Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-07-31


pay was small and when it became
necessary to refurnish his wardrobe
he went into the country where as a
carpenter he helped to build mill,
receiving $L5O a day.
Later, Cummins got a job in the ex-
press office at MacGregor in Clayton
county, on the Mississippi. There oc-
Cured the thing destined to change
his whole future. A college friends
at Fort Wayne, Ind, offered him a
job as assistant surveyor of Allen
county. With many misgivings the
young man took the job and soon be-
gan work as railroad builder.
The immediate job was completing
linlA of the Cincinnati, Richmond
and Fort Wayne railroad throguh a
swamp. Cummins had no experience
and was depending on his surveyor
friend to coach him, but the friend
passed him in the swamp without
stopping, so the new surveyor was
left to sink or SWIM
Cummins liked to tell friends about
those days; how with great trepida-
tion he went out over the line; dis
missed the workmen for the day sol
they would not Immediately learn OF!
his ignorance of the job he had tack
led, and then began a careful canvass
of the work that had been done so as
to get ideas on which to proceed.
"In the end he did the job so well
that he was called to position with
the Northern Central Of Michigan
which he constructed. 1t was whilel
i,o
the young woman who later became
Mrs. Cummins, then Miss Ida L. CAL
lery of Eaton Rapids, Mich.
The work on the Michigan road at
tracted the attention OF capitalists
and he was offeerd a position by thoseI
who were building the Rio Grande
Cummins started for Denver, but hel
never got there. While waiting forl
his train in Chicago friend sug-
gested that he remain and study law,l
which he did.
After being admitted to the bar inI
Chicago, he removed to Des Moines,
where he worked his way to the front
rapidly.
1t was without his own consent that
he broke into politics in 1887 when
some republicans bolted their party
and named him as an independent
candidate for thel legislature. He was
elected and served one term. Five
years later, when the leaders of the
party in Iowa set about tol
reclaim the state from the democratic
rule, he was made the chairman Of the
state convention.
Soon afterward Cummins made his
first fight for a place in the United
States senate, but was defeated by a
narrow margin. He rallied to his
support many young men, and the
party divided into Cummins and anti
Cummins elements. In 1901, after
stormy campaign, he was elected gov
ernor, place he held until his cleo
tion to the senate
While governor he started a thor
ough investigation of railroad taxa
tiona rates, earnings and capitaliza-
tion and engaged in long struggle
against some of the practices OF the
rail carriers in his state. On his re-
commentator, the Legislature put
through the two-cent fare law, the
anti-pass law, the joint freight rate
law, an act limiting hours of railroad
employees, and the primary election
law.
Senator Cummins in 1874 married
Miss Gallery, to whom one daughter
Kate, was born. Mrs. Cummins died
in FEBRUARY, 1919, and after that time
the senator lived with his two sisters
Anna and Margaret Cummins. Be-
sides his sisters, his family consisted
of two brothers, B. F.. Cummins, a
manufacturer of Chicago, and ]. C..
Cummins an attorney Of Des MONIES