Let's Look at the Record

106 pages, with text only on one side for most pages. . Top edge gilt. Illustrated endpapers. The Dedication page reads: Alfred E. Smith will be remembered for many things, but perhaps most of all for his good works and simple words. This compilation, documented from his public life in his own language, is affectionately dedicated to his memory be a family who enjoyed the privilege of knowing him. Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 - October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. Smith served in the New York State Assembly from 1904 to 1915 and held the position of Speaker of the Assembly in 1913. Smith also served as sheriff of New York County from 1916 to 1917. He was first elected governor of New York in 1918, and was elected governor again in 1922, 1924, and 1926. Smith was the foremost urban leader of the Efficiency Movement in the United States and was noted for achieving a wide range of reforms as New York governor in the 1920s. Incumbent Republican Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover was aided by national prosperity and the absence of American involvement in war, and he defeated Smith in a landslide in 1928. Smith sought the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination but was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, his successor as Governor of New York. Smith then entered business in New York City, became involved in the construction and promotion of the Empire State Building. Includes Introduction, by Francis Cardinal Spellman and chapters on First Things First: The People; On Safeguarding Mother and Child; On the Family, and Public Duty; On the Weak and Helpless; On a fair wage for women and children; On the Exploitation of Women workers; and On a Seven-Day Work Week in Canneries; on the Cost of Education; On a Fundamental Democratic Principle; On Handicapped Children; On the Duty of the State; On Depriving The People of their Liberty; On the People's Right to Decide for Themselves; On the Rights of Minorities, However Unpopular; On Freedom of Thought, and the School Teacher; On Freedom of Thought, and the Schools; On the Right to Petition for Redress; On Spies and Secret Police; On Suffering an Abuse to Continue, for Good Reason; On Class Warfare; On Radicalism and the Foreign-Born; On the Ku Klux Klan; On the State's Lawmakers: A Blunt Appraisal; On the Nature of Legislative Deliberations; On Cutting Expenses; On Proliferation of Government Agencies; On the Spirit of the Law, and Fair Play; On Prison Reform, and the Prisoner's Feelings; On Conscience, the Law, and a Difficult Decision; On Simplifying the Legal Process, for a very Practical Reason; On the Choice Between Absolute Equality for Women, or Protection for them; On Creating a Human Image for a Silent President; On the Qualifications of City Officers in Amsterdam; On Inane Legislation: Fishhooks; On Inane Legislation: Permitting Eel Weirs in the Delaware River; On Inane Legislation: Claims for Expenses incurred in the War of 1812; On Inane Legislation: Highway Construction; On Inane Legislation: Channel Improvement; On a Fact of Political Life; On the Sanctity of the Ballot; On the Theory of American Democracy; On the Ideals He Lived by; and On the Meaning of Success. Also includes Biography.…