Governor of Iowa
Cummins served as Governor of Iowa between 1902 and 1908. He was the first Iowa governor elected to three successive terms. In the third election he won tight races for the Republican nomination against George D. Perkins, editor of the Sioux City Journal, and in the general election against Democrat Claude R. Porter. While governor he led efforts to establish compulsory education, a state department of agriculture, and a system of primary elections.
Cummins became identified with an approach to tariff-setting known as "the Iowa idea." The “Iowa idea,” as stated in the Iowa Republican Party’s 1902 platform, favored “such amendments of the Interstate Commerce Act as will more fully carry out its prohibition of discrimination in ratemaking, and modifications of the tariff schedules may be required to prevent their affording a shelter to monopoly.” The "idea" embodied the principle that tariff rates should accurately measure the difference between the cost of production here and abroad, but not set rates higher than necessary to protect home industries.
Read more about this topic: Albert B. Cummins
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“Three years ago, also, when the Sims tragedy was acted, I said to myself, There is such an officer, if not such a man, as the Governor of Massachusetts,—what has he been about the last fortnight? Has he had as much as he could do to keep on the fence during this moral earthquake?... He could at least have resigned himself into fame.”
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