Evening star., 1944-10-04

Mr.. Smith always was proud of his
origin. An incident in the STATE
Legislature in 1911 is illustrative. In
the midst of debate AsSemblyman
Wende of Buffalo interposed:
Mr.. Speaker, I nave just heard
that Cornell won the boat race"
That doesn't mean anything to
me, I'm a Yale man." said Assembly
man Ed Merritt,
I'm Harvard man." contributed
ASsemblyman Fred Hammond.
Mr.. Smith, the lone voice from the
Democratic side, then declared:
1T doesn't mean anything to me,
either, because I'm an F. F. M.
man"
What's that, Alp" shouted an As
semblyman
Fulton Fish Market! Let's get
on with the debate"
Mr.. Smith, however, had the sat-
iSfaction of holding the honorary
degree OF LII. D. from two univer-
sites and one college. The New York
City institutions of Fordham and
Columbia Universities and Manhat-
tan College each made him doctor
of laws, and in the citation at Co.
lumbia, President Nicholas Murray
Butler described Mr.. Smith as
trained in the hard school of many
sided and cosmopolitan life; alert
public spirited, courageous and con-
stantly speaking the true voice OF
the people"
Youth on the East Side.
Mr.. Smith was born December 30,
1873, under the towering span of
Brooklyn Bridge on South street. His
boyhood and youth mellowed to the
influences Of old New York. His be-
ginnings had their root in Fulton
Fish Market, Peck Slip. Oliver street
and the East Side water front. His
early life was lived in an era in Man.
haitian when a lower East Side block
had the same community cohesive
ness as that of a small New England
town.
Mr.. Smiths mother was born
Catherine Mulvihill. His father
born on Oliver street, also of Irish
American stock, was a drayman or
the cobbled streets of the water
| front.
Mr.. Smith, senior, died when Al
was IL. The family moved from
Oliver street to Dover street, still
under Brooklyn Bridge, where Mrs
Smith H.. "a
candy shop.
| Newsboy and Truck Chaser"
Under need of additional money
Smith developed a newspaper route
in the environs of lover Fulton
street and Peck Slip.
When he was IS, again under eco
nomic pressure, Mr.. Smith bade
farewell to formal schooling.
He became truck chaser" or
South street at So week In a
day of few telephones, "chaser's'
job was to run orders between the
draying Offices and drivers to keer
the trucks constantly busy.
After a brief interval, Mr.. Smith
advanced himself to the princely
salary of So week as an assistant
shipping clerk and boy of all work
for an oil firm near Peck Slip. This
he soon boosted to $12 week in a
commission house in the Fulton Fish
Market
Part of young Ais job there was
to spot incoming fishing boats
through a telescope and determine
by the draft of the vessel, the prob
able shortage or surplus in the days
catch.
1t was not long before he advanced
to greater earnings as a shipping
clerk for a steam pump concern in
Brooklyn. 1t was while there, in
1895, as a young man of 81, that
ne received his first political ap-
pointment as. clerk in the office
of the commissioner of jurors, the
work being principally chasing
around town with subpoenas for
jury service.
Mr.. Smiths first participation in
politics was an anti Tanmany man.
With youthful enthusiasm he aligned
himself against "carpetbaggers" from
across the Avenue and campaigned
vigorously for Timothy Campbell as
district leader. Tim" was opposed
by Dick Croker, the old Tammany
boss. So it was, in the election of
1894, Mr. Smiths booming voice
echoed in Mr.. Campbells behalf
against Tammany's constituted
leaders.
Easier Work, More Pay"
Immediately, then, after the ad-
ministration of Mayor William L.
Strong began, Mr.. Smith was ap-
lpointed to the job as a process server
under the commissioner of Jurors.
This start in politics was barely more
more than accidental-an opportun-
ity that happened to prove attractive
to young man with no particular
/ goal in life. Years later in his auto
biography, "Up to Now" Mr.. Smith
gave, with sly humor, his youthful
political philosophy:
4 II had a choice of hard labor al
a small wage of $40 week, or $12 a,
the most, in the kind of jobs thai
were open to me, or easier work at q
greater wage. had a fondness fol
politics and liked the excitement ol
public life"
i Loyalty to the organization wa.
part of AL Smiths credo in aftel
Iyears. and it was never shaken bu1
once. That was when he ceasec
Iattending the councils of the Tam.
many wigwam after the leadership
Twas won by John r. Curry, whom
Mr.. Smith disliked heartily.
4 When Mr.. Curry was deposed il
the only rebellion of its kind in "ths
hail." after Franklin .. Roosevelt,