Editing Al Smith (section)

===State legislature===
[[File:Alfred E. Smith 1904.png|thumb|left|Smith's official [[New York State Assembly|State Assembly]] portrait, 1904]]
Smith was first elected to the [[New York State Assembly]] (New York Co., 2nd D.) in 1904, and was repeatedly elected to office, serving through 1915.<ref name="Burner"/> After being approached by [[Frances Perkins]], an activist, to improve labor practices, Smith sought to improve the conditions of factory workers.

Smith served as vice chairman of the state commission appointed to investigate factory conditions after 146 workers died in the 1911 [[Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire]]. Meeting the families of the deceased Triangle factory workers left a strong impression on him. Together with Perkins and [[Robert F. Wagner]], Smith crusaded against dangerous and unhealthy workplace conditions and championed corrective legislation.<ref name="Von Drehle 2003 204-210" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/news/the_labor_movement/index.html?story=/opinion/walsh/politics/2011/03/25/obama_al_smith_and_the_triangle_fire |title=Obama, the Triangle Fire and the Real Father of the New Deal |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=March 25, 2011}}</ref>

The Commission, chaired by State Senator Robert F. Wagner, held a series of widely publicized investigations around the state, interviewing 222 witnesses and taking 3,500 pages of testimony. They hired field agents to do on-site inspections of factories. Starting with the issue of fire safety, they studied broader issues of the risks of injury in the factory environment. Their findings led to thirty-eight new laws regulating labor in New York State, and gave each of them a reputation as leading progressive reformers working on behalf of the working class. In the process, they changed Tammany's reputation from mere corruption to progressive endeavors to help the workers.<ref>Robert Ferdinand Wagner" in ''Dictionary of American Biography'' (1977)</ref> [[New York City Fire Department|New York City's Fire]] Chief John Kenlon told the investigators that his department had identified more than 200 factories where conditions resulted in risk of a fire like that at the Triangle Factory.<ref>''The New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/1911/10/14/archives/factory-firetraps-found-by-hundreds-chief-kenlon-has-a-list-of.html "Factory Firetraps Found by Hundreds," October 14, 1911],</ref>

The State Commission's reports led to the modernization of the state's labor laws, making New York State "one of the most progressive states in terms of labor reform."<ref>Richard A. Greenwald, ''The Triangle Fire, the Protocols of Peace, and Industrial Democracy in Progressive Era New York'' (2005), 128</ref><ref>''[[The Economist]]'', "[http://www.economist.com/node/18396085?story_id=18396085 Triangle Shirtwaist: The Birth of the New Deal]", March 19, 2011, p. 39.</ref> New laws mandated better building access and egress, fireproofing requirements, the availability of fire extinguishers, the installation of alarm systems and automatic sprinklers, better eating and toilet facilities for workers, and limited the number of hours that women and children could work. In the years from 1911 to 1913, sixty of the sixty-four new laws recommended by the Commission were legislated with the support of Governor [[William Sulzer]].<ref>Slayton, ''Empire Statesman'' (2001) pp 92–92</ref>

[[File:AlSmithDesk1913.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Smith at his desk in the [[New York State Capitol|State Capitol]], 1913]]

In 1911, the Democrats obtained a majority of seats in the State Assembly, and Smith became Majority Leader and Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. The following year, following the loss of the majority, he became the Minority Leader. When the Democrats reclaimed the majority after the next election, he was elected [[Speaker of the New York State Assembly|Speaker]] for the 1913 session. He became Minority Leader again in 1914 and 1915. In November 1915, he was elected [[Sheriff of New York County, New York]]. By now he was a leader of the [[Progressive Era|Progressive movement]] in New York City and state. His campaign manager and top aide was [[Belle Moskowitz]], a daughter of Jewish immigrants.<ref name="Slayton 2001"/>