The Coolidge examiner., 1934-06-29
Prepared BY National Geographic Society
w a.kLr ainn u o - Is. NJ Aar.Lan

n HANY cities Of northern
NJ New Jersey owe their
A'A growth largely to the fact
that they block the southern and
western gates OF New York city
and receive It's overflow.
Newark Is the most important air
door TO the metropolis Opened to
air traffic In September. 1881, the
Newark airport has grown rapidly.
When airplane traffic was at a peak
In 1882 several transport companies
and local airlInes scheduled 50
planes daily In and out OF Newark,
and In addition constant stream
OF unscheduled private planes used
this municipal field.
Newark today is In state Of flux,
but the changes that are taking
place point to a vast metropolitan
center. Newark, since the World
war. has changed amazingly. New
high buildings have cut through Its
skyline in them one finds the clerI-
cal forces OF many firms whose
Office address is New York.
And again Newark has become a
seaport. Whalers once sailed up to
the city docks on Passalc river. but
when ships OF deeper draft began
TO carry world trade Newark had
TO be content with lighters and
small coastwise vessels. Now Port
Newark. municipal development
on the upper part OF Newark bay,
has again brought ocean-going yes
sells to the gates OF the city.
Only Newark Itself can list all
the thousands OF different products
which pour out OF its factories The
most important In order of produc-
ton value are: electrical machin-
cry and supplies, paints and var
nlshes. leather. meats, foundry and
machIne-shop products, chemicals,
and jewelry.
Here are some odd trades, as well
as highly specialized industries.
Electrical instruments are made
with counterbalanclng pointers that
are miracles Of Craftsmanship. One
OF these has an arm of aluminium
tubing with walls one ten-thou-
sandth OF an inch thick, and balance
threads (for tiny brass nuts) are
cut 800 to the inch. This work must
be done under a magnlfylng glass
In Newark, too. many OF the worlds
largest alr-conditioning plants are
designed and constructed.
Newarks Library and Trolley.
Newark library today is the larg-
est In the state, and one OF the ma
tons finest. Libraries throughout
the United States and In many for.
eIgn countries have adopted meth
DDS originating In this Newark In
stltutlon.
Only London has larger co-ordi-
mated bus and trolley system than
one Newark company. which serves
421 New Jersey municipalities,
reaching all but one county In the
state. In 1881 1t transported total
of nearly 400.O00.0O passengers, the
equivalent OF more than three times
the population Of the United States
Strangers are confused by the In
terlocking huddle Of municipalities
around Newark. Essex county is
really one city with nearly a mil
lion people. Once isolated villages
have expanded so rapidly that out
siders cannot tell where one ends
and another begins.
Bloomfield offers an example Of
an intensely diversified community
in a state noted for variety. With
q population of only $4,000, many
Of them commuters, It embraces
some forty industries, large and
small, which run the gamut from
safety pins and horse radish to
books, electric lights, and woolens.
In a Bloomfield lamp works were
made the bulbs that shine from the
Statue Of Liberty, and those that IL
Illuminate the Washington monu-
ment, Holland tunnels, Natural
Bridge, Virginia, and the Bermuda
caves. Here is made every type of
lamp, from the grain of wheat"
used by dentists and physicians, to
the giant bulb for movie and out
door illumination.
Although we may not realize 1t
when we pay small coin for an
electric-light bulb, we are purchas-
ing a commodity that requires more
delicate craftsmanship than any
thing else sold in bulk. The tung-