The Cowboy Code

Monday, January 23, 2006 Gene Autry was the consumate American hero of the early 20th century. Growing up in a blue-collar Texas-Oklahoma family, he graduated from high school and went to work for a railroad as a telegraph operator. Turning down the opportunity to play minor-league baseball, he became a popular amateur musician. After a chance meeting with Will Rogers in 1928, he went into show business. By the time he fully retired from music and movies, he had made almost 100 films and more than 600 albums. In 1960, he became the first owner of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. Gene Autry is the only person to date to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for each of the five eligible disciplines: film, radio, recording, TV and stage. Above that, however, he is best known as THE American cowboy--the Museum of the American West is named for him. Among his many thousands of accomplishments, Gene Autry gave us the "Cowboy Code," the code by which every movie cowboy who has followed in his footsteps has lived. It is a code that has influenced the likes of Roy Rogers and John Wayne. Here it is: 1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage. 2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him. 3. He must always tell the truth. 4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals. 5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas. 6. He must help people in distress. 7. He must be a good worker. 8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits. 9. He must respect women, parents, and his nations laws. 10. The Cowboy is a patriot. The Cowboy Code is a great philosophy to live by in our everyday lives, regardless of your background. Just imagine how different society would be if we lived like that all the time? Sadly, that's just not the way it's going to be. As a journalist, however, I have adopted the Cowboy Code as my newsroom philosophy. That, in large part, is why I have been hired as senior editor of a new publication, The American Exponent. My goal is to get more journalists to accept the Cowboy Code. It's an ambitious undertaking and one that I firmly believe will be successful in the long run. Readers are tired of politicized drivel regurgitated from the Democrat Party playbook and purported as facts. I am a conservative and a I always will be, but my news reporting will never be clouded by partisanship. It's time to put the red and blue crayons away and for the children in Washington to start acting like adults. Hopefully, The American Exponent can be a part of that transition. Time will only tell, but it starts now in south-central Wisconsin. I have read and approved the preceeding message. Bob Eschliman Senior Editor, American Exponent