McCumber Agreement
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Porter James McCumber (February 3, 1858May 18, 1933) was a
United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
from
North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...
. He was a supporter of the 1906 "Pure Food and Drug Act", and of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
.


Early life

Born in
Crete, Illinois Crete is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. It is a far south suburb of Chicago, 30 miles from the Loop and only 6 miles from the Indiana border. The population was 8,465 at the 2020 census. Originally named Wood's Corner, it ...
in 1858, he moved with his parents to a farm in
Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. It is located along rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a popul ...
, later that year. He attended the common schools and taught school for a few years. He graduated from the law department of the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
in 1880. He was
admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...
and began his practice at Wahpeton, Dakota Territory, in 1881. In his youth, he reportedly worked as a grain stacker on the farm of George Worner, near
Great Bend Great Bend is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas, United States. It is named for its location at the point where the course of the Arkansas River bends east then southeast. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...
. Worner was one of the town's founders and served in the county government. McCumber married Jennie M. Schorning of Wahpeton on May 29, 1889. By 1899, they had two children.


Political career

McCumber, a staunch Republican, was elected to the territorial
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
in 1884 and the territorial
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
in 1886. He served as the state attorney of Richland County from 1889 to 1891.


McCumber Agreement

In an effort to resolve disputes over hunting territory, in 1858 the
Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
and
Dakotas The Dakotas, also known as simply Dakota, is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geo ...
, with the assistance of U.S. negotiators, agreed to the "Sweet Corn Treaty", defining their respective lands. The Ojibwe lands were about 11,000,000 acres. The
Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...
became an organized territory on March 2, 1861. Two years later, the federal government, pressured by people who wished to settle there, entered into negotiations with the Pembina and the Red Lake Ojibwe. One of the representatives of the Pembina Ojibwe, who lived west of the Red River, was Little Shell. The U.S. Government asked the Ojibwe to cede about nine million acres. In 1863, the United States signed The Old Crossing Treaty with the Red Lake and Pembina Bands of Chippewa who ceded several thousand acres of Indian lands near the Red River of the North to the United States government in exchange for a nominal amount of money to be paid to the Ojibwe. Chief Little Shell signed for the Pembina band. By 1875, the Government had compelled a substantial part of the Pembinas, on threat of loss of their annuities from the 1863 cession, to move from the unceded portion to the
White Earth reservation The White Earth Indian Reservation () is home to the White Earth Band, in northwestern Minnesota. It is the largest Indian reservation in the state by land area. The reservation includes all of Mahnomen County, plus parts of Becker and Cle ...
in Minnesota. The rest remained in the area of Turtle Mountain. In 1882, the Turtle Mountain Reservation of about 460,000 acres was established. Two years later, the area was reduced to about 46,000 acres. The federal government did not include in its calculations those Ojibwe who periodically crossed over to Canada for hunting, nor the ''Metis'', the offspring of an Ojibwe mother and an English or French fur trader. The reservation was entirely too small. By 1892 McCumber was a federal commissioner. He and others met with Chief Little Shell who wanted to retain more land than acceptable to the commission, and refused to accept the terms, including the government's offer of 10 cents an acre for 10 million acres of prime farming land. He walked out of the negotiations in protest and never signed the subsequent McCumber Agreement. His people were left out of the settlement. Negotiations continued with a Council of 32" selected by the local federal agent, John Waugh. Although Little Shell traveled to Washington, D.C. to file a protest in Washington regarding the negotiations, the McCumber Agreement was accepted by Congress in 1904. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas received $1,000,000 for the 9,000,000 acres they ceded.


Senator

McCumber was elected to the US Senate in 1899. McCumber was re-elected in 1905, 1911, and 1916 and served from March 4, 1899, to March 4, 1923. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1922, having been defeated in the Republican primary by former governor
Lynn Frazier Lynn Joseph Frazier (December 21, 1874January 11, 1947) was an American educator and politician who served as the 12th governor of North Dakota from 1917 until being 1921 North Dakota gubernatorial recall election, recalled in 1921 and later serv ...
. In the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (Fifty-seventh Congress) and a member of the Committee on Pensions (Fifty-eighth to Sixty-second and Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses), the Committee on Indian Affairs (Fifty-ninth Congress), the Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Sixty-third to Sixty-fifth Congresses), and the Committee on Finance (Sixty-seventh Congress). In 1905, McCumber was an ardent advocate of a pure food law. One of his main legislative accomplishments was the
Fordney–McCumber Tariff The Fordney–McCumber Tariff of 1922 was a law that raised American tariffs on many imported goods to protect factories and farms. The US Congress displayed a pro-business attitude in passing the tariff and in promoting foreign trade by providi ...
Act of 1922. In his position on the Pension Committee, he was part of the interrogation of Colonel W.S. Metcalfe on the alleged shooting of unarmed prisoners during the
Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...
, at the
Battle of Caloocan The Battle of Caloocan was one of the opening engagements of the Philippine–American War, and was fought between an American force under the command of Arthur MacArthur Jr. and Filipino defenders led by Antonio Luna in February 1899. American ...
, on February 10, 1899. Brigadier General
Frederick Funston Frederick Funston (November 9, 1865 – February 19, 1917), also known as Fighting Fred Funston, was a General officer, general in the United States Army, best known for his roles in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American ...
was accused of interfering with an investigation into the alleged shooting. Metcalfe denied the charges. McCumber was
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
's staunchest Republican supporter in the Senate for the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
.Cooper, John Milton. ''Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations'', Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 21
/ref>


Later life

McCumber resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., and was appointed by President
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...
in 1925 as a member of the
International Joint Commission The International Joint Commission () is a bi-national organization established by the governments of the United States and Canada under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Its responsibilities were expanded with the signing of the Great L ...
to pass upon all cases involving the use of the boundary waters between the United States and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. He served in that capacity until his death in Washington, DC, in 1933. His first interment was in Abbey Mausoleum, adjoining
Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...
. His remains were removed and reinterred at
Columbia Gardens Cemetery The Columbia Gardens Cemetery is a cemetery located in the Ashton Heights Historic District of Arlington, Virginia. Cemetery The Columbia Gardens Cemetery is located at the southern boundary of the Ashton Heights Historic District and is one ...
, in
Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
.


References


Sources


External links


''What Lies Ahead of This People''
by Porter J. McCumber, ''National Magazine'', July 1905 (with photo)
McCumber, Porter J., "How the New Tariff Will Aid the Music Industries", ''Music Trades'', December 16, 1922
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCumber, Porter J. 1858 births 1933 deaths People from Crete, Illinois Republican Party United States senators from North Dakota Republican Party members of the North Dakota House of Representatives Republican Party North Dakota state senators People from Wahpeton, North Dakota University of Michigan Law School alumni 20th-century United States senators 19th-century United States senators Members of the Dakota Territorial Legislature