil War continues even unto this day.
Coming into the arena of national affairs when even America seems to
doubt and when the selfish motive of fear threatens to palsy the nation's
hand, Governor Cox became the man to vindicate the statements and
the pledges given before all the world. His introduction to the
conscience and intellect of the country was a demand that the faith be
kept.
Out of the night of war, the League of Nations has long been a supreme
issue with Governor Cox and he was chosen to carry the standard
because he had expressed the sentiment most strongly, most clearly and
with greatest emphasis.
Doers have ever been practical men, and such is Governor Cox. But
practicality need not, and does not, imply a lack of vision. There is such
a thing as ideality in vision and a practical hand to make good the
picture of the mind. The combined qualities are considered as essentials
to the adequate man of the times, for a vision of a new world order is
the rarest gift of the century, but the man with the dynamic force and
the cunning skill to make this new dream come true has been wanting.
History--political history--was changed profoundly when President
Woodrow Wilson was stricken. Men were slow in rallying to his cause,
there were even clouds of doubt, ominous and disturbing, when the
party he led to two victories prepared in the late June and the early July
days of the year 1920 to state its position, its hope and its aspirations.
In the state in which Governor Cox held leadership there was no doubt.
His own Ohio knew long ago that at the Democratic National
Convention in San Francisco its chosen spokesmen would

communicate but two mandates on behalf of the vast majority of the
people. One was that Ohio could do no less than be faithful to its
greatest executive and the other was that the nation's faith and honor
must be kept stainless.
Through Governor Cox that message has been sent to the length and
breadth of the land. As seen by him, the appeal to the American people
is one which began with the first plea to the world powers for such a
concert as would banish the continual threat of war. This plea was
made to warring powers when the World War began in 1914 and it was
renewed at each favorable opportunity during the years when America
hoped that the war might be brought to an end before the last great
neutral power was drawn into it. Heeded by the Allies, the voice of
reason was rejected by the Central Empires, and from that hour there
came the conviction among the earnest lovers of peace that only the
imposition of peace would furnish a new basis for world concord.
Few men were more downcast than this same man when long and
vexatious delays in the United States Senate ended at last in the
recalcitrant refusal of the masters of the majority to ratify the Treaty of
Versailles. It is but a fair and truthful statement to observe that,
although his judgment of the mind of the people told him that the party
which went before the country to vindicate the sacrifices of the men in
the trenches would have a most compelling issue, he had no wish for
such partisan advantage. As a Democrat, history will tell that he sought
only fair compromise on the treaty, even suggesting any honest
settlement that would hasten America's entrance into the League.
In his address of acceptance, then, Governor Cox stepped to the fore
with the tersest of utterances as to his position on the League,
compressing it all into "I favor going in."
If this question is not answered now and affirmatively, Governor Cox
believes that there may be delay until nations once more have borne
their crosses on Calvary and until further blood and treasure are wasted.