Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-31
SENATOR CUMMINS'
DIES IN IOWA AT rs;
18 YEARS IN CAPITAL
Continued from First Page.)

molding of railroad legislation. His
/ first serious task in life had been in
/ rat!road construction and while he
/ turned later from that to the law, it
always held his interest.
I Long On /. c. c. Committee.
4 Early in his Senate service Mr..
I Cummins obtained a place on the
/ interstate commerce committee and as
its chairman In 1919 he became joint
author with Representative Esch of
| Wisconsin, of the transportation act
under which the railroads were re-
/ turned TO private operation after the
{ war, Few pieces of legislation en-
acted by Congress in recent years
have become the center of such con-
/ troversy. The transportation act
j brought down on Senator Cummins
! the wrath of organized labor, and was
/ the chief factor in the wide opposition
| that developed to his denomination to
! the Senate In 1920.
Three years later it stood as the
] barrier to the contamination of his
ambition to remain as chairman of the
/ interstate commerce committee while
/ actually serving as President of the
! Senate after the removal of Calvin
Coolidge from the Capitol to the White
/ House. The Republican insurgents
/ conducted bitter fight against him,
and finally, by joining with the Demo
Gratis. unseated him. A Democrat,
/ Ellison D. Smith. of South Carolina,
| succeeded him. although the Repub-
| licans controlled all the other stand
! ing committees.
! Native of Pennsylvania.
! Born February Is. 1850, near Car
s,,tr 81, De- ~,
son of Thomas and Sarah Cummins.
His father was a carpenter and the
son picked up the elements of that
trade as an odd-time helper to his
parent. He attended public school
and later entered college at Waynes-
boro. Early in his college career he
felt the call of the West, and, borrow.
ing $50 from a banker uncle. set out
for the territory beyond the Missis-
sippi
After long journey he landed in
Iowa, hut soon found that the tales
of untold riches easily acquired in
that then virgin country were in a
class with some of the myths re-
counted In the books of his school
days. After his liquid assets had
dwindled to Sc he obtained a place
in the office of the recorder of Clayton
County. The 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 a mill. receiving $3.50 day.
Later Mr.. Cummins got job in
the express office at MacCIregor, in
Clayton County, on the Mississippi.
There occurred the thing destined to
change his whole future. A college
friend 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 began work as a railroad builder.
Left on Own Resources.
The immediate Job was completing
a link of the Cincinnati, Richmond
and Fort Wayne Railroad through 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, and so the new surveyor
was left to sink or swim.
Senator CumminS liked to tell
friends about those days--hoW wit n
great trepidation he went out over the
line, dismissed the workmen for the
day so they would not Immediately
learn of his ignorance of the job he
canvass of the work that had been
done so as to get ideas on how to pro-
coed.
In the end he did the job so well
that he was called to a position with
the Northern Central of Michigan,
which he constructed. 1t was while
engaged in this work that he met the
young woman who later became Mrs
Cummins, then Miss Ida l.. Gallery
of Eaton Rapids, Mich.
Began Study Of Law.
The work on the Michigan road at.
tracted the attention of capitalists,
and he was offered a position by
those who were building the Rio
Grande Cummins started for Den
yer, but he never got there. While
waiting for his train i'll Chicago a
friend suggested that he remain and
study law, which he did.
After being admitted to the bar in
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 indie
pendent candidate for the Legislature.
He was elected and served one term.
Five years later when the leaders of
the Republican party in Iowa set
about to reclaim the State from Dem
ocratic rule, he was made the chair
man of the State convention.
Soon afterward Mr.. Cummins made
his first fight for a place in the United
States Senate but was defeated by a
narrow margin He. rallied to his sup
port many young men, and the party
divided into Cummins and anti-Cum-
Minis elements. In 1901, after a
stormy campaign, he was elected
governor, a place he held until his
election to the Senate.
Laws to Control Roads.
While governor he started a thor
ough investigation of railroad taxa
ton, rates, earning and capitalization
and engaged in a long struggle
| against some Of the practices of the
rail carriers in his State On his
recommendation the Legislature put
through the 2-cent fare law, the anti
pass law, the joint freight rate law,
an act limiting hours of railroad en-
ployes 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. r. Cummins, a
manufacturer Of Chicago, and j. c.
Cummins, an attorney of Des Molnes.