The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1920-08-05

( The Story Tells How A Farmers
Boy Rose To Be A Country SchooI
Teacher, Successful Newspaper
Man. Governor OF A Great State
And Is Now Candidate For Presl-
dent.
Results were not slow in coming
in the. early days as was proved py
! the fact that the paper had not Deen
going very long before Cox walked
into the office of John A. Mcmahon,
the present dean of the Ohio bar,
and remarked:
thy client
How is that?" asked Mr.. McMa-
hon.
We'll l have been sued for hun
dreds OF thousands of dollars fof
libed and l want you to defend me.
! If all those suits mad ever struck
! the Dayton News probably would
have been wiped off the map, but IN
! all the years that Cox has been con-
Quoting his paper his editors say
| that there is just one libel suit
i
that was one where he had make a
small payment because reporter
made a mistake which the boss knew
nothing about.
One of the first fights that he con-
Quoted was against Doc" Loves,
the Dayton Republican boss, now
dead. He never succeeded in put
ting Loves out of business entirely,
but proof of the general success OF
his attack is found in the fact that
as the Dayton News grew, so did the
strength of the democratic party IN
| that city.
This policy of his paper got him in
| to some interesting personal encoun-
ters, but he never lodged them. For
| instance, an editor of his newspaper
recently told how one towering big
man, who considered that Cox had
! insulted and disgraced him. made
his way to the News office ana
sought the quarters of the proprle-
tor. The injured one opened the
! door and went in threatening ven
geance. A moment later the workers
| in the outer room heard a crash of
! glass and looked up to see the ven
geance-seeker sailing through the
door with the publisher occupying
a strategic position in his rear.
Another story is told of man
who made the remark that Cox, be-
| cause of his activities, ought to be
run out of town The publisher
| sought him and asked him if he had
made theremark.
1 did, was the reply.
| Whereupon, as the story was told
| to The World by a former employees
| of the publisher, Cox administered a
beating on the spot. Once his news
| paper was on the point of being
closed up because he had referred
to a local Judge as judicial piEz
| ate"
The fight of which the publisher
| is most proud, and the one of which
it is frequently said that it''made"
| Cox was against the so-called APP
| pleyard Syndicate of Philadelphia.
| Dayton has always been an import
ant transportation center and this
syndicate at the time was trying to
|
| over grade crossings.
Cox opposed their proposals.
| Things went on hot and heavy un-
| til The News printed story which
| in effect accused the syndicate OF
| buying up banks in the Middle West
and using their funds to promote
| their traction ventures. The News
was promptly sued for libel under
an Ohio law by which a publisher
could be required to put up a bond
| twice the amount of the damages
| asked, under penalty of having the
sheriff take possession of his plant.
The syndicate, think to put Cox
out of business, brought a suit for
| 100000, which fiXt the bond at
$1,000,0O0, and the Sheriff actually
closed the doors of the plant. The
city was crowded with people, who
had been drawn by fair week, and
the opposition paper, which had
been kept informed of what was
transpiring, was quickly out with an
extra saying that The News was
| closed up.
But Cox opened up his door and
went in while Frank Mccormick was
| hustling around for bond to write
| the story from his own viewpoint.
| In two hours Mccormick had been
successful and a few minutes later
| The News had an extra on the streets
telling that it was open. The news
| eventually won the suit.
His fight with John H. Patterson,
] head of the National Cash Register
| Company, picturesquely illustrates
| the ups and downs of his friendships
and his direct manner of making
statements. Patterson, who was
seeking additional transportation
| conveniences for his big plant, had
a list of a dozen or more things
which he wanted from the City of
while, the cash-register man had
| Dayton. However,
| Cox fought his demands. Mean
brought to his plant nam named
| Palmer to look Gfter the hygiene
and physical welfare of his en-
! ployees. Palmer introduced some
| things that the editor thought were
fads and fancies, and a merry war
fare began. People of Dayton took
sides and the fight became the cen
ter of interest for miles around,
while the circulation of The News
| jumped by leaps and bounds.
The extent to which The News
went is disclosed in a libel suit
which Patterson filed OF August %,
1907, in which Patterson sets forth
in his complaint that The News had
referred to Palmer as "a lackey, a
| butler, a valet" and had said that
behind the resignation of Hugh
Chalmer as vice-president of the
cash-register plant, 'is the story of
an English lackey who has COM
pletely practised the art of hypno-
tism and so dominated the mind of
his master as to sunder all friend
ships-family, business and social"
In his suit Patterson asked for
$125, 900 damages, but the papers