Background
He was born on July 10, 1862 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States, the son of George Francis Smith, a building contractor, and Sarah Henrietta (Forrest).
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He was born on July 10, 1862 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States, the son of George Francis Smith, a building contractor, and Sarah Henrietta (Forrest).
Having graduated from high school at the age of fifteen, Walter entered Park College, Parkville, Missouri, but soon had to leave because of illness.
Smith taught a country school of Missouri and then began the study of law in the office of D. B. Dailey at Council Bluffs. Admitted to the bar in December 1882, before he was of legal age, he at once became a partner of his tutor. By November of 1890 he had achieved sufficient professional distinction to be elected judge in the fifteenth judicial district of Iowa, to which office he was twice reelected.
On September 1, 1900, he resigned to accept the Republican nomination for the office of representative from the ninth congressional district, a position left vacant by the appointment of Smith McPherson to a federal judgeship. He won the seat for the unexpired term and was reelected for the regular term by decisive majorities. Beginning his congressional career on December 3, 1900, he served continuously until March 15, 1911. Although he was on several special committees, including one to investigate the practice of hazing at West Point, he concentrated his attention mainly upon the work of the appropriations committee, of which he became a member in the Fifty-eighth Congress.
During his last term, as a member of the reorganized rules committee, he had a prominent part in the "revolution" of 1910. Even in his first term, Smith was acknowledged to be one of the ablest members of the Iowa delegation which had "a national reputation for strong men". He was not widely known at home, however. In the bitterly factional Republican state convention of 1901, though at first howled down, he later made such a sensible, good-humored speech that he won general admiration. The next year he was made temporary chairman and accomplished the difficult task of stating a tariff policy that was acceptable to both the conservatives and progressives.
The elevation of Willis Van Devanter to the United States Supreme Court in
December 1910, created a vacancy on the bench of the circuit court of appeals in the eighth circuit. Most of the Iowa congressional delegation signed a petition indorsing Smith for the position. Meanwhile, the Iowa legislature was deadlocked in the choice of a successor to J. P. Dolliver in the United States Senate, and Smith was mentioned for that office if insurgent opposition to his judicial appointment should develop. President Taft, however, was known to consider him qualified for the highest judicial position, and his appointment was confirmed on January 31, 1911.
Smith died at Council Bluffs of apoplexy, after a lingering illness.
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On July 10, 1890, he married Effie M. Moon, by whom he had four children.