Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/65



But that didn’t satisfy Jim Connolly, and it wouldn’t satisfy anybody in Jersey City. It didn’t satisfy me, and since nobody else could help me, I went to Mark himself. I went to his home with him, and I asked him questions. He squirmed, and it wasn’t pleasant for me; but I had a theory I wanted to test. Maybe it wasn’t right to probe thus into the soul of a man, and maybe it isn’t fine to show what you see. It hurt Mark Fagan, that interview, and the report of it will hurt more. But I am thinking of those of us who need to see what I saw when I looked in upon the soul of Mark Fagan.

Why had he done the things that had been done for Jersey City ? That was the main question. He said he hadn’t done those things, not alone. His cabinet had done them. He gave full credit to his associates, and he gave it honestly, as if he wished to be believed. But, as Record says, whatever of knowledge and resources he and the rest contributed to the Mayor, it was the Mayor who furnished the courage, the steady will — the transparent character.

“What is your purpose, Mr. Mayor?”

He elaborated his idea of making Jersey City pleasant. He talked about clean streets, good water and light service, and schools. “Now the schools — I think the schools shouldn’t be shut