sister’s husband—was somewhat older and was a teacher at the High School in Amanda, which is three miles south of Middletown. It was this Amanda School which the boy attended. “If there ever was a boy who went to school for business, it was Jimmy,” says Mr. Baker. “Not only did he work very hard at school, but he continually plied me with questions as we used to walk back and forth along the Miami Canal.” According to Mr. Baker, his only recreation seemed to be arguing. “He did like to argue,” says Mr. Baker. “If there were no debates at school or at the country grocery store, he would seek the street corner.”

His Schooling

For some reason or other, the boy attended school in Middletown for only a year. I think he did not graduate. Perhaps they did not have graduations in those days. The school, however, was the best in that section of the country. The old farmers tell me it was called the “Gilt Edge School” by the taxpayers, because it always required so much money. Certainly it paid good wages for such days, as the records show that Mr. Baker got one hundred dollars a month. It contained three large rooms.

In short, Mr. Cox’s boyhood was similar to that of most boys brought up on a farm. The magazine writers like to embellish it with tales of misfortune and struggle; but the facts do not justify such stories. He had a fair chance and was especially fortunate in receiving the help which came from his brother-in-law, Mr. Baker.

CHAPTER II
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: