The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1912-04-18
By JAMES A. EDGERToN.

man of Ohio. William B. ALI
son Of Iowa and many more So I'm
varying has been this rule that it ha!
become political tradition. The cases
OF James A. Garfield and Benjamin
Harrison are only seeming exceptions
Garfield had been chosen senator. it is
true. but he was elected to the presi
dency before taking his seat in the
senate. Harrison had been senator
but his term had expired before he
was nominated for the presidency.
The American people have taken their
presidents from the lower house OF
congress. from the governorshipS of the
states or from the ranks of victorious
generals, but not from the senate.
Has the change in the method of SEN
atorial elections in many of the states
popularized the body and removed the
ban? When we have direct election of
senators throughout the nation will
the upper house then become a step
ping stone to the presidency? This is
altogether possible. Certain 1t is that
we now have two senators who are
candidates before the Republican ma
tional convention and both are pro-
gressives.
The careers of these two men, Rob-
ert NJ. La Toilette of Wisconsin and
Albert Baird Cummins of Iowa have
been strikingIy similar Bo.h have
fought the corpora tons AMI party
bosses, both have stood for tHrT -
vision, both reached the gOve.nCrshi9
after bitter fights. both served tie :
terms in that office, and both We're til II
elected to the senate.
Moreover Senators La Toilette and
Cummins are the two foremost lead
ers of the progressives. not only in
the senate. but in the nation. For a
long time it was uncertain which of
them would be put forward as the
presidential candidate of this wing of
the Republican party. After the pas
sage of the Payne Aldrich bill Senator
Cummins threw down the gauntlet to
the stand pat forces and announced
that. if necessary, he would become
candidate for the presidential nomina-
ton.
With the formation OF the National
Progressive Republican league La Fol-
lette began to come TO the front. how
ever. and later a conference held in
Chicago formally declared for him as
the candidate. In this decision Sena-
tor Cummins concurred and advised
his friends in Iowa to support the
Wisconsin senator. Thus the matter
stood until the beginning of this year,
who Of with his
friends from all parts of Iowa, Sena-
tor Cummins returned to Washington
and announced his candidacy.
The reason given by the press of the
country was that it appeared impos-
sible for La Toilette to win the en-
tire Iowa delegation, part of which |
at least would thus go to President |
Taft. To prevent this the candidacy |
of Senator Cummins became necessary. |
for the entire delegation could be as |
sured TO him. Moreover, the state of /
Iowa voted many times for Senator |
Allison. and there was a desire to keep |
the delegation a unit and to cast its
vote for a son of Iowa. AT any rate, !
it can be confidently asserted that the
Cummins candidacy was not designed
to divide the progressive forces.
Albert Baird Cummins is truly of
presidential size. He is an orator from
a state that has produced speakers of
the first rank. he has high type of
executive ability. is a constructive
statesman, has a winning and pleas
ing personality and is of the perfect
pattern of what in the old days was
meant by "a gentleman and a scholar"
While governor he was known as the
father of the Iowa idea" which was
that there should be no protection for
oppressive monopolies and that Ameri-
can made goods should be bought as
cheaply at home as abroad. He be-
lieyed in protecting American indus
tries without sheltering illegal combi-
nations.
Never Quits Fighting.
Cummins is a fighter. and yet he is
SO diplomatic and gracious that he
hardly appears the part. He does not
hurl hard names at his opponents, but
hard facts. But despite his genial
WAYS he is a swift and forceful hit
Ter. He knows how to win battle
after it seems lost and how to make :,
defeat a stepping stone to success.
After he was beaten for senator by
Gear he started out to become Repub- ,
lican national committeeman. After ,,
he was defeated for senator by Dol .
liver he started out TO be governor.
Both of these places he achieved and !
them on the third attempt q
finally reached the goal of his ambi- r
ton in the United States senate. Or a
Is it a goal? Possibly it is only mile Z
stone. When the truly ambitious man =
attains one desired station he sees an 7
other and higher one beyond. After r
Mr.. Cummins gained the senate did be /,
see rhe White House as the next OBJ n
Iective? If so he is not the first Amer r
c. Jared by that vision. n
Ommins was not born politician o
In fact. he started wrong several times a
ind backed out before he found his