USA > Maryland > Governors of Maryland : from the Revolution to the year 1908 > Part 21
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LLOYD LOWNDES 1896-1900
XLIII LLOYD LOWNDES
In the closing decade of the nineteenth century the people of Maryland became dissatisfied with the political methods employed in the conduct of state affairs. The impression obtained that the body politic needed an emetic and that the season was ripe for reform or an attempt at an improve- ment of things political. At this opportune moment the republican party of Maryland, which was in the minority, brought forth as its candidate one of the most representative business men of the state and, with the aid of the dissatisfied democrats of the state, elected him. Governor Lowndes administered the affairs of Maryland for four years, during which time he inaugurated numerous reforms which the better element of both parties had thought necessary and to which he had pledged himself, and his entire course while state executive won commendation from the members of both parties; and yet, at the close of his administration, when he appeared for reelection, he met with defeat. His failure to be continued in office, however, is not surprising in view of the facts that people do not long remember the services of their faithful servants, and that Maryland, except in the campaign when Mr. Lowndes was elected governor, had chosen only democratic state executives for a period of forty years.
Lloyd Lowndes was born in Clarksburg, in what is now West Virginia, on February 21, 1845. His father, Lloyd Lowndes, was descended from Benjamin Tasker, who admin- istered the affairs of Maryland during colonial days, and Edward Lloyd, who was governor of the state in the early
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part of the nineteenth century. The mother of Governor Lowndes had been Miss Marie Moore before her marriage. Lloyd Lowndes attended the local academy of Clarksburg until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered Wash- ington College, Washington, Pa., where he remained until 1863. Later he went to Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1865. Subsequently he entered the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, and was graduated in law in 1867.
The elder Mr. Lowndes had taken up his residence in Cumberland, Md., where he engaged in business, and as soon as his son had completed his studies he joined his father in the Western Maryland city. He engaged in the practice of law in Cumberland, set about informing himself upon matters of general public interest both at home and abroad, and also entered the matrimonial state. The wife of the governor was Miss Elizabeth Tasker Lowndes, his first cousin. Mr. Lowndes soon after his marriage abandoned law for more congenial fields, and during the greater portion of his business life he was interested in financial and mining enterprises, and in politics.
In the Grant-Greeley campaign of 1872, Mr. Lowndes received the republican nomination for congress. He had as his opponent John Ritchie, who was then representing the Sixth district in the house of representatives, and defeated the congressman. When Mr. Lowndes entered the forty-third congress he had the distinction of being its youngest member, aged twenty-eight. During the ses- sion the civil rights bill was brought up for consideration by the republicans, who planned through it to punish further the southern states. The measure was one that every republican was expected to support; but Mr. Lowndes, despite his tender years and the certainty of disaster which was sure to follow the course, courageously opposed
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the unjust measure, and he and five other republicans in the house voted with the democrats against it. This sin- gle feature of Governor Lowndes' congressional career is sufficient to indicate the kind of man he was in the national legislature. He served during his two-year term on several important committees and accomplished an enormous amount of labor, for he was among the laborers rather than the talkers. But in pursuing the course ordered by his con- science he had signed his own death warrant as a congress- man. In 1874 he appeared as a candidate for reelection, but was defeated by William Walsh, democrat. His failure in the election of 1874 put an end, apparently, to Mr. Lowndes' ambition for political honors, and for twenty-two years thereafter he refrained determinedly from seeking office. During this period, however, he was active in the ranks of his party, and exerted an enormous influence upon the plans and battles of the republican party, not only in his own section of Maryland, but throughout the state.
Mr. Lowndes was the owner or part owner of extensive coal lands, and took an active part in the management of the companies operating these lands. In addition to his coal interests, he was more or less intimately connected with the management of several financial institutions. He entered the board of directors of the Second National Bank of Cumberland in early manhood, and at the age of twenty- eight was elected its president. He was also on the execu- tive board of the International Trust Company and a director of the Fidelity and Deposit Company, both of Baltimore. He owned the Cumberland Daily News, and gave to it more or less of his personal attention, and he managed to spare a little time from his active life for supervising the farming of his large Allegany county estate. His wealth afforded Mr. Lowndes the means of engaging largely in charitable work, and in this he had the constant cooperation of Mrs.
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Lowndes. He was devoted to his church, Emmanuel Episcopal of Cumberland, and was in his later years the senior warden of its vestry. He was the delegate from his parish to the diocesan conventions for about twenty-five years consecutively.
With all these drains upon his time, however, Mr. Lowndes found ample opportunity for taking an interest in polit- ical affairs. He was throughout the period beginning with his retirement from congress and terminating with his nomination for governor of Maryland, a faithful laborer for his party's success and a liberal contributor of financial ammunition to its committees. In 1880 he was a delegate to the national republican convention. He was solicited in 1891 to make the fight for governor of Maryland, but he refused. Four years later, however, at the instance of his more faithful adherents in the republican party and certain friends in the democratic organization, he permitted his name to be used for first place upon the republican state ticket. He had as his opponent John E. Hurst, a prominent merchant of Baltimore and a faithful supporter of the demo- cratic organization. The campaign in the fall of 1895 was marked by a general desertion of the independent demo- crats to the support of the republican candidate, and Mr. Lowndes was elected governor of Maryland by a majority of more than 18,000.
He succeeded Mr. Frank Brown on January 8, 1896, and during the next four years the affairs of the executive office were administered in a manner that at no time justified reproach, but constantly warranted the warmest praise for the first republican elected chief magistrate of Maryland in almost thirty years. At the same time the governor was handicapped somewhat by a legislature which was not as pure in motives or as conscientious in conduct as was the state executive. But, despite contention and friction, Gov-
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ernor Lowndes was able to fulfill every promise made by him while campaigning, so far as reform was concerned. Thus the Reform League election law, the general assess- ment law and the new Baltimore City Charter law were passed during his term in office. He gave proof of his con- cern in the general welfare of his state by his support of measures which aimed to encourage immigration to the sparsely settled sections of the state. His administration witnessed the Spanish-American War, and he promptly responded to the president's call by sending to the front a part of Maryland's militia.
It is more than probable that Governor Lowndes might have been able to effect his election to the United States senate while governor, had he so willed, and it is certain that he was eager to serve his state in the upper branch of congress. During his administration two senators were chosen, and in both cases they were republican. Governor Lowndes, however much he might have coveted the prize on either occasion, was dissuaded from using his power to bring to him the office. He was willing to forego the attain- ment of his greatest ambition politically for what he believed at the time was the good of his party and the state generally, regardless of party affiliation.
The republican party, when it met in convention in 1899, again nominated him for first place on the state ticket. This nomination was an unusual compliment in Maryland, where political parties have not been accustomed under the con- stitution adopted in 1867 to give a governor a renomination. The democratic party named John Walter Smith, of Wor- cester county, and in the election held on November 7, 1899, the latter was given a majority of 12,123 votes. The defeat of Governor Lowndes was largely due to the fact that the state was normally democratic. Then, too, there was disaffection among the republicans.
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Although after his retirement Mr. Lowndes was forced to make war upon certain factions of his own party, he continued to exert a large influence upon its affairs in the state. He was upon intimate terms with President Roose- velt, a source of much strength to him, and generally was held as the leader of his party in Maryland, though an occasional defeat was administered to him by the McComas element in Maryland republican circles. At the time of his death, however, he was by many odds the biggest figure in his party and was regarded as the logical candidate for governor in the approaching state election. When his future seemed to promise most, Governor Lowndes was suddenly stricken down, and died almost without warning on the morning of January 8, 1905.
COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ.
WALTER SMITH
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XLIV JOHN WALTER SMITH
In the smaller towns and country districts political aspirants are not generally put into public service as young as they are in the more thickly populated cen- ters; the country politician must bide his time, working slowly upward, if he hopes to become the holder of an important elective office. He must, as a rule, be well known among the people he wishes to convert into his constituents; and usually a reputation for success in business will prove his strongest recommendation to the rural voter. Farmers have a strong leaning toward successful business men as candidates for public office; in this respect they show a superiority over the city voter, who can be tempted to give his support to an unsuccessful lawyer in preference to a man who, though he can neither orate nor gesticulate grace- fully, has a head full of business sense.
These prevailing conditions of the rural section supply an index to the political rise of Governor Smith. He gave the best energy of his early manhood to the commercial enter- prises in which he became interested, although in the mean- while he devoted a portion of his time to political affairs. While he was attaining prominence as a man of large com- mercial pursuits, he labored quietly but persistently for the success of the democratic party in the lower Eastern Shore; and gradually not only won for himself a wide circle of acquaintances among the neighboring leaders, but he became favorably known to the rank and file of the voters. In time he acquired a remarkable hold upon polit- ical affairs in his own section, where he had made for himself
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a big reputation as a successful business man; but he was no longer a stripling when the time arrived to seek political honors, for he had reached the age of forty-four before making his initial appearance as a candidate.
John Walter Smith, the son of John Walter Smith and Charlotte (Whittington) Smith, was born at Snow Hill on February 5, 1845. In the county of which his native town is the governmental seat the ancestors of the governor had been residents for several generations back; and not a few of them had won some little distinction in public life. His grandfather, on the maternal side, William Whittington- a large landowner of Worcester-was chosen one of the early judges in what is now the first judicial district; and his great grandfather, Samuel Handy, was a member of the Association of the Freemen of America. Through the misfortune of being early orphaned, John Walter Smith, the younger, came under the influence of one who played an important part in the public affairs of Maryland. Shortly after the boy's birth his mother died, and when he had reached the age of five he lost his father. He then became the ward of Ephraim K. Wilson, who was twice honored by being elected to the United States senate, and this guar- dianship had much to do with the early development of Mr. Smith's political ambition.
Mr. Smith attended the primary schools and Union Academy of Snow Hill. His school days, however, were brought to a close in 1863, when at the age of eighteen he began his business career. He was employed as a clerk in the store of George S. Richardson and Brother. He subsequently became a partner of this firm, which is con- tinued today as Smith, Moore and Company. Mr. Smith is a representative business man of the type produced by the smaller towns of Maryland; his commercial interests grew steadily and soon exceeded the narrow confines of his
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own native town, but he has ever maintained first affection for the old homeplace, and his business success has also been the business success of Snow Hill as well as of Worcester. He was active in the organization of the First National Bank of Snow Hill in 1887, in which institution he retains a large interest. He is one of the largest landowners of his own county and is prominent in many of the local indus- tries-his business energy having lead him into concerns of greatly varied complexion, such, for instance, as the oyster industry, lumbering, canning, farming, finances and insur- ance. He is vice-president of the Surry Lumber Company and the Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railroad Com- pany, and he is connected with many other institutions in Snow Hill, Baltimore and other parts of the state.
The early appearance of Mr. Smith in the business life of Snow Hill had also its bearing upon his home life. After he had been admitted as a junior member to the firm of George S. Richardson and Brother, he was married, when twenty-four years of age, to Miss Mary Frances Richard- son, a sister of the senior partner of the house. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have always retained their home residence in Snow Hill, although there have been times when Mr. Smith's official duties have necessitated a temporary residence either at Annapolis or Baltimore. The home circle for many years consisted of the parents and two daughters. One of the girls, Miss Charlotte Whittington Smith, died some years ago, while the other daughter, Mrs. Arthur D. Foster, has resided in Baltimore since her marriage. Al- though with the breaking of the family circle the Smith home may have lost some of its former life, it retains its reputation of being the center for true Eastern Shore hos- pitality. Even the most violent political enemies of the ex-governor admit that for courteous manners and hospit- able instincts the Worcester countian has no superiors, and
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nowhere are these characteristics seen to better advantage than when Mr. Smith is the host of his friends in his Snow Hill home.
Although Mr. Smith did not appear as a candidate for office until 1889, when he was a man of forty-four, he had been a considerable factor in Eastern Shore politics a long time before that. It was in 1889 that he determined to enter the campaign to represent Worcester county in the state senate, and not only was he elected state senator in that year, but he was reelected for full four-year terms in 1893 and in 1897. Early in his career as state senator, he experienced the first of two great political disappointments, both resulting from his defeat as a candidate for the United States senate. Ephraim K. Wilson, Mr. Smith's former guardian, had been chosen to the upper branch of congress in 1885 for six years, and in 1891 was reelected for the term to expire in 1897. This second election wit- nessed Mr. Smith as the especial champion of Senator Wil- son, and when the latter died, on February 24, 1891, before having begun his second term, State Senator Smith an- nounced himself as candidate for the seat made vacant by Senator Wilson's death. Mr. Charles H. Gibson, however, was more acceptable to the leaders of the Western Shore, and Mr. Smith had to forego for a time his ambition to serve in the upper branch of congress.
At the session of the legislature in 1894, which marked the beginning of Mr. Smith's second term in the state senate, he was elected president of that body. In the election of 1896, the democratic party had lost the first con- gressional district, and two years later Mr. Smith was prevailed upon to become a candidate for the lower house of congress in the hope that his large following would make possible a recovery of the lost territory. Although the republicans bitterly contested the election, Mr. Smith was
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successful, but before he began his service in congress, he was placed in nomination for governor of Maryland by the democratic state convention that met in the summer of 1899. At the previous gubernatorial election, Maryland had, on account of dissatisfaction with the methods of the democratic leaders, elected a republican chief magistrate for the first time since the Civil War. Governor Lowndes, the republican in question, appeared for reelection in oppo- sition to Mr. Smith in 1899, but was defeated.
The most prominent feature of Governor Smith's admin- istration, extending from January 10, 1900, to January 13, 1904, was his call for an extra session of the legislature in 1901. It must not be supposed that his term in the execu- tive mansion was so void of important events that this inci- dent should be regarded as the only one of great moment; but for his course in convening in extra session the gen- eral assembly, Governor Smith was more bitterly attacked and more ardently supported than for any other act of his governorship. Early in Governor Smith's administration reports were sent to the executive mansion that frauds had been perpetrated in the census returns for the decade of 1900, which, if they remained uncorrected, would result in allowing an unjust representation in the house of dele- gates to the republican counties. The governor, therefore, on February 13, 1901, issued a proclamation, instructing members of the legislature to meet in special session at Annapolis on March 6, 1901, and in explanation of his course he pointed out: (1) That errors in the enumera- tion by the United States census of the population of the state, if not corrected by an enumeration under state author- ity, would give to the same section of the state a dispro- portionate representation in the house of delegates. (2) The urgent need for legislation to reform manifest and great abuses in the state's election law. (3) A demand from the
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mayor and city council of Baltimore for additional power in connection with sewerage of the city, and the preserva- tion of its sanitary condition. The legislature met on the day prescribed and continued in session until March 28, 1901. The particular business for which it had been called was discharged: the sewer bill was passed; provision was made for taking a state census, which proved the correct- ness of Governor Smith's charge that frauds had been per- petrated; a new election law was passed; and the re-warding of Baltimore city was ordered.
During his term as governor, Mr. Smith either took the initiative or else contributed liberally of his energy in many movements for the public good. He was active in starting a public campaign against tuberculosis, urging the legis- lature in 1902 to create a commission to investigate the disease with a view to preventing its spread, and he has served upon the commission which was created in response to his request. He labored untiringly for the improve- ment of the county schools, and the marvelous advance made in public education in the rural districts since the creation of a state superintendency of public education is largely due to him. Early in his legislative career he had introduced the free school bill, which he pressed for passage in subsequent sessions until 1896, when the bill became a law; and during his term as governor he secured the revi- sion of the public school law governing the appointment of school commissioners so as to provide for bi-partisan rep- resentation in all the counties in order to divorce the school system from political influence.
During the legislative session of 1904, Mr. Smith made his second contest for a seat in the United States senate. After a prolonged fight, which assumed the aspect of an unbreak- able deadlock, Mr. Isidor Rayner was eventually elected, and Mr. Smith suffered the second of his great political
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defeats. Instead, however, of becoming discouraged, the Worcester countian prepared himself for a fresh effort. Theretofore he had looked to certain political leaders to aid him in realizing his greatest political ambition, and these leaders had deserted him. Now he set about to build up a political following throughout the state in which he need be dependent upon the caprice of no man, but in which he should have the deciding voice. How wisely he organ- ized his forces was shown in the democratic primary election in the fall of 1907, when Mr. Smith was named by an over- whelming majority as the party's nominee for the six-year term in the United States senate beginning on March 4, 1909; and, in accordance with this popular nomination, he was elected senator by the legislature early in the ses- sion of 1908. He was elected to the seat which Senator Whyte, had he lived, would have vacated in 1909. Upon the death of Senator Whyte before the completion of his term, Governor Smith was elected by the general assembly, in the spring of 1908, to serve the unexpired portion of Senator Whyte's term, and he immediately qualified and took his seat in the United States senate.
XLV EDWIN WARFIELD
Throughout certain classic forms of musical composition there is one dominant strain. This primary idea may at times disappear in a haze of variations; it may be lost in a whirl of melody that drowns the central theme; and yet, throughout the composition, it will appear again and again until it has been impressed indelibly upon the mind of the auditor. In much the same way, in the life of a man of big personality there is usually found one dominant strain. This something need not necessarily protrude above the surface of the general make-up; indeed, it may sometimes seem lost in a whole company of stressed strains; still upon close scrutiny it will be found, in varied form perhaps or modified in volume, but forever dominating. For instance, while there were many admirable traits in the character of Governor Pratt, one stood out in such strong relief that all the others became merely background to it, and that one was his honesty-honesty for state as well as for man, honesty in spirit no less than in word. In like manner the life of Governor Hamilton solved itself into one prevailing theme: administrative economy-a curtailment of the cost of running the government in order that the real burden- bearers of the nation, the small taxpayers, might be freed from oppression. And in approaching the life of Governor Warfield, the student is soon impressed with the theme of personal responsibility. Mr. Warfield's patriotism, his ad- vocacy of clean politics, his support of the merit system, and every other marked feature of his administration as
EDWIN WARFIELD 1904-1908
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XLV EDWIN WARFIELD
Throughmy offlsin classic forms of musical composition there is one dominant strain. This primary idea may at lavea disappear to a haza of variations, it may be lost in whirl of melody that drowns the central theme; and yet Throughout the composition, it will appear again and again . in " It has been impressed indelibly upon the mind of the aulitor. In much the same way, in the life of a man of big personality there is usually found one dorun nt strain kluis something need HH leMs thuafotrude above the molare of the general malooktoHned, it may sometimes lenins; till upon
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