The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-09-17
COX Made H0B0S
HELP TO WIN WAR
Governor offered Migrants
Choice of Working or, Co
ing to Jail.
OHIO ALWAYS READY
Her Executive Met Prob
lens Successfully During
Struggle.
OHIO ALWAYS READY

OGTugylo.
New York, Sept 17.-Making oon-
rsfructive patriots out of Migrants was
one of the war achievements of OHIO,
already great in achievem entS- Before
the slogan %FWork or fight had
become a nationwide command, Ohio
had applied the stern alternative in
slightly different phraseology. work
OF go to jail-and work anyhow" was
her ultimatum-
How Governor Cox in his second
term dug up from the dust of oblivion
a law which made. vagrancy not only
n crime but an actual felony is told
In his record as a war and recon-
-struction governor, set forth in the
emocratic Campaign Textbook just
issued from National headquarters,
Grand Central Palace, New York CITY.
Governor Cox from the beginning
had realized that production in all
essential activities was a requisite to
the winning of the war. y Discovering
the almost forgotten statute, he issued
a proclamation calling for the arrest
of vagrants everywhere, with the al
fernative of a parole on condition that
they went to work immediately. or
imprisonment at labor on workhouse
farms or the state penitentiary farms
and factories. Most of the idlers
Fchose to avoid Imprisonment by find
ing jobs and going to work,
Cox as Il War Governor.
The United States entered the war
with Germany in the fourth month
of Governor Cox's second term and he
fSet about % make Ohio responsive to
severy call of the nation for men, food
and comm ODDITIES. As a farmer he
knew the importance of keeping the
fields manned for a crop production
that should be adequate to the needs
of the nation and the Allies, and at
his suggestion thousands of high
school and college students received
credits for completing the year
school work by engaging in farming
or war industries.
To meet the situation of reduced
man power on the farm caused by
the draft, Governor Cox issued
farm tractor proclamation urging
all farmers, if necessary to get full
acreage under cultivation, to pur-
chase tractors A tractor school at
Ohio State University afforded to
men, women and boys an opportu-
nifty to learn operation of tractors,
the banks everywhere extended credit
and thousands of tractors were pur-
chased.
The states five free employment
exchanges were increased to SO with
, farm specialists at each of them.
When the call came for thousands of
cantonment and shiDbuilders Ohio's
quota was always furnished by these
exchanges overnight. This service
was SO well organized that the Fed
eral Government adopted the Ohio
plan. Most OF the war activities of
the state We're handled through a
Defense Council of SO members, the
'outgrowth of Governor Cox's war
cabinet" whose personnel included
representatives of business. labor, ag-
riculture and ALL the social agencies.
Within three weeks after the dec
1aratfon OF war with Germany the
Ohio National Guard had been re-
cruited to a strength OF $1,000 Off
GERS and men and later went over the
top as tho 37th Division. The Guard
also furnished ono regiment to the
Rainbow Division, In addition to
these troops, more than 100000
Ohioans went into active service un-
der the draft, Prior to tho adoption
Df the SeIeotive Service act the state
was organized by counties through
tho agencies of common pleas judges,
so that when tho draft came nom
partisan boards were promptly set up
Sn every community and the law was
administered fairly and without faint
OF scandal.
Ready For Reconstruction.
The war ended 5000 after Governor
Cox'S third election and he attacked
the problems of reconstruction with
the same energy and thoroughness
that he had applied to the war ac-
S1vftieS of the state. "Ohio is ready
now" was the instant reply sent by
him to the question of President Will
son in the fall of 1918 as to how soon
fhe state could be prepared to re-
ceive and care for her wounded boys
who needed to be returned home for
rehabilitation. One of the large state
intitrtions was made ready for this
emergency.
Other reconstruction problems he
banded in the direct and business
, like manner which has characterized
hiS public career. He urged upon
mayors to begin public improvements
on the widest scale possible to insure
employment for returning soldiers
and tho state the aX9I11rOia nv
prosecuting n road building program
on the greatest scale in its history.
To combat the menace of food
meeting of all~Ohio prosecuting at,
torneys and urged them to cal
special grand juries and to prosecute
profteers to the full extent of the
law. Indictments for conSpiracieS tc
regulate or increase food prices en-
sued in all the larger cities; the price
of bread was lowered in Columbu:
when the leaders of the bakers com
bine in that city had been indicted
and had pleaded guilty; scores o.
prosecutions were brought a,gains
violators of the cold storage Law
passed during the Governors formel
term, and tons of meat therby were
released at lower prices.
Handling of Industrial Unrest.
When the wave of industrial unres
that succeeded the armistice sweep
lover the country Ohio was not i'm
1nune. But even in that crisis the
record of six years. during which NJ
recourse to the militia was eve
found necessary, was preserved. Wher
the steel strike involved the great stee
centers of eastern and northeastern
Ohio, Gov. Cox issued a proclamation
holding the mayors to strict accounta
hility for the preservation of tn,
peace. That he meant it he showed il
the only instance in which it wa
necessary for him to act, when he re
moved the mayor of Canton, a Demo
crat, for failure to preserve the peace
Under the deposed officials successor
the law was successfully enforced.
The coal strike last Novembe
Threatened to make industry AM
homes fueIleSs and Governor Cox OBJ
tanned from Ohio operators and miner
an agreement to abide by a solution
he would offer. Before eacH side hat
In, ,inln =. l.