Marcus A. Smith - U.S. Senate

U.S. Senate

The Arizona State Legislature confirmed the selection of Smith and Ashurst as the state's first U.S. Senators on March 26, 1912. (The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing for direct election of U.S. Senators, had not yet been adopted.) The two men were sworn in on April 2, 1912. During the casting of lots to determine his Senate class, Smith was assigned to Class 3 with an initial term ending in March 1915. Following the ceremony, he expressed regret that he had drawn a shorter initial term than Ashurst.

Upon his entry into the Senate, Smith was assigned to the committees on the District of Columbia, Geological Survey, Public Land, Irrigation and Reclamation, Railroads The 62nd United States Congress was in its second session at the time of his entry and, with the 1912 U.S. Presidential election approaching, the new Senator found the Republican majority split between Roosevelt and Taft supporters. As a Democrat, Smith avoided the rivalry and allowed the two sides to damage each other. He instead worked for various appropriations for Arizona projects and to have Fort Grant, Arizona converted from a military base into a state operated reform school. On national issues he voted to raise the age for U.S. Navy retirement from 62 to 70, opposed requiring a literacy test for immigration to the United States, and voted to abolish the United States Commerce Court. After President Taft nominated Richard E. Sloan as the first judge on the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Smith worked to block the confirmation. Smith's reasons for opposing the judge are unknown but may have been as much personal as they were political. During the lame duck session in early 1913, Smith sought relief funds for farmers in the Colorado River valley affected by the floods that created the Salton Sea and for displaced Americans, many of whom were Mormon, that were forced to flee from the Mexican Revolution.

The 63rd United States Congress brought a Democratic majority to the Senate. Smith also received a new set of committee assignments. He became Chairman of the Panel on Irrigation and Reclamation while accepting positions on the committees for Conservation of National Resources, the District of Columbia, Foreign Relations, Geological Survey, Printing, Public Lands, and Railroads. Smith recommended the United States take a stand on the Mexican Revolution before European powers invaded the country. He also suggested the United States seize Baja California to gain full control of the Colorado River. In issues directly affecting Arizona, he opposed financial support for water wells for Indians living off the reservation but joined with Carl Hayden in supporting irrigation projects within reservation boundaries. With the new Congress, Smith became a supporter of Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" initiatives. Smith initially called for a high tarrif on wool to aid sheep ranchers in his state. He abandoned this position in July 1913 to support the Underwood Act. Later that year he supported passage of the Federal Reserve Act while 1914 saw him vote for the Federal Trade Commission Act and Clayton Antitrust Act.

Patronage requests were a point of cancern for Smith and his handling of it angered potential supporters. When Governor Hunt announced he had no intentions of running for Smith's senate seat observers noted that many of Smith's appointments had gone to Hunt supporters. Following Hunt's announcement, the Governor threw his network of support behind Smith. As the 1914 elections approached, Smith's well known drinking habit cost him votes from supporters of prohibition. This was balanced on September 5, 1914 when President Wilson sent a telegram stating it would be a "serious loss to the public" if Smith was not reelected for another term in the U.S. Senate. Smith's support proved sufficient and he won a majority of the votes in a five-way general election.