The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-18
SAMUEL s. COX.

The Washington Star is moved to say
of the late SAMUEL s. Cox that while he
might ueyer take rank as great states
man. in the sense of formulating govern
mental policies or shaping the relations oil
orr republic with its rival powers, it
would be hard to put too high an estimate
upon his public usefulness 1t then admits
that few men Of late years, who
died. have left the impress of their
handiwork more plainly stamped on the
face of affairs in which the masses OF the
people feel a direct and personal interest
than he. 1t concludes that the secret of his
success in these particulars was that he
knew the measure Of his own strength, and
elevated it to a few things which he mas
tered perfectly.
One of the points illustrative and sub
stantiative of the above is presented
in his devotion to the life-saying
service which is related rs one
Of his hobbies. He mastered every
mart and all stages of it. Whenever 1t
came up in the House, Mr.. Cox is known
10 have been ready at all times with eX-
n,anations, suggestions and statst' <.
rho fact that he knew so much OF the
subiect under discussion had t.eriency
to cause those who were p,f,osed to be
silent and his demands Were oftener than
otherwise granted because those who
would have overcome them if they could,
fonud themselves Unable to cope with him
and they had to leo HIM have his way. The
same might be said of many other of his
a.pets," among them the free delivery sys-
TEN in the postoffice department, measure
which made him very popular with the
letter carriers throughout the country.
But it is conceded that his work on the
question of admitting the new states in the
northwest was, all things considered, the
one feature in connection with his life as a
statesman which shines with the most I'M
dimmed lustre. From the commencement
to the close of the question, he was always
first and foremost in advocacy of the mea-
sure providing for the admission of the
four territories, and he was even willing to
go further and admit most if not all of the
others: and it is of record and noteworthy
that he never at any time permitted party
zeal or personal ambition to figure in his
patriotic purpose. He could only see that
commonwealth entitled TO rights were be-
ing deprived of them, and his sense of gen
erosity and justice could brook no such con
dition While, as pan tisan, he preferred
that new corners be of his own way of think
ing. the fact that they were not did not
permit him for a moment to swerve from
his plainly marked line of duty or
deviate a hairs breadth from what he had
ascertained to be the course of right.
Others might stoop to consider party ex-
pediency and present advantage, but not
he; do right and trust to consequences,
was his method, and he followed it 20 the
last.
When THE HERALD was in its infancy,
and mere pigmy in comparison with what
it is now, Mr.. Cox paid the office visit
and made himself at once en- rapport with
all hands from editor in chief down to the
grimy-handed toiler in the back room. He
had few apt and pleasant words for one
and ALL and the fact that even then he was
the Oldest Democrat in point of service in
the House of Representatives, or
that ne was member of Congress
at all, would never have been guessed
or thought of by those who did
not know MIN being truly man
of the people, he lived with and among the
people, and in their presence he knew no
distinctions except such as the occasion it
self imposed, and was in every society and
at all times strictly and altogether lat
home" while others were made to feel
likewise.
His death was most untimeiy, and yet.
had he lived twice as long, we would still
perhaps. if alive, have been compelled to
say the same thing. There is no proper
and fitting time for such men to cease to
live. When they go they seem to leave a
vacancy which is not merely a matter of
the present or which a few days or years
hence can heal, but which remains as long
as we who knew him remain. Whether
as an editor in his shirt sleeves
working for salary or a knight
Grant for the government bearing
its insignia from abroad; whether in the
halls of legislation or mingling with the
people at large and devising with them
WAYS and means for their better surround
ings and future prosperity, he was always
the same bright, genial, care dispelling,
comprehensive, well-disposed man, and W e
shall not soon if ever look upon his like