Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/47

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in. Record told Fagan all about it, but, as he says, "Mark didn’t care; he wasn’t even interested.” He made public his plan to test the franchise, the stock fell and there was a great ado. The Public Service Corporation had walked straight into politics. Tom McCarter, the Attorney-general, was made president of the company and his brother, Robert, was made Attorney-general of the state. As we all know, the new crowd acquired such a heritage of corrupt power that they were able to send the president of the Prudential, John F. Dryden, to the United States Senate. This power, and the power of the U. G. I. (the same that drove Philadelphia to revolt) came down upon Dickinson and Record. The grafters didn’t want to see the Mayor, but Dickinson and Record told them they must, so Dryden gave a yachting party up the Hudson. Dryden, Randall Morgan, and Tom McCarter went and Dickinson, Record, and the Mayor’s cabinet — all but the Mayor. The party was fog-bound off Hoboken, so they had no sail, and, though they talked, they did no business. They had to see Fagan.

They saw Fagan. The U. G. I. has rooms at Sherry’s for such business, and there one afternoon was held a conference which has passed into the traditions of New Jersey. The more important persons present were Mayor Fagan, Record,