Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/369

 CHARLES EMORY SMITH MITH, CHARLES EMORY, LL.D. Prominent among the men who have made their mark upon the history of our days by the trenchant pen of the journalist, and whose statesmanship has been manifested in the public service of the United States, may be named Charles Emory Smith, late postmaster-general of the United States, and editor of the Philadelphia "Press," who has made himself widely known by the commanding position which he has given the journal under his control, by his powers as an orator, his skill as a diplomatist, and his ability as a man of affairs.

There is much in the career of Mr. Smith to illustrate his character and to indicate the cause of his success. Born in Mansfield, Tolland county, Connecticut, February 18, 1842, he seems to have inherited from his father, Emory Boutelle Smith, an excellent native judgment and skill in controversy, while some of his finer mental qualities seem to have come to him from his mother, Arvilla T. (Royce) Smith. Farther back in his ancestral line we meet with the name of Captain Isaac Smith, one of the patriots who fought for American liberty in the Revolutionary war. While still quite young, the boy showed an active mind, love of study and an interest in politics which was to become the molding force in his career. The family moved to Albany, New York, when he was seven years of age, his mother dying two years later. Here amid the stirring scenes of the capital of the Empire State, his education was obtained. He passed from the public schools to the Albany academy, and thence to Union college, at Schenectady, where he was graduated in 1861. While in his senior year at the Albany academy, a strong prevision of the coming man was shown in the boy — though but sixteen years of age—he became connected with a daily newspaper, the "Evening Transcript," and for six months he contributed editorial articles to its pages—a marked instance of precocity of intellect and journalistic genius. While at Union college he did editorial work on the "University Review," an intercollegiate quarterly. His early interest in political questions was further shown by his becoming captain of the "Wide Awakes," an undergraduate Republican club in college.