The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-07-17

10 lOO pronounced AhSlO uAS SS'i'S
for example who argued that the gov
ernor transgressed on his official du-
ties in his eagerness to relieve suffer
ing during the Ohio floods. Not few
critical observers held that he erred
when he asked the general assembly
to permit money to be raised for flood
relief and rehabilitation in excess Of
the one per cent law. But the New
York papers and observers in many
other parts of the country applauded
the humanity of the Buckeye executive
and the marvellous rapidity with which
he brought order out of chaos. Listen,
for instance, to a paragraph from
long eulogistic editorial that appeared
in the New York World:
"The man who has dominated the
situation in Ohio is Gov. Cox. He has
been not only chief magistrate and
commander in chief, but head of the
life-saving service, the greatest pro
wider of food and clothing that the
state has ever known, the principal
health officer, the sanest councillor
the severest disciplinarian, the hardest
worker, the most hopeful prophet, the
kindest philanthropist and the best re-
porter. He has performed almost in
credible labors in all these fields and
his Illuminating dispatches to the
world at the close Of several heart
breaking days have given a clearer
vision of conditions than could be had
from any other source. A true Demo
crat, a great governor and a reporter
who gets his story into the first edi-
tion, James M. Cox eXcites and is here
with offered assurance of the worlds
most distinguished consideration"
Naturally conservative, the New
York World never paid a higher
tribute to any public official than this.
But note the underlying fact that it
was the humanitarian spirit of a gov
ernor that excites the editorial admira-
ton as we'll as his executive ability.
The governors sympathetic nature
is displayed as graphically in his at
titude toward the Ohio penitentiary
and other state institutions as in his
work during the floods. When the
Cox administration began the peniten-
tiary in particular was forbidding
Many of the inmates were in continued
idleness and their faces depicted blank
despair. Two of Coxs immediate pre-
decessors had vetoed appropriations
for farm prison in the interests OF
economy. Gov. Cox talked in the
prison chapel one Sunday almost i'm
mediately after his Inauguration. He
was deeply impressed by the hopeless
ness of the inmates. His talk to the
prisoners indicated the depth of his
feeling for them;
I'VE do not want any longer to coin
dollars out of your tears or out OF the
anguish of the families you left when
you were sent here" he said "The
state does not care to profit by the
suffering you and your people have
undergone. We want you to hear the
morning chorus of the birds, to bark
back to the grooming lullabies Of your
mothers. These things will do you
more good than all of the stinging re-
Dukes with which you were sent here"
The governors speech has been
taken up by prison reform societies all
over the country Other governors
have quoted him word for word in
pleading for better prison conditions.
In fact it is declared that in some
states of the enlightened Union at the
present time penal conditions aren't
much better than they were in the old
Mexican prison which United States
soldiers recently took over at Vera
Cruz.
But, nevertheless, there were those
who jeered at what they called senti-
mentality. They argued that prisons
appreciate the finer sentiments.
Gov. Cox is sensitive to criticisms
but he doesn't let them interfere with
that he has in mind. In the peniten-
tiary problem, his master skill in exc
cution came into play as 1t had in the
floods. To-day there is no corporal
punishment in state institutions.
Prisoners in the penitentiary not only
are not idle, but part of the profits
of their work is actually sent home to
their families. This is what the gov
ernor meant when he said that the
state didn't want to coin dollars out OF
suffering and tears. Moreover there
is now a penitentiary school where
gray-haired men learn their A B C's.
And farm prison soon is to be erect
ed to replace completely the grimy
stone walls of the present institution
at Columbus.
One other illustration to show the
peculiar contrast between the COVER
nor's sympathetic nature and his hard
fighting abilities when aroused, an IL
lustration which involves the biggest
single battle in which the governor has
been engaged, namely, his fight with
the liability insurance companies.
Liability insurance companies insure
employers against loss through suits
for damages instituted by injured en-
ployes or the dependents Of killed en- !