USA > New Jersey > New Jersey first citizens : biographies and portraits of the notable living men and women of New Jersey with informing glimpses into the state's history and affairs, 1917-1918, Vol. I > Part 38
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He was soon able to teach town school, and then he got on much more rapidly. Finally, he attended school at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill, where he paid particular attention to the sciences, especially chemistry. Even before he left school he was a facile writer. While yet a student at Kent's Hill,
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at the age of twenty-two, he formulated the hypothesis of the compound nature of the so-called atoms,-that all matter is one in the ultimate, and that all manifestations of force in nature depend upon the relative posi- tions and massing and motions of ultimate atoms. His theory was pub- lished in the Scientific American Supplement in 1SS9, and has been proven true in its main essentials since the discovery of radiant matter.
Immediately after leaving school he engaged in the publishing busi- ness in Pittsfield, Mass. One of his publications, a book on penmanship and pen drawing, of which he was the author, was very popular. He sold by subscription nearly half a million copies. And thus, he had al- ready done notable work in the fields of science, philosophy, art, and letters, before he became a world-famed inventor of weapons of war.
Notwithstanding his strenuously busy life during the past thirty years in the field of mechanics and invention, he has been a voluminous writer for newspapers and magazines on a wide range of subjects. He is the author of several important books, the most notable of which is the "Science of Poetry and the Philosophy of Language," published by Funk & Wagnalls in 1910. This book was the first to place poetry on a scientific basis and to give rules for its analysis and understanding and also for writing it. It was the first book to give a scientific definition of poetry. The book introduced seven new words into the language, three of which are in the New Standard Dictionary. Furthermore, the treatise is the first to show the specific use in language of the four properties of signs-loudness, duration, pitch and tone-color,-and that the forty so- called elementary sounds of the language are different tone-color blends ; that we express thought by non-emotional sounds used arbitrarily as the sounds of ideas, while we impress thought, manifest our emotion and stimulate and qualify the mind of the hearer for perception-that is to say, that we energize the hearer-by superimposing emotional tone blends on the arbitrary blends of meaning. This is one of the most important discoveries ever made in language, even if it be not the most important.
His two books, "Defenseless America," and "Leading Opinions, Both For and Against National Defense," published since the outbreak of the European War, (Hearst's Int. Lib. Co.) are among the important books to which the war has given birth. The noted motion picture play, "The Battle Cry of Peace," was written upon his "Defenseless America." He has sent out, free with his compliments, to leaders of thought throughout the country, to help the cause of national defense, more than a hundred thousand sets of these two books.
Among Mr. Maxim's most noted naval and military inventions may be mentioned, process and apparatus for the manufacture of the multi- perforated smokeless cannon powder, the first to be adopted by the United States Government and still in use; and Maximite, the first high explosive safely to be thrown from heavy guns at high velocity through heavy armorplate and exploded behind the plate by a delay action fuse. This explosive was adopted by the Government in 1901, after exhaustive tests at Sandy Hook. His safety delay action fuse, after still more ex- haustive tests by the Navy Department, was adopted in 1908.
He spent more than $50,000 in conducting experiments with a new system of driving torpedoes by means of a new combustive material con-
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sisting of seventy per cent. nitroglycerin and thirty per cent. guncotton, called Motorite. The material is a dense, rubbery substance made into bars, seven inches in diameter, which are forced into and sealed in steel tubes, and these tubes are screwed into a combustion chamber, and ignited at one end. As the combustion is confined to the exposed end, the material burns at a perfectly steady rate, according to the pressure, which may be controlled to a nicety. Water is pumped into the combustion chamber, where it is instantly evaporated by being driven through a series of baffle plates by the flame blast. By means of this system more than twice as much energy can be placed in a self-propelled torpedo of the Whitehead type as can be developed by means of compressed air, even when heated as it escapes, and the heat of the gases used to evaporate water according to the latest method. The expense of putting the system to practical use being too great for an ordinary private purse, and finding difficulty in get- ting the Government to appropriate the necessary money for the practical utilization of the system, Mr. Maxim sold it to the United States Navy for the sum of one dollar.
His inventions in smokeless powders. high explosives, fuses, etc., with the exception of Maximite, were sold to the E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Company, and the Government bought from that company. Mr. Maxim has been associated with the duPonts in an advisory capacity since 189S. In 1905 he sold them his invention, Stabillite, a smokeless powder which requires no drying, there being no volatile solvent employed in its manufacture. It has remarkable value as an emergency powder in time of war, for the reason that it may be fired as soon as made. Mr. Maxim also invented a process of manufacturing calcium carbide, now in general use, which he sold to the Union Carbide Company.
His invention, the "Game of War," is one of which he is very proud. This game is greatly liked and highly praised by Frank J. Marshall, the American chess champion, who teaches it at his chess divan in New York. It resembles chess, but typifies actual warfare more than does chess.
Soon after the outbreak of the war, Mr. Maxim became interested in a company based on some of his inventions, the Maxim Munitions Corpora- tion, but he has recently disposed of his interest in it. He has lately de- voted especial attention to the construction of good roads. One of his inventions in roadways so pleased the Road Commissioner of New Jersey and his engineers and also the Freeholders of Sussex County, that they unanimously agreed to build nearly two miles of the road in the Borough of Hopatcong under Mr. Maxim's supervision to give his invention a practical try-out. Mr. Maxim claims that his new roadway will not be expensive to construct, while it will be exceedingly durable-well-nigh everlasting. He has agreed to give the State the free use of this inven- tion in roadways.
Mr. Maxim has experimented extensively in the production of new kinds of foods with a view to producing a better army ration than has heretofore been produced, and he thinks that he has accomplished this result in a food, which he calls Maximfeast. It is also equally well adapted to general household uses. He has recently constructed several laboratories at his place at Maxim Park on Lake Hopatcong, where he is conducting his food experiments.
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His latest achievement is his new book, "Dynamite Stories," just pub- lished by Frederick Stokes & Company, N. Y., which contains some very vivid tales of experiences and adventures with all kinds of explosive materials.
CHARLES W. McALPIN-Morristown .- Capitalist. Born in New York City ; son of David H. McAlpin.
Charles W. McAlpin is one of the heirs of David H. McAlpin who was one of the largest manufacturers of tobacco in the United States and a liberal patron of the arts, and has succeeded to the care and manage- ment of many of the business enterprises in which his father was engaged when he died in 1901.
The elder Mr. McAlpin started a retail cigar business in Catherine Street, New York City in 1836 and was afterwards engaged in the manu- facture of chewing tobacco on Avenue D. and Sixth Street. From these beginnings, the business grew to a magnitude that commanded the markets of the civilized world. David H. McAlpin was a director of the Union Theological Seminary from 1872 to 1901 and munificent endowments for the Seminary were among his other beneficences. A notable contribution to the Seminary is a collection of British History and Theology, em- bracing 10,000 titles, some bearing date before 1700. He was a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Fellow in Perpetuity, and in this state a Director of the First National Bank of Morristown. His estate "Brook- lawn" on the old Walker farm at Littleton, acquired in 1866, and his later estate "Glen Alpin" at Hoyts Corner, four miles from Morristown, have long been among the garden places of that exclusive region.
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C. CURTICE McCAIN-Maplewood .- Transportation Associa- tion Chairman. Born in Minneapolis, Minn., on September 18, 1856; son of John Curtice and Sarah Ann Dailey (Bond) McCain ; married at Newburgh, N. Y., April S, 1886, to Maria Bradley Shaw, daughter of Charles B. and Henrietta (Rodermond) Shaw.
Children : Curtice Shaw, born February 18, 1887; Harold Ber- rian, born July 18, 1891.
C. Curtice McCain is Chairman of the Trunk Line Association and an expert and author of recognized authority on transportation problems. He is of Scotch lineage and owes his education to the public schools and personal study and research. He entered the office of the Trunk Line Asso- ciation in New York as a clerk in July 1877. The Association was then in charge of Albert Fink. Later he became Chief Clerk and was associated with Judge Thomas M. Cooley, who acted as arbitrator in many traffic questions between the railroads.
When Judge Cooley was selected Chairman of the first Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, he appointed Mr. McCain to the important
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position of Auditor of the Commission. He held that position until April 1, 1895 when he was selected by the vessel interests on the Great Lakes to organize their traffic association, and he held the office of Commissioner of the Association of Lake Lines, with an office at Buffalo, N. Y., until October 1907 when he was asked by the large Eastern railroads to return to New York to become Chair- man of the Trumk Line Associa- tion with which he had begun his business career as a clerk in 1877.
Mr. McCain is widely known throughout the railroad world as an expert in matters relat- ing to transportation rates and allied questions. His experi- ence as an officer of the Inter- state Commerce Commission and his close relations with the af- fairs of transportation com- panies have especially qualified him to meet the increasing activ- ities imposed upon transporta- tion men by reason of the many new and exacting laws and reg- ulations governing the railroads. He has been associated with many of the large traffic and rate adjustment questions before the regulating bodies, and has written extensively on various phases of the railroad problem.
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Among Mr. McCain's publications are: "Compendium of Transporta- tion Theories," "The Diminished Purchasing Power of Railway Earnings," "A Neglected Aspect of the Freight Rate Problem," "The Necessary Adjust- ment of Railway Rates," and numerous monographs, pamphlets and contri- butions to the press, magazine, etc.
Chairman McCain is a republican in politics and an Episcopalian in faith.
ROBERT HARRIS McCARTER-Rumson .- Lawyer. Born at Newton, on April 28th, 1859; son of Thomas N. and Mary Louisa (Haggerty) McCarter; married at Bryn Mawr, Pa., Oct. 12, 1886, to Mary B. Peterson, daughter of Robert E. and Ellen (Deacon) Peterson, of Philadelphia, Pa.
Children : George W .; Eleanor J.
Robert H. McCarter was the Attorney General of the state from May 15, 1903 to the Fall of 190S. In that position he succeeded his brother, Thomas N. McCarter, (q. v.), who had resigned to become President of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey. Appointed by Gov. Murphy
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to serve out Thomas N.'s unexpired term he was re-appointed upon its expiration by Gov. Fort. He is senior member of the firm of McCarter & English, with offices in the Prudential Building, Newark, and had been before he became Attorney General. as he has since he withdrew from the office, prominent in a large number of important litigations.
A Republican, Mr. McCarter has been active in the civic life of the State. His brother, Uzal H. McCarter, (q. v.) is President of the Fidelity Trust Company of Newark; and the family is one that has long been noted in political and professional and financial affairs.
Mr. McCarter, who is of Scotch-Irish origin began his educational training in Newark. Attending afterwards the Ping- ry School in Elizabeth and go- ing thence to Princeton Uni- versity. he graduated from the University with the class of 1879; and the University, in 1904, conferred upon him the LL. D .. degree. He took a course subsequently at Columbia College Law School, was admit- ted to the Bar as an attorney in 1882 and as counselor in 1885. When ready for business, he opened an office at Newark and entered upon the practice of his profession. The only official position he has ever held is that of Attorney General.
Mr. McCarter is a member of the University and of Princeton Clubs of New York City, the Essex Club of Newark, the Rumson Country Club of Rumson, the Nassau Club of Princeton, and the Automobile Club of America, (N. Y.)
THOMAS NESBIT McCARTER-Rumson .- Corporation Man- ager. Born in Newark, Oct. 20, 1867 ; son of Thomas N. and Mary Louise (Haggerty) McCarter ; married February 9th, 1897, to Madeleine G. Barker, daughter of George and Ellen Barker, of Baltimore, Md.
Children : Ellen George, born 1898; Thomas N. Jr., born 1899; Uzal Haggerty, born 1901; Madeleine Barker, born 1904.
The first forebear of the McCarter family of whom there is mention landed in Philadelphia in 1774, attested as a "single person, Protestant parents, County of Donegal, Ireland." He became a Commissary in the Revolutionary struggle and served under Wayne, Lamb and Hazen. He
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afterwards engaged in mercantile pursuits in Philadelphia, till he was obliged to go elsewhere for health. Settling in Mendham he bought the iron works that had been established there. The works were swept away two or three times by freshets, and, finally forced into bankruptcy, he was glad in the end to be made the Clerk of Morris County.
Robert H. McCarter, his son, born 1793, was also County Clerk of Morris and afterwards in business in Newton. He became Judge of the Common Pleas, sat on the Bench of the Court of Errors and Appeals, and, in 1828, was elected one of the Presidential Electors whose votes made Andrew Jackson President of the United States. He married Eliza, daughter of Thomas Nesbitt, who came hither from the North of Ireland. Thomas N, McCarter, his son, was a noted member of the New Jersey Bar, with a corporation practice so lucrative that, when both Governors Olden and Ward offered him a seat on the Bench of the New Jersey Su- preme Court, he declined it.
It was in his office that the present Thomas N. MeCarter began the study of law. In 1891 he was of the firm of McCarter, Williamson & McCarter. He subsequently practiced alone. In 1896 Gov. Griggs ap- pointed him Judge of the First District Court of Newark, but in 1899 he resigned. In the fall of the same year he was nominated as Republican candidate for the State Senate and was elected. His term in the State Senate expired in 1903. In 1901 he was made Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Republican State Committee; and, first having a large hand in bringing about the nomination of Franklin Murphy for Governor conducted the campaign that resulted in Mr. Murphy's election. Gov. Murphy had scarcely been inaugurated before the Legislature entered up- on the choice of a United States Senator to succeed the late Gen. Sewell ; and Mr. McCarter was again a prime factor in the campaign made in behalf of the selection of John F. Dryden, President of the Prudential Insurance Company, for the distinction.
Gov. Murphy in 1902 appointed Mr. McCarter Attorney General of the state. 'In the following year, the trolley service was undergoing expansion. Mr. McCarter became interested in the enterprise; and through his energy succeeded in bringing nearly all the railway, gas and electric properties of the state under the control of one company. The success of his labors in that direction singled him out for the management of the consolidated corporations; and in 1903 he resigned the office of Attorney General to become President of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey. The service has been extended under his management so that it takes in prac- tically all the state, for electric power, lighting and transportation purposes. The annual report of the Corporation made in 1917 discloses. these figures for the year : railways revenue. $18,175,764; electric revenue. $12,814,597 gas revenue, $11,558,413: total revenue $42,548,774: total fund- ed debt, $225,869,841 ; operating revenue, $42,548,775; operating expense, $25,863,854; operating income, $17,201,450; net income, $5,238,336. Pas- sengers carried, 451,698,012; municipalities served. 218.
Mr. MeCarter is a director of the Fidelity Trust Company and the. Union National Bank of Newark and the Red Bank Trust Company of Red Bank. He is a member of the Essex Club of Newark, Hamilton of Paterson, University and Racquet and Tennis Clubs of New York.
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Racquet Club of Philadelphia, Carteret of Jersey City, Union League of Hackensack, Nassau of Princeton and the Rumson Country Club.
President McCarter is a brother of Uzal H. McCarter (q. v.) and of Robert H. McCarter, (q. v.)
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UZAL HAGGERTY McCARTER-Rumson .- Banker. Born at Newton, July 5th, 1861; son of Thomas Nesbit and Mary L. (Haggerty) McCarter ; married at Newark, on Jan. 30th, 1SS9, to Jane Meeker Lewis, daughter of William G. Lewis, of Newark. Children : Isabelle Young, born January 11th, 1891.
Thomas N. McCarter, father of Uzal H. McCarter had made the Mc- Carter name a noted one in the professional history of New Jersey before the achievements of his three sons won new lustre for it. (vide Thomas N. McCarter and Robert H. McCarter). The elder Mr. McCarter was the contemporary, at the New Jersey Bar, of John P. Stockton, Fred- erick T. Frelinghysen, Robert Gilchrist, David A. Depue, Jacob Vanatta and Benjamin Wil- liamson, and till he died, was a recognized leader among them.
The elder McCarter, who had practiced in Newton, moved to Newark in 1865, when Mr. Mc Carter was four or five years old, and opened an office there. Mr. McCarter's earlier educa- tion was acquired in the Pingry School and at the Newark Acad- emy ; and he graduated from Princeton, of the class of 1882. Soon after graduation he en- tered the New York banking house of Kidder Peabody & Co., one of the most important finan- cial firms of the day in the country ; and continued in that connection for five years. In 1887 he went with the Lombard Investment Co., a New York corporation particularly interested in Western farm mort- gages.
In 1889 he formed, with the Fidelity Trust Company, the connection that has contributed so largely to its rise to first place among the financial institutions of the state. He had not been there long before he was made its Executive Manager, and he advanced through the offices of Secretary and of Treasurer till he became its Trust Officer. He was elected President of the company in 1904.
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The Fidelity Trust Company has financed many of the larger industrial and commercial and business enterprises of the state for the past twenty years. One of its notable energies was to assist in the establishment of the Public Service Corporation, which controls the gas and electric light and power plants, and the trolley service, all over the state. Since Mr. Mc Carter's election as President the resources of the Trust company have mounted to $31,000,000. The sale of its Prudential stock at the time of the mutualization of that company contributed $7,500,000 to its resources.
Amid his labors in the Fidelity Presidency, Mr. McCarter has found time for active participation in the life of the community. He was a dominating force in the Newark City Committee of 100 that arranged the City's recent celebration of its 250th birthday; and in most of the large functions in which the city and the people of Newark have been engaged Mr. McCarter has been called upon to take leading parts.
Mr. McCarter is a member of the Metropolitan University, New York Yacht. Princeton and Bankers Clubs (all of New York), the Essex of Newark, Rumson Country Club, Essex Country Club, Nassau of Princeton, Rittenhouse of Philadelphia and Newport Golf of Newport, R. I.
WALTER IRVING McCOY-East Orange .- Jurist. Born at Troy, N. Y., on December 8, 1859; son of James and Cornelia ( Beach ) McCoy ; married on October 17, 1SSS, to Kate Philbrick Baldwin, daughter of Dan- iel H. Baldwin and Kate Philbrick Baldwin, of New York City.
Children : Percy Beach 2nd, George Baldwin, Phil- brick, Catherine Baldwin, Eleanor Holman.
Walter I. McCoy is an Asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Colum- bia (Washington) by appoint- ment of President Wilson. He had previously been a part of the political life of the state and of his locality. He was a mem- ber and Vice President of the Essex County Democratic Com- mittee, and a delegate to the Democratic National Conven- tions of 1904-1908, and repre- sented the Eighth New Jersey District in the 62nd Congress of the United States (1911-1913) and the Ninth District in the 63rd Congress (1913-1915.)
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Justice McCoy's father was born in Sussex county and his mother in Morris county, where their respective families had lived for several genera- tions. Justice McCoy attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Princeton University for two years. He graduated from Harvard in 1882, receiving the A. B. degree, and from the Harvard Law School with the degrees of LL. B. and A. M. He was admitted in 1886 to practice at the Bar of the state of New York and followed his profession in the city of New York until his appointment to the Bench of the District of Columbia Court.
Besides his congressional and judicial activities Justice McCoy has acted as a delegate to many state and county conventions ; and, while he lived in South Orange, was one of the Village Trustees. He has been Direc- tor of the Orange Bureau of Associated Charities and of the South Orange Free Library. He is a member of the Harvard Club of New Jersey and was its President in 1910 and 1911. He is also a member of the Harvard Club of New York and the Bar Association of New York, and the Cosmos and Washington Golf and Country Clubs of Washington.
While Justice McCoy's New Jersey legal residence is in East Orange, his official duties make it necessary for him to live in Washington.
THOMAS FRANCIS MeCRAN - Paterson. - Lawyer. Born in Newark, November 2, 1875; son of Thomas McCran: married at Passaic, June, 1916, to Frances C. Martin.
Thomas F. McCran has been Speaker of the House of Assembly and is now a member of the State Senate from Passaic county. His father served in the Pas- saie County Board of Free- holders for several years, was County Inspector of Roads, in 1900 member of the House of Assembly and is at present Superinten- dent of Weights and Meas- ures in Paterson. Senator MeCran therefore came to the life of the community with an inbred aptitude for public affairs.
Mr. McCran began his ed- ucation in the public schools of Paterson and completed it at Seton Hall College. South Orange, where he graduated in June of 1896 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He read law in the office of ex-Senator William B.
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Gourley in Paterson and was admitted as an attorney at the November term of 1899, becoming a counselor at the February term of 1911. He spent eleven years in Senator Gourley's office; but. just before he was elected City Attorney of Paterson in November. 1907, he opened an office of his own. He held the city office until 1912 when he resigned.
The republicans of Passaic county in the campaign of 1909 named Mr. McCran as one of their candidates for the House of Assembly, and he was elected, and again in 1911 and 1912. In 1911 the republican minority of the House named him for floor leader ; and in 1912, when his party was in control of the House, he was made Speaker, the democrats naming no can- didate against him. As Speaker he made many important changes in House procedure, that made for its efficiency and which have since been followed. Before the expiration of his term, the republicans of the county put him in nomination for the State Senate. The Progressives split the republican vote of the county by putting in the field a candidate who took 7,000 republican votes away from him, and he was defeated by Peter J. McGinnis, the democratic candidate. In 1915 he accepted a nomination again against Senator McGinnis and defeated him by a plurality exceeding S,000. The republican majority in the Senate of 1917 made him leader on the floor, and he served as Chairman of the Committee on Banks and In- surance, on Corporations and on Home for Boys and also as a member of .the Committee on Municipal Corporations with others of less importance.
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