Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-07-31

the voting strength mustered by
Brookhart
Failure to obtain or retain re-
nomination coupled with infirmaties
of age, is believed by his friends to
have hastened the Iowa senator's
death.
During the recent session, he serv
ed as chairman of the judiciary
committee Senator Watson of In
diana, taking over the chairman
ship of the interstate commerce com
mittee, on which he retained mem
bership as the ranking republican
he pressed He pressed, but unsuc-
cessfully, for action on his bill to
facilitate consolidation of railroads.
and as the head of the judiciary COM
mittee had supervision over a wide
range of prohibition proposals, ac-
! tion on most of which went over
until the December session.
Elected to the senate in 1928 as one
of the pioneers in the movement which
swept so many insurgents into the
United States senate from the north
west, Albert Baird Cummins remained
to become regular of the regulars.
He ascended to high place in the
leadership of the republican organiza-
tion and served for more than five
years as president pro tempore of the
senate.
An exponent of what was known as
the Iowa Idea in tariff legislation.
since translated into law in the flexi-
bic tariff, Cummins early found him
/ self in violent disa greement with tire
republican leaders on the fundamental
principle of protection and joined with
! DollVer, Bristow Clapp and Beveridge
1 in the memorable senate fight over
the famous Payne-Aldrich tariff.
4 While thus placing himself in the
forefront of the ranks of the republi-
/ can progtessives, as they We're de-
fined in those days, Cummins allowed
4 the progressive movement to run
ahead of him. AS a result, some of
the progressive element in his state
opposed their former leader in his am
bition to succeed himself in 1920, and
the old guard leaders came to his
rescue.
! Telling group of friends about it
at the national convention in Chicago
\
retary of the treasury and the man
Iowa in the first outcroppings of re-
| volt in the republican ranks, saw the
humor, as he put it, in Shaw making
speeches in support of Cummins'
| "Why did you do it?" he was asked
well, as l told Albert" Shaw re-
piled, I thought it best to sink our
differences and help him put out the
fires he had set
Although the tariff furnished the
vehicle in which Cummins first rode
to nationwide attention, his real life
work in the senate was in the mould
ing of railroad legislation. His first
serious task in life had been in rail-
road construction and while he turned
later from that to the law, it always
held his interest.
Early in his senate service, Cum
minis obtained place on the Inter
state Commerce committee, and as it's
chairman in 1919 he became joint au-
thor with Representative Esch Of Wis
consin of the transportation act un-
der which the railroads were returned
to private operation after the war.
Few pieces of legislation enacted by
congress in recent years have become
the center of such controversy. The
transportation act brought down on
Cummins the wrath of organized Ia
Dor and was the chief factor in the
wide opposition that developed to his
denomination to- the senate in 1920.
I Three years later it stood as the
, barrier to the consummation 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 a bitter fight against him,
and finally, by joining with thedemo
Gratis unseated him. A democrat, Eli
son D. Smith of South Carolina, sue
ceeded him, although the republicans
Icontrolled all the other standing com
mttees.
Born February IS, 1850, near Carmi-
chaels, Pa, Cummins was the son of
Thomas and Sarah Cummins. His
father was 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 Waynesboro Early
in his college career he felt the call
of the west and, borrowing $50 from
| a banker uncle, set out for the terri
tory beyond the Mississippi.
| After long journey he landed in
Iowa. but soon found that the tales
| of untold riches easily acquired in that
! then virgin country were in class
with some of the myths recounted in
the books of his school days. After
has liquid assets had dwindled to $6,,
he obtained a place in the office of
the recorder of Clayton county. The