Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-08
BY MALCOLM WATERS DAVIS.

r EREMIAH SMITH of Boston dis
likes and shuns publicity, but
public attention Is constantly
- seeking him out The things he
can achieve and his way OF
achieving them are so unusual that
they defeat his evident preference to
be unobtrusive.
DIR. julius Klein, for years Herbert
Hoover's right-hand man in charge of
foreign trade affairs in the Department
Of Commerce, paid tribute recently in
a radio address to Mr.. Smith for what
he did in the financial reconstruction
of Hungary to disarm European criti-
ciSm of the United States. Mr. Smith
personified, DR.. Klein felt, the spirit in
which Americans have stood ready to
aid In Europe's recovery from the war.
Mr.. Smith accomplished the actual
restoration of ruined country in about
half the time and at about half the
cost that any one had thought possible:
one of the spectacular successes of the
period since the war. He ended his
work by refusing to accept any personal
payment. When Count Bethlen, the
premier, offered him the Hungarian
governments check for 100000 he
calmly told the astounded statesman to
keep it as a goodwill offering TO
Hungary.
That Is why there is now the JeI :
miah Smith Scholarship Fund to send
two Hungarian students each year to
the United States. And that Is why
Bella Alapi, managing director of the
City Savings Bank of Budapest, re-
marked on a visit to New York:
There is now only one monument
to an American in Budapest. II we
put up another it will be that Of Jere-
miah Smith"
Move Held Typical Of Man.
CharacteriStically, Mr.. Smith ex-
pressed surprise that when he arrived
in London after having done this he
found himself the subject of newspaper
headlines. Europe was amazed, while
friends in Boston and New York hac
smiled and said: Just like Jerry
Mr.. Smith seemed not to think that
he had done anything worthy of un.
usual notice, and for him perhaps hi
had not. It was all in line with hi;
other activities and his manner Of do.
ing them.
He was trained to the idea Of
achievement; it ran in the family Hi;
forbearS were men who did things OF
Importance. His grandfather, Jeremiah
Smith, was Revolutionary soldier, 9
Congressman and Governor of New
Hampshire. His father, jeremiah
Smith, I'd, was a New Hampshire judge
Mr. Smith, born in Dover in 1870, at.
tended Phillips Exeter Academy, Of
which he afterward became a trustee
and the College and Law School al
Harvard, of whose corporation he was
lately appointed a member.
He entered the practice of law in Bos-
ton. International affairs, however
have frequently called him away. Hi:
avoidance of notoriety kept the genera
public from realizing the wide expert
ence he had to prepare him before hi
undertook his great work In Hungary
He helped to organize the Chinese loan
consortium. He advised the Mexican
government in the adjustment of the
national debt. He served on the Wal
Relief Commission of the Rockefeller
Foundation, and during the war he was
captain in the Quartermaster Corps Of
the American Expeditionary Forces, at
tached to the staff Of Gen. Charles G.
Dawes. He acted as counsel to the
Treasury Department and financial ad-
wiser to the American Peace Mission
during the negotiations at Versailles
! So 1t was logical judgment that led tt
| his selection when an impartial Ameri-
can expert seemed most desirable II
! 1924 to take charge Of the economic and
financial rehabilitation of a practically
| bankrupt Hungary.
Faced Tangled Situation.
The state of the country was des-
perate. Separated from Austria, shorn
of much territory, with agriculture and
industry disorganized, disheartened by
the burden of reparations imposed on
them and staggering out from the civil
strife that had ended q Communist
revolution and dictatorship, the Hun
garianS had issued more and more paper
money unbacked by adequate gold re-
serves in order to meet the demands of
the population and of q national ex-
penditure that was out of all proportion
to the real income Of the state from
taxes.
The finance commission Of the League
of Nations had pointed out this situation
in terms Of grave warning against the
danger Of an inflated currency and an
unbalanced budget and the threat OF Q
national economic collapse which would
mean that for an indefinite time Hun
gary could not meet her obligations. Sir
Arthur Salter and other members OF the
commission had drawn up plan for the