Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-27
COX FLAUNTS OHIO RECORD
TO ENTTCE PROGRESSIVES
Bearer Of Democratic Gontaon Seeks Divert Attention
From League to His Acts Governor
BY CLINTON w. GILBERT
staT Correspondent Of the Evening Public Ledger

Columbus. o.. July q. - Governor
Cox will base his claim to the progress
sive vote on his record as governor of
Ohio. He has been what is known as
progressive governor.
This country has had many 'progres-
sive' governors. La Toilette probably
started the fashion in Wisconsin and,
being n pioneer, was of the crudest
and most violent type. Iowa had pro-
gressive governors. So had Kansas and
Nebraska. Then eastern states began
to get progressive governors Hughes in
New York and Wilson in New Jersey.
Ohio little later had its Governor
Cox.
These governors all ran true to type
in the administrations. Much social
legislation went on the statute books !:
WorkmPn'S compensation laws, school
reform laws, laws for the regulation of
corporations and laws limiting the hours
Of labor, especially of women and chill
dren.
Their record was n sensation in its
day. Wilson's work made him Presf-
dent. 1ughcs'S work almost made him
President. Cox came a little too late
to obtain the advertising out of his
work that the earlier progressive gov
ernors did. But his work has been
similar to theirs.
Fifty-twO Reforms Credited to Cox
IL public attention were focused upon
state reform as 1t was in the days
when Wilson was governor of New Jer-
sey or Hughes governor of New York,
Cox would today be much better known
to the people at large than he is.
His campaign literature, issued when
he was seeking the nomination for Pres =
ident, lists tiftytwo reforms accom-
pliShed during his administration as
governor. Of these the most outstand :
ing are the workmen'S compensation
act, consolidation of the country schools
and creation of an industrial commits
sion.
Most of the better governed states
! have workmen's compensation acts and
consolidated school districts. Some have
! industrial commissions. New York, un
der Hughes a dozen years or so ago,
adopted a workmen's compensation act,
which was indeed the basis of the Ohio
act.
This is said not with an intent to dis
parage the progressive legislation put on
the statute books under Governor Cox
1t is said merely to give some idea OF
! the difficulty of selling Governor Cox tc
the voters of the nation as progressive
governor.
Progressive legislation in most states
is an old story 1t is not front nag,
news any longer. Give the list of Gov,
ernOr Cox's fifty-two reforms to mos
voters and the voters will read owe
and approve them, but fail to be stirred
Public FavOrably Impressed
Co%'s record as governor is an ex
cellent foundation for an appeal to tn
public, but it Is not an appeal to tn
public. 1t will dispose voters favorabl,
toward him, but it will not move then
if their minds are fixed on other issues
There is nothing arresting about a lis
of reform legislation, not now. Their
is nothing arresting about efficiency il
the governorship.
Cox, besides keeping social ends il
,, view, seems to have been II more thaI
usually efficient governor. Good execu
tives are an old story. The countr
generally takes them more or less fo
granted.
This is one side of the difficult
: which faces Cox az he attempts to dra,
the picture of progress against reacto
+ and to shift the issue away from tn
League of Nations and Wilson to on
which will improve his chances of cleo
ton. Another side of it is that tn
> countrys attention has for severe
! ! years been directed away from state I
national problems. .
l.. Times Have Changed
In the days of Hughes and Wilson
] was OthprWise State government I'm
largely broken down. Elihu Root, the
: secretary of state, had, at the instiga
: ton of President Roosevelt, made
|. speech warning the states that the
would gradually lose their powers
a the federal government II they did nj
y mend their ways II was easy The