East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1920-10-27

James NJ Cox, VINO has pledged his
support OF the League Of Nations, has
a long record OF conservative political
achievement. Personally he is Wig
orous, dynamic man of action.
When he sets out to do a thing he
goes straight ahead and does 1t. Very
seldom has he failed TO accomplish his
objects Born near Jacksonburs.
Butler county, Ohio, March 81, 1870,
I the youngest of seven children of Gil
bert and Eliza Cox, he grew up on
the farm, attended country school, and
made his pocket money by working as
| janitor OF country church. Incident
| ally. he is stll member IN good
standing of that same country church.
When he was % he went to Middle
town. OHIO, stayed at the home of his
sister and worked his way through
high school by carrying papers, set
ting type. and doing odd jobs for the
Middleton Signal After completing
high school he passed an examination
and obtained a position as teacher Of
country school Later he returned to
the the newspaper at Middleton as
reporter, and as correspondent for the
Glnclnnatl Enquirer
His work attracted the attention of
the Cincinnati newspaper when he
put over" a clean scoop for them
on n railroad wreck, and he was call
ed TO Cincinnati to take a position
there. He made RAPID rise on the
reportorial staff of the Enquirer and
was appointed city editor at the same
time he was offered a position as pri-
vate secretary to Congressman Iaul
Sork He accepted the latter and went
to Washington, d. c., where he gained
valuable experience.
A Successful Publisher
In 1898 Mr.. Sork retired from con-
gress. and Cox borrowed money from
him to buy the Dayton News. which
was then nearly bankrupt. and which
he got for "A small sum. For several
| Years Cox had u hard struggle TO keep
the paper going. Competition was
keen, and the old record of the News
did not help, Once his shop was, an
fact, closed by the sheriff. But Just
when the opposition newspaper ap-
peared on the streets with the an
nouncement of the News demise, Cox,
who had scraped around and raised
enough money to lift part of his deot,
published an Extra declaring the
News was very much alive. 1t was,
and Cox won out. Within five years
the News was on a paying basis ana
making money for it's owner. Subse-
quently he bought another run down
newspaper at Springf cid, and is now
the owner and publisher of both the
Dayton News and the Springfield
News
! Until 1908 Cox occupied all his time
running his newspapers. In that yeal
he was persuaded to run for congress
on the democratic ticket. lie did so
and won. Again in 1910 he won the
congressional electon--this time by q
larger majority than any candidate
! had received in that district, And the
district had been republican for years,
; The Great Democratic Governor in u
! Republican State.
/ BY 1912 Cox had become a state
wide figure in politics He was an en-
thusiastic champion Of new, pro
: gressive state constitution, and with
this as his principal platform plank he
| was nominated for governor, and AT
= the elimination of vigorous and
hard fought campaign, won the eleo-
! ton. Twice since then he has beer
Q re-elected-the only time in history q
= democrat has served three terms as
K governor of Ohio The only othei
n man who ever served three terms II:
governor Of this state was Rutherfor,