Sorg was a self-made man, who had accumulated considerable money in the tobacco business by energy and industry. Mr. Cox doubtless had these same qualities then as he has them today. At any rate, he appealed to Sorg, and off Cox went to Washington. Sorg finished out that term and was re-elected. Again Cox went to Washington with him. Congressman Sorg, however, did not care for political life. His health began to fail, and with it his mind. After two terms, he did not seek re-election. He returned to Ohio in 1897 and Cox went back home with him. Mr. Sorg is now dead, but Mrs. Sorg is still living in Middletown. She is a woman of very large means. They all returned to Ohio together in 1897.
In talking with men familiar with Cox in those days, all say that he was a great worker and had tremendous energy; but he insists he was no more industrious than are the secretaries of most Congressmen. It is his experience that they all have to work. The success attained by many political leaders is due to their secretaries. Mr. Cox himself owes much of his success in recent years to the very efficient secretary which he had during his last two terms as Governor. I refer to Mr. Charles E. Morris.
Congressman Sorg apparently was much pleased with Mr. Cox's work in Washington. Cox was doubtless of great benefit to Congressman Sorg, as the Congressman's health was very poor. It is generally agreed that what the Congressman did accomplish in Washington was due largely to the energy, industry and integrity of his private secretary.
One day the Congressman and young Cox were talking over the future together. The Congressman explained that he wanted to go back to Ohio, and Mr. Cox told of his ambitions to go back to Ohio and have a paper of his own in which he could freely write unhampered by any interests. This talk was during the business depression of 1897, when many newspapers, as well as other business enterprises, were in financial difficulties. Mr. Sorg suggested that if one were to buy a newspaper, this was a good time to do it. Shortly after this Cox learned that the _Dayton News_ was on the market and could be purchased cheaply.
The business men of Dayton tell me that the _News_ was then about as hopeless an enterprise as could be imagined. It was operating at a loss, its press was falling to pieces and its reputation was nil. However, Mr. Cox insisted that he could be happier with a bankrupt paper of his own, than with a great prosperous metropolitan daily owned by others. Like so many other young newspaper men, he asked himself, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Thus, with the help of Mr. Sorg, Cox purchased control of the _Dayton News_.