James M. Cox

“ We desire industrial peace. We want our people to have an abiding confidence in government. But no readjustment made under reactionary auspices will carry with it the confidence of the country. If we were asked to name in these trying days the first essential overshadowing every other consideration, the response would be — confidence in government. ”

“ One leads to a higher citizenship, a freer expression of the individual and a fuller life for all. The other leads to reaction, the rule of the few over the many, and the restriction of the average man's chances to grow upward. ”

“ The natural impulse is to forget the past, to develop new interests, to create a [refreshened] and refreshing atmosphere in life. We want to forget war, and to be free from the troubling thought of its possibility in the future. ”

“ The leaders opposed to democracy promise to put the country back to normal. This can only mean the so-called normal of former reactionary administrations, the outstanding feature of which was a pittance for farm produce and a small wage for a long day of toil. My vision does not turn backwards to the normal desires of the senatorial oligarchy, but to a future in which all shall have a normal opportunity to cultivate a higher stature amidst better environments than that of the past. ”