Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-03-26
CUkN|NS GIVES
sen. DLK|NS A
SINGING REPLY
Iowa Governor Shows Up the
Motive For Senator's En-
trance Into Iowa Campaign
TOOL OF THE CORPORATIONS
Railroad Determination to Control
Politics in Iowa Back Of the EIIsins
Interest in Defeating cummins -
Something More About the Rate
eill Hearing at Washington.
Special to Times-RepubI,can.

Special to Times Republican.
ss, q, Des Moines, March 26.-Governor
Cummins' reply to Senator Ellkins is
s the principal topic Of discussion
among. legislators and politicians today.
It is regarded as strong document,
and 8. stinging rebuke to the West
virginian's interference in the Iowa
campaign. His motive in writing the
letter is shoNn up and gives the lie
to Elkins' statement that he had no in
terest in the governors campaign for
denomination. The interest Of the corr
& porations in their determination to
defeat Cummins and regain control Of
! the executive branch Of the Iowa gov
ernment is plai,ly shown. incidents
ally tile governor gives the lie to some
OF the alleged statements Of fact made
by Elkins. The governors letter in
full follows:
Des Moines, March "a. 1906--Hon.
stephen B. Elkins, Senator In Congress
from West Virginia, and Chairman OF
the Interstate Commerce Committee OF
the Senate, washington, D. G.. MY
4 Dear Sir:
Il acknowledge receipt Of your COM
munfcation, consisting Of eighteen
typevtritten pages, dated March 10,
i 1906.
your entrance into the Iowa cam
paign is unexpected. but / assure you It
is not unweicome Before you came
in, the railroad companies Of the state
were fighting me with might and main.
and IL. the railway companies and coal
1 trusts. OF w. Virginia desire to add their
strength to the corporations already
opposing me, it may make the fight OF
national interest. but 1t will make no
difference In the outcome.
81 tell you frankly in the beginning
that when you say, Il have no interest
f in your campaign for third term"
do not believe you. You have not
chosen this particular time to write me
an eighteen page letter and give 1t to
/, the press thruout the country simply to
correct alleged mistakes dn speeches
that have made In the state OF Iowa,
or to vindicate the fidelity Of the Inter
\ state commerce committee against my
criticisms. You understand perfectly
that the Issue in Iowa at the present
moment is whether the corporations.
and especially the railway companies
shall be permitted to dominate the
policy Of the state, and your purpose is
to give your influence to the railways
here. Just as have charged that you
SA ~ ., ov ha
fore the interstate commerce commit
tee at Washington.
"I intend to be candid about this
matter, and shall leave nothing for you
10 read between, the lines. The proof
upol, which base my belief in the mo-.
tive I have imputed to you I will pre-
sent before I close this communities
ton
II turn now to the specific state
ments Of your letter. You set forth
what purports to be an extract from a
speech 1 recently made in Ft. Dodge
and an extract from speech
made a few weeks ago in Spirit
Lake. I have no way of determining
whether or not your quotations are
literally correct. Both speeches were
extern poraneous in SO far as phrase
oloe.y goes. and I have nothing but my
memory with which to test the exact
ness Of your extracts. There is some
language in both that never used.
but these departures from the letter
Of my speeches are immaterial, for the
spirit and substance Of both quotations
are correct.
".[ did say on both occasions that an
Invitation to appear before your com
mittee was procured for me by the
Iowa Manufacturers Association; that
when took the stand your committee
room was full Of witnesses waiting to
be heard, and that Ibelieved that every
on:. OF them was either a railway en-,
ploye or had gone to washington upon
q railway pass: that after delivering
my statement, which required less than
4orty-f1ve minutes, / was cross-exam-
ined nearly six hours; that with a very
few exceptions the cross examination
touching the subject of my statement
was hostile, and intended to overthrow
my position Il did not include the ex-
animation Of Senator Newlands upon
another sub1ect); . that you cross-ex-
amlined me for nearly four hours, and
that you did not put to me a single
friendly fnterrogatory; that you occu-
pied toward me exactly the same atti-
tuie that relentless cross s-examiner
occupies toward a hostile witness; that
during the cross examination counsel
for the railway companies sat at your
right hand. so close that at times it
seemed to me that your arms were in
tel-locked: that I saw him pass to you
many written questions to be pro-
v>onp43od IN mo. that ropa rdod zyo1,r
attitude as unfair to the people Of
whose committee you were the chair
man, and unfaithful to the obligations
ycu had assumed; and that I resolved
chen that I would denounce the specta-