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Meet the Smoots: 1910

Washington, D.C., circa 1910. "Senator Reed Smoot, group." The longtime Utah lawmaker gave his name to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1910. "Senator Reed Smoot, group." The longtime Utah lawmaker gave his name to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. View full size.

 

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The Smoots

Pictured with Reed Smoot are his wife Alpha M. Eldredge and their children (in order of birth) Harold Reed, Chloe, Harlow Eldredge, Annie K., Zella Esther and Ernest Winder.

Interesting

The mother's corset must be an old one. Her dress is not quite in style either (see her daughters' Gibson Girl saggy-chest look).

Burial

Nice entry on Find-a-Grave for Sen. Smoot.

Redskins

And here the only Smoot in DC I'd ever heard of was Fred, cornerback of the Redskins....

Not exactly the Cleavers.....

....but a handsome group nonetheless.

Last Gasp

Can't breathe...collar too tight...cutting off blood supply to brain...

Beautiful

Wow, the detail work on Mom's dress is absolutely gorgeous! Where is that time machine? I love how the everyone is looking at the camera except the youngest boy, who got distracted by something else. How typical.

The Leftist Smoots

Most of the Smoot family seems to be left-leaning. I mean their poses, not their politics, and their left, not ours.

Great-Grandma, is that you?

Mrs. Smoot looks just like my paternal grandmother. She would have been about the same age as the youngest boy with the funny bangs when this picture was taken.

Both parites were ecomonically illiterate at the time

Don't forget that Roosevelt and the Democrats also supported anti-trade legislation. Roosevelt thought the cause of the depression was too much competition, so actually jailed retailers who gave discounts to their customers.

[And then, ahem, there's literal illiteracy. - Dave]

What a schmuck

The Republicans totally deserved the string of absolute electoral defeat that followed Hoover and that ridiculous tariff. It was well known that tariffs only helped industry and devastated farmers (which was fine when the nation was just developing its industrial base, but became wholly inappropriate around the time Dewey took Manila), one of the most dearly affected groups of the Depression (especially considering the effects of the Dust Bowl).

And now for the ad hominem -- the good senator doesn't seem able to put his collar and tie together properly. He should ask for a lesson from his sons. This is not to mention the somewhat befuddled look on his face.

[The Senator is wearing an Edwardian-style standing collar -- it's supposed to look like that. The boys are wearing fold collars. - Dave]

Seemed like a dood idea at the time

"The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act imposed an effective tax rate of 60% on more than 3,200 products and materials imported into the United States, quadrupling previous tariff rates." (Wikipedia).

Which, at the time, was like running the engine of international trade straight into a brick wall at full speed. Thank goodness we have better leaders now, who know what they're doing!

Ahem, ahem.

I nose this.

All but one got Daddy's.

The Eyes Have It

The eyes each tell the story inside.

Anyone? Anyone?

In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.

Either...

his mustache is growing right out of his nose, or he just inhaled a couple chipmunks!

Smite, Smoot!

(SMOOT PLANS TARIFF BAN ON IMPROPER BOOKS - News Item)

Senator Smoot (Republican, Ut.)
Is planning a ban on smut.
Oh rooti-ti-toot for Smoot of Ut.
And his reverend occiput.
Smite, Smoot, smite for Ut.,
Grit your molars and do your dut.,
Gird up your l__ns,
Smite h_p and th_gh,
We’ll all be Kansas
By and by.

Smite, Smoot, for the Watch and Ward,
For Hiram Johnson and Henry Ford,
For Bishop Cannon and John D., Junior,
For ex-Gov. Pinchot of Pennsylvunia,
For John S. Sumner and Elder Hays
And possibly Edward L. Bernays,
For Orville Poland and Ella Boole,
For Mother Machree and the Shelton pool.
When smut’s to be smitten
Smoot will smite
For G-d, for country,
And Fahrenheit.

Senator Smoot is an institute
Not to be bribed with pelf;
He guards our homes from erotic tomes
By reading them all himself.
Smite, Smoot, smite for Ut.,
They’re smuggling smut from Balt. to Butte!
Strongest and sternest
Of your s_x
Scatter the scoundrels
From Can. to Mex!

Smite, Smoot, for Smedley Butler,
For any good man by the name of Cutler,
Smite for the W.C.T.U.,
For Rockne’s team and for Leader’s crew,
For Florence Coolidge and Admiral Byrd,
For Billy Sunday and John D., Third,
For Grantland Rice and for Albie Booth,
For the Woman’s Auxiliary of Duluth,
Smite, Smoot,
Be rugged and rough,
Smut if smitten
Is front-page stuff.

-- Ogden Nash

Movies on the brain

But for the fact it's not in Technicolor, this could be a scene from "Life With Father."

A Wild Guess

It looks to me as if the good senator might have given his name to more than the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.

Or

Or Hoot-Smawley, if you listen to Michelle Bachmann.

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