Governor of Maryland
As Governor, Smith promoted education, labor, and healthcare reform. In education, Smith reorganized the public school system, guaranteed free textbooks for all students, appointed a school superintendent, and removed the Agricultural College of Maryland (now known as the University of Maryland, College Park) from private control and placed it under the guidance of the State. He also improved the State's workman compensation program, encouraged a merit system for promotions, reorganized health laws and constructed a State psychiatric hospital. Governor Smith is also credited with signing into law, the Certified Public Accountant Act, making Maryland the third state to create a Profession of Public Accounting with an exam, and State licensing and oversight. Smith also freed the State from much of its debt by the time he departed from the position in 1904.
Read more about this topic: John Walter Smith
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