Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/523

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SMITH 459 SMITH is the real source of wealth. The means of making labor most fruitful, the divi- sion of labor, what wealth consists in, the mischiefs of legislative interference with industry and commerce, the necessity of freedom of trade, are admirably discussed and expounded. The book may be re- garded as the basis of modern political economy. In 1778 Smith settled in Edin- burgh, where he had the appointment of a commissioner of customs for Scotland. He was the friend of David Hume, of whose last days and death he wrote an account, with a warm panegyric on his character, which was published with Hume's autobiography. He was also au- thor of a "Theory of Moral Sentiments" (1759). Smith was chosen lord-rector of the University of Glasgow in 1787. He died in Edinburgh, July 17, 1790. SMITH, ALFRED EMANUEL, an American public official, born in New York City in 1873. He was educated in the parochial schools and received honor- ary degrees from Manhattan College and Fordham University. From 1895 to 1903 he was a clerk in the office of the commis- sioner of jurors; from 1903 to 1915 a member of the New York Assembly, be- coming the Democratic leader in 1911 and speaker in 1913; in 1915 a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention ; from 1915 to 1917 sheriff of New York co.; and from 1917 to 1919 president of the Board of Aldermen of Greater New York. Al- ways having been a member of Tammany Hall, he was the Democratic candidate for governor in 1918 and was elected in the fall of that year for a two-year term. Although his administration was, gener- ally speaking, efficient and satisfactory to the people of the State, he failed of re- election in 1920, being defeated by the Republican candidate, Nathan L. Miller. His popularity was indicated by the fact that he received almost 500,000 more votes than the Democratic candidate for Presi- dent and that he ran ahead of the balance of the Democratic ticket by an almost equal number of votes. On his retirement from public service on Jan. 1, 1921, he became vice-president and general man- ager of a large trucking concern in New York City. SMITH, ALFRED H., an American railway official. He entered the service of the L. S. and M. S. Ry. at Cleveland as a messenger boy in 1879, rising grad- ually to the position of general superin- tendent in 1901. In 1902 he became con- nected with the N. Y. C. and H. R. RR. as general superintendent, becoming gen- eral manager in 1903, vice-president in 1906, senior vice-president in 1913, and president of the N. Y. Central Lines in 1914. During the World War he was as- sistant director-general of railroads in charge of transportation in the trunk line territory E. of Chicago and N. of the Ohio and Potomac rivers, and later re- gional director of the eastern district. At the end of his service with the Federal Government he was re-elected president of the N. Y. Central Lines on June 1, 1919. SMITH, C(HARLES) ALPHONSO, an American educator and writer, born at Greensboro, N. C, in 1864. He was educated at Davidson College and at Johns Hopkins University, holding also honorary degrees from the University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina, and the University of Cincinnati. From 1890 to 1893 he was instructor of English at Johns Hopkins University; from 1893 to 1902 professor of English language and literature at the Louisiana State Univer- sity; from 1902 to 1907 professor of Eng- lish language; from 1907 to 1909 head of the English Department and dean of the graduate department at the Univer- sity of North Carolina; from 1909 to 1917 Edgar Allan Poe Professor of English at the University of Virginia ; and from 1917 on head of the Department of English at the United States Naval Academy. At various times he was a lecturer on Eng- lish language and literature at the Uni- versity of California, University of Kan- sas, etc. From 1910 to 1911 he was Roosevelt professor of American history and institutions at the University of Ber- lin. He was the founder of the Virginia Folk Lore Society (1913). Besides con- tributing to periodicals, he was associate editor of "World's Orators" (1901), and of the "Library of Southern Literature," and wrote: "Repetition and Parallelism in English Verse" (1894) ; "Old English Grammar and Exercise Book" (1896); "Elementary English Grammar" (1903) ; "Studies in English Syntax" (1906) ; "Die Amerikanische Literatur" (1911); "Se- lections from Huxley" (1911) ; "The American Short Story" (1912) ; "Peri- cles" (1913) ; "What Can Literature Do for Me?" (1913) ; "0. Henry, Biography" (1916) ; "Short Stories Old and New" (1916) ; "Keynote Studies in Keynote Books of the Bible" (1919) ; "New Words Self -Defined" (1919). SMITH, CHARLES EMORY, an American journalist; born in Mansfield, Conn., Feb. 18, 1824; was graduated at Union College in 1861 ; edited the Albany "Express" in 1865-1870, and in 1880 be- came editor of the Philadelphia "Press." He was United States minister to Russia in 1890-1892; a delegate to several Na- tional Republican conventions; and post- master-general, 1898-1901, then resuming the editorship of the Philadelphia "Press*." He died Jan. 19, 1908.