Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1920-07-23
Coves1sr Cox, the Nominee.

the San Francisco convention has
given its party . leader well versed in
tho principles Of democracy. . candi-
date who has the pleasing habit Of
carrying bis own State and man who
in high Office has demonstrated his Ca
pscity to legislate and to govern.
Three times elected Governor of
Ohio, being the only successful repre-.
sentative ofEhis party on the State
ticket in 1913, bis record in that re-
spect is unique. 1t was largely
through his successful administration
that Ohio lin 1916 gave its electoral
votes to Woodrow Wilson and thrs in
sured hislre. election. With Gov. Cox
1t the head of the Democratic ticket
this year, Commonwealth which
never before failed the Republicans in
anational election, except - result of
the Taft Roosevelt split in 1912, will
again become debstable ground.
As Governor of Ohio, Mr.. Cox has to
bic credit public service of the highest
order. 1t was largely due to bis in
fluence that the archaic State Consti-
tuition was reformed and fifty or sixty
statutes needed to modernize the law
, and practice Of the Commonwealth, es-
pecially as regards education, taxation
and the rights of workingmen. were en-
acted. When be took Office all of the
old hard.and-fast iDjustices that in GER
tain cases practically denied to labor
even . hearing were unchsllenged in |
the courts. Today judicial procedure )
in Ohio is on an enlightened basis and
the old encrusted rules are only MEM |
DRY.
Quite as important in the present as
pect Of affairs is bis attitude toward in |
dustrial questions. There are great
steel mills in Ohio, - in Pennsylvania.
During the recent strike no interfer- !,
enee with public assembly was report
ed in Ohio, whereas in Pennsylvania it
was incessant. On one side Of the line
. labor dispute was settled in good or
der, with no complaint Of tyrannous
practices. On the other side the co.,
lapse of the strike left . tragic record
with bitter sense of wrong which
still endures. Gov. Cox insisted upon
the right Of Americans to meet and
discuss their grievances, bis only con-
dition being that there must be no vio-
lence. The peaceable result justified
his course in every detail, and in ad-
dition to that INDICATED great Demo-
cratic theory of Government
1t will be said by extreme Prohibit
ionists that Gov. Cox is not orthodox;
that he will not enforce the laws and
that his candidacy is a menace to all
who would regulate custom and appe-
tite by the most despotic powers. The
answer to this is that the only time he
has suffered defeat At the polls was
when he incurred the hostility of the
liquor interest by doing the very thing
that he will now be charged with re-
fusing to do. He has administered the
liquor laws of Ohio the same as all
other laws. He has made enemies
among those who thought he could be
swerved from his duty but the friends
that he has gained far outnumber
them.
From what we know of him we
should say that Gov. Cox, if elected,
would enforce the Prohibition Amend
ment to the letter, and all laws made
in harmony Herewith. He is not like
~ in response to any exhortstion, pub
lie or private, to 60 beyond that, as so
many zealots are now insisting must be
the practice. The Supreme Court and
the conventions Of both parties have
left the issue with Congress, and there,
no doubt, Gov. Cox will leave it, ODE
dent to it's decree.
As to the League of Nations he has
been described as lukewarm; yet no