Evening star., 1925-04-20
]. v. SMITH DEAD;
ONCE us. SENATOR
Maryland Ex-Governor and
Distinguished Democrat
Was 80 Years Old.
By the Associated Press.

BALTIMORE, Md. April 90
John Walter Smith, former governor
and former United States Senator,
died last night after an illness which
began March %. Death came as a
result of an abscess in the left kidney.
Mr.. Smith for 40 years was a
strong factor in Democratic politics
in Maryland He was 80 years old.
Mr.. Smith served as Governor of
Maryland from 1900 to 1904. Pre-
viously he was elected to the House
of Representatives in 1898. He was
elected United States Senator in the
first senatorial primary in this State
in 1908. He was reelected in 1914,
and was defeated by Senator o. E.
Weller in 1920, when he came up for
reelection.
The funeral will take place tomor-
row afternoon from the home of his
daughter, Mrs. Arthur D. Foster, $50
University parkway, where he spent
the last years of his life.
The body will be taken to Snow Hill.
Md, his birthplace, Wednesday, for
burial.
Senator Smiths active life of so
years came to an end peacefully and
painleSsly. He had been i'll several
weeks, and Thursday began to lose
strength. Mr. Smith left one daugh-
ter, Mrs. Foster. His wife died in
1910. He was a member of the Pres
bqterian Church and a Mason.
John Walter Smith, though a mil
lionaire, started life as a poor boy,
after leaving an orphan asylum. His
ancestors were among the first settlers
of Worcester County, and his maternal
grandfather, William Wilmington,
was one of the early circuit judges
of the lower Eastern Shore. His
mother gave up her life at his birth,
February 5, 1845, and his father, also
John Walter Smith, died before the
son was 5 years old.
He grew up in Snow Hill, his birth
place. The late Walter p. Snow was
first appointed his guardian, and after
Mr.. Shows death the late Senator
Ephraim K. Wilson was named in his
place. The father, moved from Snow
Hill to Baltimore and engaged in the
wholesale grocery business, having his
principal trade in the South. At IS
young Smith went to work in a store,
previously having spent his after
moons, vacation and holidays working
In the store.
At 81 he asked to be taken into
partnership, and when this was re-
fused he set up in business for him.
self. Friends loaned him the entire
capital for his venture, which was
successful. He sold goods during the
day, taking in exchange all sorts of
country produce, and worked on his
books and correspondence at night.
Open Two Mills.
In two years Mr.. Smith had the
leading business in the town. The
railroad had not then reached Snow
Hill, which is at the head of naviga-
ton on the Pocomoke River, and
young Smith established a line of
sailing vessels. He opened a grist
mill and a sawmill the latter the
most important venture of his busi-
ness life, for it started him in the
lumber business, in which he made
the bulk of his fortune
Mr.. Smith was instrumental in
building an extension of what after
ward became a part of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad system from Harring-
ton, Del, through Snow Hill to
FRANKLIN City, Va. He established
the First National Bank of Snow Hill.
In 1913 Mr.. Smith owned 10 or 12
farms on the Eastern Shore, some
lands in Louisiana and $40 shares of
the Surry Lumber Co. and the same
number of shares in the Cumberland
Lumber Co. The capital stock of
each company, he said, was S40O, 900
ana the par value was 500 a share.
The actual value of Senator Smiths
lumber holdings was placed at ST.
750, 900.
Mr.. Smith at one time was a mem
Der of the Maryland Senate and of
the House of Representatives and was
governor of the State.
Elected Senator i'm 1908.
From early manhood Mr.. Smith
manifested interest in politics, but he
was more than 40 years old before he
became a candidate for public office.
AT that time, in 1889, he was elected
State Senator from Worcester County
after a stirring campaign. He was
reelected successfully in 1893 and
1897, and was president of the SEN
ate during the session of 1894 He
was elected to the House of Repre-
sentatives from the first congressional
district in 1898, defeating the late
Wilbur Jackson, Republican, aided by
Populist candidate, and was elected
governor in 1893, serving from 1900
to 1904.
In 1908 Gov. Smith was elected
United States Senator after having
defeated Gov. Warfield and the late
j. f. c. Talbot in the first senatorial
primary in this State He was re.
elected in 1914, after defeating Isaac
Lobe Straus in the primary. He was
nominated again in 1920, but defeated
by Senator Weller.
Among the men put over" by Mr..
Smith were the late Gov. Crothers,