USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume III > Part 2
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JOHN WALTER SMITH
T HREE factors stand out clearly in the distinguished career of John Walter Smith, United States Senator from Mary- land, that entitle him to the front rank as one of its fore- most citizens.
First, the constructive features of his administration as Governor and the really big things, both as a public official and a private citizen he has done for his State and its people;
Second, the remarkable growth of his power in politics and the completeness of his leadership in the Democratic party throughout Maryland;
Third, the devotion and loyalty of a personal following, such as no other man in Maryland has, and which is equally his in the hour of defeat as in the time of triumph.
There are other things that help to make him the most con- spicuous and powerful Democrat in the State as well as one of its biggest, wisest and most successful business men, but it is the lovable traits of his personal character, his absolute sincerity and his high regard for his word, in politics as well as in business, that have been the real foundation stones of his great success. If there is a man in Maryland who has played a straightforward game and won fairly in both spheres of his activity, it is John Walter Smith. Senator Smith has held many offices of honor and importance in the State. In all of them he has striven to serve the people and without a self- ish thought. His record and his accomplishments stand as an endur- ing monument to him and will last long after he has been gathered to his fathers. His career is an inspiring one to the young men of the State as all he has and all he is he owes to himself and the unswerv- ing steadfastness with which he has stood by his standards and his friends. Today, he stands easily among the leading men of Mary- land, holding the highest office in the gift of the people, with a clean, honorable past, an unassailable position in the business world and a legion of devoted friends who are bound to him by the bonds of an indissoluble affection.
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The State of Maryland owes much to John Walter Smith-more than most Marylanders know --- and the reason for this is found in the modesty of Senator Smith, himself, and his disinclination to claim the credit to which he is entitled. To him is due the erection and establishment. of the State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis in Frederick County, now recognized as the model hospital of its kind in the country. What this means to the State, how many lives it will save, how many wasted men and women it will restore to health and happiness, how much misery and wretchedness it will relieve, can only be conjectured; but that this institution is of inesti- mable benefit to the State and to future generations of Marylanders is beyond question. It alone, is a sufficient achievement to enroll his name among the list of men who have contributed to the uplift of their fellow man. The fight for the State Sanatorium was a long one but it was won in the end. As Governor, Senator Smith, in his first message to the Legislature, started the fight by calling atten- tion to the ravages of consumption and the fearful mortality which results from this most terrible of the ministers of death. He ap- pointed, under authority of law, a Commission to consider the sub- ject. But it was not until after he was relieved of the duties of the Executive that he undertook personally the work of creating the hospital. Finally at the session of 1906, by his personal influence with the Legislature, he procured the enactment of a law creating a Board of Trustees, and appropriating $115,000 for the erection of buildings and for support. With this sum, a model institution was be- . gun. In 1908 and 1910 additional sums were granted, again through the influence of Senator Smith, and now in all $365,000 has been appropriated to build and equip the Sanatorium, with $75,000 per year for its support. There the State will soon care for 400 tubercu- losis patients at once. In this great work for humanity, Senator Smith enlisted the services of the very best physicians of the country.
The whole administration of Governor Smith was distinguished for constructive legislation, for better and more business like methods of government and for the material improvement of the State. To him, largely is due the fine new State House at Annapolis and the beautiful Court of Appeals Buildings, in which is located the State Library. While he was Governor the necessity for enlarging the historic old State House and providing quarters suitable for the Court of Appeals, became insistent. Governor Smith took hold of
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both problems and it was chiefly due to him that the appropriation of $800,000 with which the new buildings were erected, was ob- tained. It was in the Smith administration that the new Fifth Regi- ment Armory, the biggest building of its kind in the country, was established, the plans for which would have failed but for his sup- port. It was with his approval and aid that during his term as Governor, Troop A Armory at Pikesville was erected and the State Hospitals for the Insane at Springfield and Catonsville, enlarged and improved. His efforts led to the addition to the House of Correc- tion, the continuation of the work upon the new Penitentiary and the rehabilitation of the Oyster Navy. In all over $3,000,000 were wisely expended during his administration in much needed improve- ments of this character. Notwithstanding this tremendous sum, when Governor Smith left the Governor's chair at the end of his term, the finances of the State were never in better shape. The State of Maryland was practically out of debt, her assets fully equalling her liabilities, and her 3 per cent bonds sold at a premium. When the amount of money spent under Governor Smith's supervision in im- proving State property is considered, the condition in which he left the State at the close of his term is a signal tribute to his business ability. His administration was a real business administration.
Another signal service which Senator Smith has rendered to the State is in the establishment of the free school book system. He is the father of this system. As a State Senator he strove to have a free school book law enacted, believing that the efficiency of the public schools would be greatly improved by giving free books as well as free school houses and teachers. After six years effort he finally succeeded in getting his bill enacted into law at the session of the Legislature of 1896 and the result has entirely justified his efforts. It would be practically impossible to find now a person who would want the Smith free school book law repealed.
To the courage and strength of Governor Smith, the State of Maryland owes the advance it has made in breaking away from the old emblem style of voting and the adoption of a more enlightened ballot, tending to create a purer and more intelligent electorate. It was he who called the extra session of the. Legislature of 1901, at which were enacted the present election laws of the State, under which there is far less opportunity for fraud and corruption than before and which, notwithstanding the partisan misrepresentations
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of Republican politicians, have placed elections in this State upon a much higher plane. Two additional reasons that led Governor Smith to call the extra session of 1901 were the discovery of gross frauds perpetrated in taking the Federal Census of 1900 in the Fifth Congressional District of Maryland, and the urgent need of a sewerage enabling act for the City of Baltimore. Some of the crimi- nals who padded the Federal Census for the purpose of securing an undue representation in the Legislature from certain Republican counties, were afterward tried and convicted before Judge Morris in the United States Court. No clearer exposition of the reasons which justified the calling of the extra session at Annapolis on the 6th of March, 1901, can be found than in Governor Smith's own words in the proclamation of February 13, 1901, and in his quasi official interview published at the same time, giving his reasons for the call. A more lucid, convincing and able State paper has seldom appeared over the signature of any Governor, and shows that to strength of character and purpose he combined strength of mind and clearness of logic which entitle him to rank among the first of Mary- land's Chief Executives. Few Governors, whose administrations have been honest, clean, successful and entirely free from scandal have been subjected to a fiercer fire from the opposing political party or had more difficult and critical situations with which to deal than Governor Smith. It is vastly to his credit that neither partisan denunciation nor the risk to himself, made him hesitate in the slightest in the performance of what he conceived to be his duty. Subse- quent results not only justify his course in the calling of the extra session but show that in doing so he acted for the best interests of the whole people and that it was the act of a wise as well as a cour- ageous Governor. As Governor, Senator Smith did not lose his interest in the public school system of the State and did all in his power to further their efficiency, aiding in the creation of the posi- tion of State Superintendent of Public Education and in the exten- sion of State aid to the schools. It was during his administration. too, that minority representation upon the Board of Police Com- missioners for Baltimore City was provided, and a Board of Police Examiners created to pass upon the merits of applicants for positions on the police force, thus removing the police forces from the field of organized partisan politics. His administration was free from internal disorders or trouble. The current affairs of State moved easily and
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successfully throughout his term. The State was healthy and prosperous and its affairs were administered with business-like pre- cision and accuracy. The Legislative and Executive branches acted in harmony and their relations were uniformly cordial. In all of his administration Governor Smith had the confidence of the people and the loyal support of his party.
From a political standpoint, his administration strengthened and unified the Democratic party. Entering the office upon the heels of a Republican Governor-a disadvantage no other Demo- crat had had-he was confronted with exceptional difficulties in the way of appointments. He found all the State offices occupied by Republicans and a somewhat demoralized condition in many depart- ments. He made a clean sweep of the Republican office holders and filled the positions throughout the State with Democrats. While he appointed none but Democrats to office, Governor Smith never made his appointments solely for political purposes, and unfit men found they could not appeal to him successfully on any ground.
A strong party man himself, at no time did he permit the interests of the State or of the whole people to be over-shadowed by the interests of his party or sacrificed for any purpose. Yet, at the end of his term as Governor he went out of office leaving his party in better shape than when he was elected. As the candidate for Governor, it was he who redeemed the State from its four years of Republican control, by over 12,000 plurality. At the end of four years he left it in such shape that the Democrats again swept the State and gained a three-fifths majority in the Legislature.
Defeated in his fight for the United States Senate in 1904, after the Democratic victory for which he had paved the way Gover- nor Smith did not become embittered or permit his love of party success to diminish. As a private citizen, he continued to serve his party and his State as zealously as he had when a public official. He bent his efforts toward completing and developing the Tubercu- losis Sanatorium and toward helping his political and personal friends who had stood by him in his struggle.
For three years he did his share in the ranks as a party man and when in 1907, the Democratic State Convention met in Balti- more to select a candidate for Governor and formulate a platform, with a sturdy band of Eastern Shore delegates behind him, Governor Smith appeared to take a hand. The late Senator Gorman, for so
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many years the State leader, had died and the party conditions were chaotic. It was Governor Smith who brought out Austin L. Crothers as the gubernatorial candidate and it was Governor Smith, more than any other man, who was responsible for his nomination. After the nomination, Governor Smith did more than any one man for the success of the Democratic ticket. Governor Smith entered the first Senatorial primary ever held in Maryland in 1907, as a candidate for the Democratic Senatorial nomination and he received more votes than his two opponents, Edwin Warfield and J. F. C. Talbott combined. The ticket was elected, the Democrats had a three- fifths majority in the Legislature, and four years after his defeat in 1904, Governor Smith was elected to the United States Senate by the vote of every Democrat in the Legislature of 1908. It was the crowning triumph of his long political career, the realization of his ambition; and the joy of his friends throughout Maryland, who had stood by him through thick and thin, knew no bounds. Toward the end of the session of the Legislature of 1908, Senator William Pinkney Whyte, who had been named by Governor Warfield to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Gorman, himself died. It became necessary for the Legislature to fill this vacancy and by unanimous vote of the Democrats, it elected John Walter Smith. This gave to Senator Smith an additional year of service in the Senate practically making this, his first term, seven instead of six years. He took his seat on March 26, 1908.
Senator Smith has now been in the Senate nearly three years. In that time he has firmly established himself as a force on the Democratic side. He has gained the personal friendship and respect of Republican as well as Democratic leaders and no man in that body is held in higher esteem than he. He has been recognized as a well informed, well equipped, able man with a long experience and train- ing in public and political affairs, and a thorough understanding of public questions. His views are received with deference, and the extent of his knowledge, reinforced by his unfailing courtesy and consideration, has made him extremely popular with his colleagues and given him a remarkable influence. To such an extent is this true, that Senator Smith has had practically no trouble in getting through the Senate measures and appropriations for public improve- ments for his State in which his constituents are interested. He has exerted his influence for the benefit of the country at large, but more
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particularly for Maryland. In exempting steamship lines from :- trictions contained in the railroad rate law, in his first session, which would have been very injurious to Baltimore, Senator Smith performed a great service to the State. At the last session he assisted in procuring an appropriation of $100,000 for an Immigration Sta- tion at Baltimore, got everything he asked for in the way of appro- priations for the improvements of rivers and harbors in Maryland, and it was upon his motion that Maryland was added to the States in which preliminary surveys for the drainage and reclamation of ·wamp lands, are to be made. As a Senator, he jealously guards the interests of his State and is active and aggressive in urging Mary- land matters and in attending to the many calls made upon him by his constituents. He gives to Democratic measures hearty and vigorous support and is counted by his colleagues as a valuable asset in a party fight, where his genius for politics can be brought into play.
The story of the rise of Governor Smith both in business and in politics is an extremely interesting one. He was born at Snow Hill, Worcester County, Maryland, on the 5th day of February, 1845 and has always continued to live there. He is descended from trong, useful and distinguished forbears on both sides. His grand- father, Judge William Whittington, was one of the early judges of the judicial circuit now embraced in the First Judicial Circuit of Maryland. His great grandfather, Samuel Handy, the third of that name, was an influential member of that independent and patriotic order of Marylanders known as the Association of Freemen of Mary- land. As is well known, this body met in Annapolis in July, 1775 a year before the Declaration of Independence and adopted the now familiar resolutions practically declaring for the independence of the Colonies. The facsimile of the tattered original of these reso- lutions signed by Samuel Handy and the other delegates, at present Adorns the walls of the State House at Annapolis. He is the third of his name, his father and great grandfather also being named John Walter Smith.
Governor Smith's mother, Charlotte Whittington Smith, died during his early infancy and a few years later his father also died, W aving him an orphan at the age of five years. During part of his minority he was under the guardianship of his cousin, the late Walter P. Snow, and later, after Mr. Snow's death, Senator Ephraim King
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Wilson was appointed his guardian. There always existed a strong friendship between Senator Smith and Senator Wilson which con- tinued until the death of the latter in 1892. Senator Smith received the best English and classical education which the private schools of his section and the old Union Academy of Snow Hill afforded. but at eighteen he had exhausted the educational resources of that section and lacking means to enable him to acquire a collegiate edu- cation, he began his business career as a clerk, without capital, or special influence, in the mercantile house of George S. Richardson and Brother, of Snow Hill. His energy, good judgment and genius for business were quickly recognized by his employers and he was soon taken into the firm. Since then his rise in the business world has been rapid and wonderfully successful. He developed an unerr- ing and remarkable commercial sagacity and foresight, which com- bined with unquestioned business integrity, were of inestimable value to him.
His business activity soon outgrew the confines of the mercan- tile house of George S. Richardson and Brother, and he embarked in the lumber business, first in Worcester County, and later on an enlarged scale in the South. While a young man he helped to found the Surry Lumber Company in Virginia, now recognized as one of the largest lumber concerns in the country, and he has always been active in the management of its enormous business.
He likewise aided in building and developing the Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railway; and he has for a long time been a director of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad. As he personally prospered in business, Governor Smith took an ever increasing paternal pride in the local industries of his native county, and he is largely interested in many of them. More than thirty years ago he organized the first bank in his county at Snow Hill, and he has served as its President ever since. This bank has had a phe- nomenally successful career. His increasing activities now cover a wide field; and he is a director of the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, which he aided materially in organizing, and also of the Fidelity Trust Company, as well as a number of other important financial institutions.
He lately, with a few associates, started the Cumberland Lum- ber Company, with timber holdings and a large plant in North Carolina. His lumber interests in Worcester County and the South
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continue to absorb a large part of his time and thought, and the extent of his financial connections show his success in business to be fully equal to his success in public life.
In 1869, Senator Smith married Miss Mary Frances Rich- ardson, daughter of David Richardson, and the youngest sister of Lis partner, the late George S. Richardson. On April 5, 1910, Mrs. smith died, thus breaking the ideally happy union which had existed for more than forty years. One of his daughters, Miss Charlotte Whittington Smith, died in August 1896. His only surviving child is the wife of Colonel Arthur D. Foster of Baltimore. Governor Smith is preeminently a domestic man and was never as happy as when in his own home surrounded by his family. For years he has Irren a member of the Maryland Club of Baltimore, but he has had few amusements outside of his own home, his chief pleasure being in the happiness of his family and in helping his friends. He is promi- nent in the affairs of the Makemie Memorial Presbyterian Church of Snow Hill and was largely instrumental in its erection.
His political career has been unique. From his early manhood he has taken an active interest in Democratic politics and for thirty years has been the undisputed leader of his home county. In the past he has had some fierce fights to preserve his control but in recent years, his leadership has been unchallenged and without fac- tional opposition. The Democrats of his county insist upon his retaining his active leadership notwithstanding the sacrifice of his personal leisure and business interests which such leadership entails. For years before he became a candidate for any office, he fought the battles of his party in Worcester County and in the First Congres- sional District, taking an active part in the County and District Conventions, and gradually extending his following throughout the nine counties that compose the District. In 1889 he ran for his first office, the nomination for the State Senate being forced on him by the people of Worcester County. He was elected and took his seat in the Senate of Maryland in January 1890. Since that time with but one short interval he has been in the public service, and his whole career is marked by a strict devotion to duty, by stern integ- rity and an unfaltering devotion to the principles and traditions of the democratic party. He served continuously in the State Senate until the end of the session of 1898. At the session of 1894 he was chosen as President of the Senate and presided with infinite patience
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and courtesy and marked ability. In the Legislature of 1898, th .. Democracy for the first and only time since 1866 were in the minor- ity in the State Senate. Of this minority Senator Smith was th. leader, and his leadership was able and adroit. Notwithstanding his well known position as an uncompromising Democrat he was upor. most friendly terms with Governor Lowndes, the Republican Execu- tive, who often consulted with him.
Senator Smith made his first fight to go to the United States Senate in 1892. When Senator Wilson died, it was known to be the highest ambition of the then Governor, E. E. Jackson, to go to the Senate. He appointed Mr. Charles H. Gibson to fill the vacancy with the expectation that Mr. Gibson would not be a candidate before the Legislature but would leave the field open to him. The contest was a long drawn out one. Governor Smith was the leading candidate with every prospect of success until the late Senator Gorman brought his influence to the aid of Mr. Gibson and elected him.
In the great Democratic slump of 1896 a Republican had been elected to Congress from the Eastern Shore for the first time since the Civil War. The party men were most solicitous to redeem the district in 1898 and Senator Smith, from a sense of duty, consented to take the nomination against Colonel Wilbur Jackson, whom he defeated after an active campaign. His term in Congress began March, 4, 1899. After a service in that body of a few months, Gov- ernor Smith was nominated by the Democratic party as its- candi- date for Governor over the Hon. Edwin Warfield, who had made a vigorous campaign for the nomination. At the election in Novem- ber 1899, Governor Smith redeemed the State from Republican con- trol, defeating Governor Lowndes by a plurality of 12,123. Thus he occupied the novel position of having been elected to Congress before his term as State Senator had expired, and having been elected Governor before his term as Congressman had expired. Before his inauguration as Governor on January 10, 1900, he resigned his seat in Congress.
Governor Smith was a Delegate-at-Large to the Democratic National Convention of 1900 which met at Kansas City, and he took a prominent part in the work of that Convention. He was also elected a Delegate to the National Convention held at St. Louis in 1904, but could not attend.
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While Governor, Senator Smith had the opportunity presented to him to go to the United States Senate by accepting for himself the tendered support of Republican members of the Legislature of 1902 and of some Democrats who were anxious to defeat Mr. Gorman, who was elected. Governor Smith promptly declined the offer, and let it be known that if he had to go to the Senate through the betrayal of his party and his friends, he would never get there at all.
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