The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1922-06-22
THE SENATE'S NEW
CHAIRMAN OF FINANCE

N. Thurston, Of Nebraska; William E.
Chandler and Joseph H. Gallinger, of
New Hampshire; Chauncy NJ. Depew,
OF New York; Joseph B. Foraker and
Mark Hanna, of Ohio; and Nelson w.
Aldrich, Of Rhode Island.
Senator McCumber entered Con-
gress at time when the questions of
the hour were those resulting from
the war with Spain. Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Philippines were topics
Of public discussion. The United
States was plunged into international
affairs. Almost the very first act of
the new Senator from North Dakota
was the introduction of joint reso-
| luton for the appointment of a COM
mission to investigate the commercial
conditions of China and Japan.
The Senator was placed on the
committees on claims, Indian Affairs
and, later, pensions. Early he took a
deep interest in Indian affairs and
pensions, making many able speeches,
and reporting favorably many hun
creds of pension cases.
A Dynamic Force
1t did not take the Senate long to
discover that Senator McCumber was
a driving and dynamic force, destined
to play an important and conspicuous
Part in large affairs. He was a hard
worker, an omnivorous reader, close
student and clear thinker. Not an
orator, he spoke in slow deliberate
manner; never spectacular, he drove
home his points with powerful logic;
never nebulous, he argued in a
straight line and with convincing
clarity.
In two years he was looked upon as
one of the leaders on the Republican
side, and coming man. His first
zeal speech was on the armor plate
provision of the naval appropriations
lill of 1900. He demonstrated his
independence by questioning the fig
TRES of some Of the "old hands" on
the naval committee, and by calling
attention to the undue profits in the
manufacture Of armor plate.
Senator McCumber's tendency to-
ward temperance and his long train
ing in prohibition fights in North Da-
kota, revealed itself again, when in
January, 1901, he discussed the can
teen proposition in the military es-
Establishment bill. He said he favored
a trial of the canteen without the sale
of Intoxicating drinks" The amend
ment proposed was to give permits
sion to sell beer in the canteens.
Perhaps one Of the measures for
which Senator McCumber will be re-
membered longest, is the pure food
law. He is the father of the. present
national pure food laws, and began
the fight in April, 1902, when he was
chairman of the committee on manu-
features. On the 25th of that month,
he made his great opening speech on
the question, in which he said: "Mr.
President, this is not question which
affects alone the health and purse of
the people. 1t is thousandfold great
er than this. 1t affects the manhood
Of the American people, their honesty,
their truthfulness, their sincerity,
their ideals. 1t affects all that makes
or tends to make nation great and
powerful, and which blesses it with
longevity if not perpetuity. The
farmers are entitled to reciprocal pro-
lection which national food laws will
Afford"
The Pure Food Fight
The Senator made an exhaustive
analysis Of fraud in the adulteration
Of food, of dishonest practices, of the
manufacture of flood" which proved
poisonous. He made practical, legal,
and altogether powerful argument.
The fight over the pure food question
was long and bitter, extending over
four years. 1t was re-introduced by
Senator Hepburn, and became law;
yet it was the original McCumber bill,
under another name. The North Da-
kota Senator assisted materially in
the enactment of the Hepburn bill.
Another national measure for which
Senator McCumber will be remember
ed long is the law providing for the
fixing Of standard of classification
and grading of wheat, flax, corn, oats,
barley, rye and other grains. In an
amended form, the McCunber bill
became a law, and is law today. In
March, 1904, Senator McCumber made
great speech on this grain inspec-
ton bill ''to check the disintegrating
and deteriorating influence on the
character of the people in our great
and densely populated cities" ~
The Senator was prompted to get
behind this legislation because of the
unfair treatment which the farmres
of the northwest claimed they re-
ceived at the hands Of the grain buy
ers and the elevator owners Of the
large shipping centers. ..-
The fight over this measure was
long and bitter. The "grain crowd"
as they were called, made a terrific
fight: but the farmers won measur-
ably, and secured a law, which has
been beneficial, although not all they
desired. ~
It is interesting to note right here
that while Senator McCumber has al
ways sympathized with the farmers
of the northwest in their long strug-