The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-02-23
WHO HOKE SMITH Is.
shstoh Of Mr.. Oievsiand's Secretary Of the
Interior.

shstoh Of MT. Olsvsiand's Secretary Of the
Interior.
Mr.. Hoks Smith, who has accepted the
position Of secretary Of the interior in Mr..
Cisveland's cabinet. had only once seen tho
president-eloct before the portfolio was Of
fsrod 10 him. That fifst visit WAS made to
Mr.. Cleveland At his homes In this city
about two weeks before the election,
Mr.. Smith 10 q native Of Newton, N. G..
whore no WAS born In September. 1866. His
father was . we'll known teacher in North
Carolina. He was born In New Hampshire.
Mr.. Smiths mother is q sister of General
Hoko Of Georgia. one of ths most dis
tinsui.hed generals sent from that
tho late war. Mr.. smith spont the
frst seventeen years of his life in his
native state, during which time he taught
school and studied law. being admitted to
the bar at Atlanta. Ga, In 1873. tho first
year of his residence there. He imme-
diately began the practice OF law. although
no was less than IL years old, and by the
tlme he was 20 was in command OF . prac-
tioe about equal to that of the Oldest and
most distinguished lawyers OF his state.
From the beginning no showed an in
terast IN political questions. having can
vassed a portion of his state as early a.
~ NAV - yV0A oUASkVN "AS" AS AsS $N0S
reached his majority, he was chairman of
the democratic oommittee of the county in
which Atlanta il situated. Until 1887 Mr..
Smith kept up his interest In both politics
and his profession. During the latter
year he bought and recognized the At
Ianta Journal. Prior to that time it had
never been found possible to found a paper
in opposition to the Chronicle. then and
now ono of the leading papers in the south.
At first Mr.. Smith neither edited nor man
aged tho paper. but he did give it a distinct
personality. so that in q little while it be-
came a self- sustaining paper. His pur-
chase OF the paper grew out OF the fact
that he owned the building in which it was
Published, and he tool up the work with
out any purpose whatever of giving 10 his
personal attention. Very aoon thereafter
Mr.. Cleveland's tariff message of 1887 sp-
ton of a good many of the democratic
papers OF Georgia. where the protection
sentiment was much stronger than in any
other state In the south. From that time
no gave more of his personal attention to
the editorial management Of the paper and
put it aggressivsly into the nght for tariff
reform and In support of Mr.. Cleveland.
As a result of this work the low
tariff men swept the state of Georgia
and whom, in 1883, Nj. Smith presided over
the convention to choose delegates to ST.
Louis, the tariff reform message was heart
lily endorsed, and the older elements Of the
party, who had been in the habit of going
to national conventions. were left at home.
Mr.. Smiths paper early last year entered
upon the fight for Mr.. Cleveland's nomina-
ton. In no state of the south vas this
more bitterly opposed than in Georgia. and
no man from the south took a more active
part, both in the management of the state
convention in Georgia and the national
convention at Chicago, than did the coming
secretary of the interior. After the nomi-
nation Mr.. Smith made speeches in every
part of Georgia, going e~verywhe1e on his
own account. without tho intervention of
the state committee, paying his own sx-
penses and conducting a campaign upontwo
lines, one in support Of tariff reform, and
the other upon the character Of the oandi-
date for president. In North Carolina and
in Alabama. where the doctrines proclaim cd
by tho Farmers alliance had taken deep
hold, he went a. the representative Of the
democratic platform. standing squarely
upon the doctrine that the Sherman act
should be repealed, and that Of all people,
those who raised cotton were p~rs-sminently
interested in a currency that should be
good everywhere in order to facilitate trade
in foreign countries.
Mr.. Smith has been one OF the most sue
cessful lawyers In his state, n his work in
his profession represents almost every
phase of II. He also has been successful
as a business man as we'll a. in his profess
sion. Mr.. Smith is a man Of eminently
domestic tastes. He married the youngss,
daughter of Gen. Il. r.. r. Cobb. and niece
of the late Howell Cobb. and is closely re-
lated, by his own family as we'll az through
his wife, to many of the leading families
throughout the Southern states.