Speech of Hon. Hoke Smith, at Jefferson, Ga., Tuesday, August 6, 1895
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Establishment of Agricultural Extension Departments ... Report.
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Hoke Smith was an American lawyer and politician, newspaper editor. He and his associates also were well-known as they organized the Piedmont Hotel and the Fulton National Bank.
Background
He was born on September 2, 1855 in Newton, North Carolina, United States, his parents being Hosea Hildreth Smith and Mary Brent (Hoke) Smith.
Hosea Smith was a native of New Hampshire and a graduate of Bowdoin College; his wife was a North Carolinian; both were of Revolutionary ancestry. The elder Smith went to North Carolina in 1850 to become president of Catawba College at Newton. Six years later he was made professor of Greek and Latin at the University of North Carolina. Forced out during the troublous Reconstruction time, he set up a private school at Lincolnton, North Carolina, in 1868, and in 1872 removed to Atlanta, where he was connected with the public-school system.
Education
Hoke, growing up during the Civil War and Reconstruction period, received little formal education, but having a first-class mind and the advantage of the tutelage of such a father, he suffered little handicap from lack of conventional schooling. He read law in the offices of Collier, Mynatt, & Collier of Atlanta.
Career
He was admitted to the bar in 1873. Smith took naturally to politics. Before reaching his majority he was chairman of the Fulton County Democratic executive committee. With the purchase in 1887 of the Atlanta Journal, he acquired an organ, edited and managed personally, which enabled him to build up a wide following for the liberal and reform movements associated with his name. In Cleveland's third contest for the Democratic presidential nomination (1892), Smith carried Georgia for him against David B. Hill. Smith was a delegate that year to the National Democratic Convention.
In recognition of this service, Cleveland appointed him secretary of the interior. In the summer of 1896, before Bryan's nomination at Chicago, Smith stumped the state of Georgia in opposition to the candidacy of Congressman Charles F. Crisp, a leading silverite, for a seat in the Senate. However, with the subsequent nomination of Bryan for the presidency, Smith took the position that preservation of white control in the South demanded that his section support the regular Democratic nominees.
Feeling uncomfortable in Cleveland's cabinet, he resigned on September 1, 1896. Ten years elapsed before Smith was again in politics. During those years he advocated, in the columns of the Journal as long as he controlled it (until 1900) and later through his friend and supporter, James R. Gray, the new owner, the more effective control of railways, and the extension of the powers of the railroad commission.
In 1906 he offered himself as a candidate for governor, along with four others, including Clark Howell, editor of the rival daily, the Atlanta Constitution. In the Democratic primary, which was equivalent to election, he carried 122 of the 145 counties, and received a larger popular vote than all the other aspirants combined. He had two non-consecutive terms as governor, from July 1907 to July 1909, and from July 1911 to November 1911.
In the primary of 1908 he was defeated by Joseph M. Brown, son of the war-time governor, Joseph E. Brown, whom he had suspended from his office as state railroad commissioner. Smith and Brown again contested for the Democratic nomination in 1910 and Smith was victorious by a narrow margin. His two terms were marked by legislation of a distinctly progressive type.
Shortly after Smith's second inauguration (July 1, 1911) he was elected by the legislature to fill the unexpired term of United States Senator A. S. Clay, who had died in the preceding fall. He did not, however, vacate the governorship until November, preferring to continue in office until his reform program could be enacted into law. In 1914 he was reelected for the long senatorial term, defeating his old opponent, Joseph M. Brown. He served until 1921, being defeated for renomination in 1920 by Thomas E. Watson.
He was chairman of a Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education created by joint-resolution of Congress on January 20, 1914. This commission made an exhaustive survey (published in 1914) out of which developed the Smith-Lever bill (May 8, 1914), which resulted in a nation-wide extension service devoted to the improvement of rural life; and the Smith-Hughes bill (February 23, 1917), which provided for instruction in the common schools in agriculture, home economics, trade, and industry, and for the vocational rehabilitation of disabled civilians. He also secured the passage of a bill setting up a division of markets in the Department of Agriculture.
After the entrance of the United States into the war, he was a powerful and effective supporter of all measures making for the more efficient conduct of the struggle.
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Religion
He was an elder in the North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.
Politics
In his late years he disagreed with President Wilson on a number of issues, notably with reference to the League of Nations.
Views
He urged the establishment of a highway department, denounced the convict-lease system, and in general allied himself with and became the leader of the progressive and reform element in the state.
Personality
Hoke Smith was a man of impressive characteristics. He was uncommonly large and strong; as a public speaker he was forceful, even eloquent; as a leader he was fearless; in manner he was kindly and agreeable; he made friends easily and held them securely.
Quotes from others about the person
On his death, the Constitution, which so long opposed him, said in an editorial (November 28, 1931): "In going Senator Smith leaves an indelible imprint upon the history of the State which he served long and well. "
Connections
On December 19, 1883, he married Birdie Cobb, daughter of Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb. They had four children, a son and three daughters. Mrs. Smith died in 1919, and on August 27, 1924, he married Mazie Crawford of Cordele, Georgia.