Mr. Cox also showed the courage of his convictions many years before the war when he was in Congress. He believed in the United States having an army and a navy adequate to protect our people, but he did not believe that the end justifies every means or that the government is greater than the people who make it up.
Hence, when the Naval Appropriation Bill was under consideration he made in Congress a bitter attack on the Republican Administration's method of obtaining recruits. He produced evidence showing that recruits were obtained under false pretenses; that boys were encouraged to state an age older than they really were; and that even liquor and bad women were used to lure men to enlist. Hence, he succeeded in attaching to the Appropriation Bill a clause requiring the production of birth certificates in connection with the recruiting for the Navy. Every mother and father should bless him for his moral courage.
In talking these things over one day, Mr. Cox said to me:
"I believe not only in international democracy, but also in domestic democracy. But most of all I believe that reforms can be permanent in America only as they extend to other nations. I reason the same relative to financial, industrial and other local problems. I see that in order for the labor movement not to harm the manufacturer in America, labor legislation must be international in operation. For the eight-hour day to permanently succeed in America, it must apply to Europe and Japan. Otherwise industry here may ultimately suffer in competition with foreign producers. Notwithstanding Senator Lodge's 'America First' standard, we cannot be 'first' in the long run by being selfish. We all are brothers one of another, rich or poor, American or European. Sooner or later we must all suffer or prosper together. We can save ourselves only as we save others. The only way America can truly come out first is to forget herself as Jesus would teach us to do. We can save ourselves only as we will forget ourselves and save others. We must work by the Golden Rule rather than by the rule of gold."
I am proud of Governor Cox's record on prohibition, because both he and I have been for many years practically teetotalers. I am proud of his courage in not being scared by the Anti-Saloon League which was opposed to him and fought him at every turn.