The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-09-14
I. 9 . Q (. &" @ Q Z" Z" 2 % 2
JAMES MIDDLETON COX.
Printer Devil, Teacher and
Reporter.
By Herbert Corey.

o Reporter.
70 By Herbert Corey. -"
9 9 o 9 9 9 9 @ @ % @ (: g (. q g
Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 30.-There
is nothing exciting about the work;
of printers devil. This statement
may be confirmed by the first devil
one meets. 1t is all hard work,
smudges of ink, an odor of benzine,
and very little money on Saturday
night.
In the case of young James M.
Cox-today the Democratic nominee
for the presidercy-being the devil
in his brother-in-law's printing es-
tablishment at Middletown had GER
tain complications, however. For
one thing, the brother-in-law publish
ed the Middletown Signal, and the
| devil worked, at everything from
sticking type to collecting bad debts.
There is tale which may be apocry-
phai, but which is nevertheless told
| of a persistently delinquent subscrib-
er:
eff you do not pay up, Pm going
to lick your boy" said young James
M. Cox.
The delinquent Illuminated. He
did not believe that Jimmy could lick
his boy. If he did succeed he, the
delinquent, would lick him, Jimmy.
| Also he would stop his paper.
The Delinquent Paid Up.
'cBut if you do not pay up l am
| going to lick your boy" said the per-
sistent James, refusing to be divert
ed from the principal issue. In the
end the delinquent paid up and did
not stop his paper. Years after Cox
had become a big man in Ohio he
used to tell the story, adding to it a
statement of his conviction that Cox
would have licked hinl-the delin-
quent-also if it had been necessary
"He is a gritty little cuss," said the
ex-delinquent. "He is a mighty bad
! man to get into fight with. He
never quits"
Thanks to the job in the Signal Of,
flee he managed to get through the
Middletown schools. Then he won a
license to teach school: In those days
the county school boards were not
exigent of their demands upon the
applicants for school teaching posi-,
tions. Usually the teacher was the
son or daughter of some inf1uentia!
person in the school district. Cox
had made himself sufficiently well
known to get the job-teaching was
"job" then-on his own. He was
not a particularly scholarly boy. Too
much of his time had been taken by
the effort to get living.
"He could read and write and spell
correctly" said an old timer. ''But
he certainly did raise cain with the
dictionary. He found some mighty
funny meanings in a lot Of those long
words"
But he taught school and got $40
| a month for it, in the village of
Heno. By this time he was 16. For
ty dollars a month was not enough
and so hs got 'tjob" to teach nighl
school in Middletown. That was only
worth $50 month, as the school
board thought night school teaching
was only side issue of the teacher.
At any rate, it was while teaching
night school that he met Paul Sorg,
the millionaire tobacco manufacture
er, who later on became his warm
personal friend, employer and finally
backer.
| Still that was not enough money.
So he became the Middletown CORE
spondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
That merely involved wandering
around town and getting acquainted
with every one, for which he had a
natural facility. Even today there
are scores of old inhabitants who are
Pete and Billy to Mr.. Cox, and to
whom Mr.. Cox is and always will be
Jim. He had few other side issues.
There were things to be done for the
county officers now and then. He
made deal in calves on one occasion
which profted him S18. He was
only a kid, but he was one of the
most widely known inhabitants OF
lMiddletown. His memory fol
names and faces is phenomenal, he
has a genial approach, and he re-
members what the other man has