movements was in Newark, the metropolis of the
state. This city belonged absolutely to the business interests grouped about the Prudential Life,
the Fidelity Trust Company, and the Public Service Corporation, which, ruling through Major
Lentz, gave the city a government in which these
special interests came first, the common interest
of the city last. The Democratic machine stood
in with the Republican ring. Now and then,
when James Smith, Jr., the Democratic business
boss, had business differences with the Republican
business grafters, there was a political fight. But
all the opposition that counted at all came from
a few young men, with William P. Martin at their
head, who, mostly Republicans, got into councils
and opposed steadfastly the public utility grabs.
Their story is a story by itself, and a good one;
suffice it for the present to say these fellows were
battling against the enemies of their city, the
public service interest, all the while Colby was trying to get along with his party.
Several other movements were under way in the suburbs of Newark — Bloomfield, the Oranges, etc. These were “good-government,” “good-men-for-office” reforms till Tom McCarter aroused these “ communities to opposition to the real cause of all their troubles. Tom McCarter is a fiery, red-headed politician, who, as president
