44 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



people of the state before the Interstate Commerce Commission. When, 

 in 1912, the railroads sought to increase their western rates by 5 per cent, 

 the careful work of Iowa's Commissioner Clifford Thome had much to do 

 with the retention, at least temporarily, of the old rates. 37 



Although Cummins' record on regulatory legislation was hardly as 

 striking as La Follette's, he managed to make himself thoroughly dis- 

 liked by the railroads. Possibly his most important action on the railroad 

 question was his veto of the Molsberry bill, through which an increase in 

 the indebtedness of certain Iowa corporations was to have been made 

 easy. The real purpose of this bill, according to former Governor Larra- 

 bee, was to turn the state into a "kind of New Jersey" by making the 

 process of "manufacturing corporations" as easy as possible. This veto 

 greatly intensified railroad hostility to the Cummins administration. 

 When Cummins sought a second term, the Standpatters bided their time, 

 but when he chose to violate the Iowa tradition against a third term and 

 run for re-election in 1906, they came out against him in full force and 

 nearly defeated him. 38 Before he left office he had been instrumental in 

 placing on the statute books a two-cent passenger-fare law, a new freight- 

 rate law, a law to limit the hours of railroad employes, and an anti-free 

 pass law. 39 



The strenuous campaign of 1906 may have been the influence that 

 brought Cummins to a really effective support of the direct primary. He 

 had advocated the passage of such a law as early as 1903 and thereafter 

 in his biennial messages of 1904 and 1906. "Wealth, and especially cor- 

 porate wealth," he had stated in his first message as governor, "has many 

 rights; but it should always be remembered that among them is not the 

 right to vote . . . not the privilege to sit in political conventions or occupy 

 seats in legislative chambers. Corporations, as such, should be rigorously 



37. Harrington, in Iowa Journal of History and Politics, XXXIX (October, 1941), 

 p. 370; Wallaces' Farmer, XXXII (April 19, 1907), p. 533; XXXIV (lanuary 22, 

 1909), p. 98; XXXV (May 27, 1910), p. 824; XXXVII (February 16, 1912), p. 282. 



38. A recent amendment to the constitution of Iowa had designated even-num- 

 bered years instead of odd-numbered years for the election of state officers, and had 

 extended the terms of all incumbent officers for one year. Cummins' second term 

 thus lasted three years from January, 1904, to January, 1907. 



39. Harrington, in Iowa Journal of History and Politics, XXXIX (October, 1941), 

 pp. 349, 369-70. In his earlier days Cummins himself made free use of railroad 

 passes, and even solicited them. 



