The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-08-12
cuMMlNs OF IOWA
Tariff Revislonist Has Been Hard
 Fighter

From the New York Evening Post.
 A1hert R Cummins of Iowa is one or the most picturesque characters on the noliticaI stage of the United States today. of the men now in the public eye, La Eollette has had a political history mucn like that of Cummins. Years Of hghtlns the nolitical powers in their respective states against overwhelming odds ana III the face of many reyerses and dlscour- apements. a has brought these two men to inc place where they are accepted as the paramount personalities in theu st@ees' They are close friends, their methoos are not unlike. their careers loiio" tse, narallel in many places they are credited n,,+h tba same interests and ambitions. Roth will be heard from later their friends nredct, and in wider fields or pup lie activity.
 "rbis man Cummins" Is the char acterization by which his legion or poit- teal enemies refer to him-was porn III Pennsylvania At 19 fresh rom sciiooi' he was an apprentice in civil engineering acting as assistant to the chler ehsineeI oor structinr a railroad in Indiana. The chief was called one day 10 new posi- tion at A great advance. and felt that ne could not refuse Could young Cummfns finish the task of building that roau III tba limited time necessary to earn certain bonuses? He said, with much cohnuence' that he could. His chief spent two uays in practical lectures on curves graoients and bridge construction. The young en- 1,inaer walked all of one night over a new grade in order to inspect a single connleted bridge that represented the gen oral tyne of construction of the others vet to be built He came back 10 say be could build the road, and next day ms chief left.
 The boy engineer finished the road, earning the bonuses. and was proino'eu to chief engineer of larger roau- ooon after he was of age he was offered the nosition of chief engineer of what Is now inc santa Fe road. He refused it, having determined to be a lawyer. With prll- liant success already assured, ne cut OH that career and went to Iowa. He worked as a carpenter while getting an education fin law. set up in practice in Des Moines, then a country town; became the head or inc states bar, and one of its favorite n,h,,c sneakers. All the time he also prac- ticad noltics. but as an independent he could not agree with his party more than half the time. So he has spent most or the last twenty years trying to convince his party that it ought to come over to him.
 Defying the railroads. which were then the dominating political power in the
 
 senator in 1889 against Senator John Hen rv Gear. He missed control of the repub- lican caucus in the legislature by three votes. Nobody dreamed he had chance in the fight until after the election. Then if turned out he had been very close to if. The railroads beat him. and just when they were celebrating his elimination from noIitics he announced himself as a can ddate for governor That was five years ago.
 The fight of 1901 was the beginning of the new kind of politics in Iowa. It was c,,mmins against the field. Candidates were brought out against him in all parts of the state-favorte sons. whose busi- ness was to keep the delegations away from Cummins till the politicians could organize a combination and deliver the votes against him. The state was fought over county by county, township by town ship. The senators and representatives in Congress were all against him. so were inc railroads the federal offce-holders. including postmasters. and most of the newspapers. Cummins was not rich man. but he spent what he could, and his friends all over the state raised funds to make the fight in their localities. For once the political powers found an ad- yersary who could arouse people not only