Evening star., 1933-05-19
FORMER SENATOR
|. CLAIMED BY DEATH
Porter ]. McCumber of North
Dakota Dies From
Stroke.

Former Senator Porter J. McCumber
of North Dakota died last night at
Emergency Hospital after suffering a
stroke Tuesday while at his desk in his
law Office, in the Investment Building.
Funeral services will be held at his
home, 1921 Woodland drive, at 2 pm.
tomorrow, followed by burial in Abby
Mausoleum. Arlington County, Va.
He is survived by Mrs. McCumber, q
daughter, Mrs. Harrison Brand, IT., and
a son, Donald, all Of Washington, and a
sister, Mrs. Sabina Salley of Arlington,
S. Oak
Defeated After Triumph.
Father of the pure food laws and
co-author of the intensely criticized
and defended Fordney- Nc Cumber tariff
act of 1922, McCumber saw his long
career in the United States Senate
terminate in the hour of its greatest
attainment.
The Republicans had returned to
power in national politics in 1920 and
McCumber kept in the Senate in 1916
by large majority despite a general
Democratic victory, rose to second
place on the powerful Finance Commit
tee. Only the veteran Boies Penrose
outranked him. Then, in December,
1921, the famous chief of Pennsylvania
Republicanism died, and McCumber au-
tomatically was elevated to the chair
manship and to his most profound am
bition. He inherited, along with Senator
Penrose's mantle, title to the unfinished
tariff bill which increased the duties on
industrial imports to a point never be-
fore reached in history
But fate was to rob him of perhaps
long and remarkable tenure of the
ph ~ irv,aa nc h No .z-iy, IL
in 1922, Lynn j. Frazier, Nonpartisan
Lacquer, who had been recalled from the
governorship in a Statewide refer
endum, upset all expectations and de-
feated McCumber for the Republican
nomination.
Explanations Of Defeat,
Many explanations we're offered for
McCumber'S defeat. Some held that it
was due primarily to his support of the
Esch- Cummins law, railway transpor-
tation act bitterly attacked by various
| labor groups. Others saw it as the re-
suit of his vote to seat Senator New
| berry OF Michigan, whose campaign
expenditures were under fire Disap-
po1ntment of many of the independent
Republicans" that faction of the party
opposed to the Nonpartisan League,
was also said to have been a big factor
in his defeat.
How far his celebrated stand on the
League Of Nations issue affected his
position in his own party was not ap-
proXimated. McCumber was one of the
few Republicans to favor United States
participation, and as the second rank
ing member of the Senate Foreign Re-
lations Committee was a thorn in the
side OF the chairman, Henry Cabot
Lodge
Upon his defeat, McCumber retired to
private law practice at Wahpeton-the
town that gave birth to his political
aspirations. 1t was to Wahpeton he
came to set up his first law partnership
with B. l. Bogart after obtaining his
degree from the University of Michigan
in 1880.
The trail stretched back to Crete,
Ill, where he was born on February 3,
1853; thence to Rochester. Mimi, where
his farmer parents sent him to high
school and where he taugh several years
after graduation, building toward a
legal profession.
The "greenback" and free silver"
periods found the young lawyer of Wah-
peton militantly firm for the gold
standard. Republican leaders favored
him with the job of county attorney of
Richland County. His policy of strict
enforcement for North Dakota's prohi-
bition law gave him immediate promi-
nence. 1t was but short step into both
houses of the territorial Legislature and
his career was under full steam
Sent to the United States Senate for
the first time in 1899, he joined some
OF Americas greatest leaders in discus
sions of momentous international ques-
tions. Aftermath of the war with Spain
and the new problems presented by
Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines
were among his first subjects of debate
He introduced joint resolution for the
appointment of a commission to investi-
gate the commercial conditions Of China
ana Japan.
Placed on the Committees on Claims,
Indian Affairs and Pensions, Nc
Cumber's clear analysis of important
questions gave him distinction. His
fight for prohibition made him a ma
tional figure. He prosecuted a long and
bitter struggle for the pure food laws
which do not bear his name, but for
which political circles gave him the
credit. Appointed to the Senate Finance
Committee in 1909, he began the men,
orable march toward his greatest politi-
cal aspiration-the chairmanship
In 1925 McCumber was appointed to
the International Joint Commission by
President Coolidge, with permanent
residence in Washington