1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cummins, Albert Baird

CUMMINS, ALBERT BAIRD (1850–⁠), American politician, was born at Carmichaels, Pa., Feb. 15 1850. After leaving Waynesburg (Pa.) College he studied surveying and became assistant chief engineer for a railway. He next studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1875, and for three years practised in Chicago. In 1878 he went to Des Moines and ten years later was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives. He was chairman of the Republican State Committee (1802, 1896), candidate for the U.S. Senate (1894, 1900), member of the Republican National Committee (1896, 1900), and a delegate to the Republican National Convention on four occasions. He was elected governor of Iowa in 1902 and reelected for two succeeding terms. He filled the unexpired term of Senator Allison in 1908, and was reelected to the U.S. Senate in 1909 and 1915. He opposed the nomination of Mr. Taft in 1912, but did not bolt his party. He was specially identified with measures concerning trusts and railways, and had a leading part in drafting the so-called Esch-Cummins bill under which the Government in 1920 handed back to private control the railways of the United States.