Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-06-23
AS SEEN IN WASHINGTON.



In view of the fact that the Washing
ton Post favored the return of Allison
to the senate and was quoted quite
freely on that point in the campaign,
the report of it's correspondent from
the Chicago convention on Cummins as
a possible nominee for vice president
| will be of interest in Iowa AS late as
| Thursday night when the nomination
of Sherman was made on Friday morn
| ing, the Post man believed Cummins
would be named as the choice of
paper as follows:
1T was reported tonight among those
in the confidence of the president and
Secretary Taft that both those influ-
entail members of the republican party
wished the nomination to go to Iowa,
and that their influence would be felt
in the convention tomorrow in behalf
| of the man the delegation decided to
support. The action of the delegation
therefore, makes Cummins the favor
lite in the vice presidential race tomor-
row.
Cummns a Fighting Man.
when one stops to reflect upon the
availability Of the energetic executive
! of the Hawkeye state, he is impressed
by the fact that the president and Mr..
Taft have exhibited characteristical-
ly sound judgment in their prefer
ence Some people who have heard men
identified with the anti ummins wing
of the party in Iowa may be skeptical
about this, but a study of Cummins
| v,xf,, rot, pitfo nd y,t1h
official will probably convince them
that their first impression has been in
correct.
"The governor for many years has
been working along lines similar to
those that have been followed by Pres
ident Roosevelt. Furthermore, any,
body who Is familiar with political
events in his state during the last four
or five years knows that he is a fight
ing man-much the same sort as Theo-
dore Roosevelt himself.
I "And again. the fighting he has done
has been with the conservative element
of his party, with the railroads, with
the insurance corporations, in behalf OF
organized labor, and against the ex-
actions and encroachments Of trusts.
The most bitter antagonists of the gov
ernor have been the railroads which
traverse his state.
Every time he was candidate for
! governor they sought to prevent his
nomination and afterwards were in
different to his success at the polls.
But he has emerged triumphant in ev-
cry contest except his recent campaign
for United States senator when he
sought to defeat the veteran, William
B. Allison, now serving his sixth con-
secutive term in the senate, following
service of four terms in the house of
representatives. But even at that, the
vote was close, Allison having a ma
/ jornty in the primaries Of not more
than 10000.
i "Cummins for twenty years before
/ his election as governor was one OF the
leaders of the Iowa bar. He Is about
Sc or 81 years old, and is now serving
his third term. Former Secretary Of
the Treasurer Leslie NJ. Shaw was his
Immediate predecessor, and incidentally
lit may be stated, belongs to the fac
ton which has been opposing Cum
Minis So do Senator Jonathan P. Dol
liver and a majority of the members of
the congressional delegation at Wash
| ington. 3
ut was only by dint of the hard
est work imaginable that he has been
able to save himself from political ef-
facement, and practically dominate the
republican organization of his state.
Individually, he is the strongest man
politically in that commonwealth, and
as vice president he doubtless would
be its controlling force.
Strenuous in Battle.
"Taft and ,Cummins will constitute
ticket in which there can be found
no harmonious strain. In one sense
Cummins would be more fitting run
ming mate for Roosevelt than for Taft,
altho in another placing him on the
| ticket with the secretary OF war is
very appropriate. His temperament
may ,fittingly be described as composed
Of the Roosevelt and Taft tempera-
ments. He is unafraid Of antagonists,
- rless in a fight and strenuous in bat
tie
But he is somewhat kss impulsive
than Roosevelt, and manifests more of
the deliberateness of Taft. Like the
president he has been contending
against corporate encroachments; his
legal training and experience at the
bar accounts for the judicial quality
Of his disposition, in which character
istic he resembles the secretary of war.
ORIGINAL Trust Buster.
ono man is better able to claim the
title of tho original 'trust-buster'
| than Cummins. Something like TWEEN
ty years ago, when he was practicing
at the bar, he was retained by the
Farmers Alliance to begin an action
against the barbed wire trust, of which
the farmers Of his and other states
had been complaining. This was one
of the first Combines ever organized
in the country, and for many years it
had it's own way in the rural districts
and fixed the price Of It's product at
a figure which suited itself. Cummins
tackled the job, and the case ended
with its dissolution.
HCummins was one Of the pioneers
Of the fight against the issue OF
passes by railroads, long one of the
most insiduous forms of exerting I'M
proper influence upon lawmakers, state
and national, ever devised by corpor-
alton of public nature He was in
strumental in securing the passage. by
the Iowa legislature. Of an anti-pass
law. which paved the way for similar
enactments by other states and by con-
gress.
| - ~, C1, u "a