Though new trolley lines and the growth of commerce shortened the physical distance between the three distinct settlements, they did not bridge the pscyhological gulf separating the communities. Cambridgeport and East Cam- bridge merchants competed mercilessly--as long as the speculators "did not meddle with the west end of town, Old Cambridge viewed the changes with satisfaction, or, in the case of the port scheme, with bewilderment." But the speculators inevitably did interfere with life in the old, elite section. When Andrew Craigie lured away the county buildings away from Harvard Square to his East Cambridge development, the mettle of the haughtier Old Cantabrigians was pricked.

The issue over which many of the hostilities surfaced was the enclosure of the Common, a step urged for aesthetic considerations by residents near Harvard. but drovers wanted the land kept open for the grazing of their stock, and for others, the road through the common was a direct link between Cambridge St. and the Concord Turn-pike. The enclosers carried the day, 169-119, but not before language uncommonly foul had been uttered in the meetinghouse. Those words were considered harsh enough to necessitate the construction of a new city hall.

The final secession by the old Cantabrigians came in December, 1842, when some of them petitioned the state legislature to separate them from East Cambridge and Cambridgeport. Rebuffed by the state, they took the issue to town meeting, where representatives of all three areas combined to scrap the plan.

Again, though, the debate itself led to change; to unite the city, its leaders decided Cambridge needed and official charater. Signed by the governor on March 17, 1846, the act went into effect 13 days later when the town meeting ratified it on a vote of 645-224.

Another movement that helped to unite disparate residents was the campaign against "demon rum." for years, the city had defeated by slim margins attempts to deny liquor licenses, usually on economic grounds. But as the number of Catholic immigrants swelled, it became almost inevitalbe that temperance would prevail; as two historians writing at the turn of the century said, "One public service of the church deserves special mention, namely its assistance to the cause of temperance and clean speech. Most of the churches have strong temperance organizations which have already rendered good service in the movement to control the liquor traffic."

The "dry" forces finally prevailed in 1886; when the no-license bill finally passed, there were 122 saloons in the city. all of which were closed down. And there was no legal liquor in the city again until the repeal of the volstead Act in 1933. Of course, that doesn't mean Cantabrigians stayed studiously sober in the 50-year interval. As a history of Cambridgeport mentions, the no-license law "does not mean that there is not drinking going on. Liquor is still to be procured. Many drug stores are regular purveyors, and it is practically possible for any person familiar with local conditions and able to walk to secure from them such liquors as he may wish." to prove their claim, the authors cite arrest statistics from Cambridgeport in the year 1907. Of the 1306 people arrested, 774 were taken in for drunkenness, 135 for disturbing the peace, and 87 for crimes against chastity.

By comparison, the 20the century has been calm. The churches are less powerful, though by no means powerless. Drinking is far from for-bidden. The water is filled with salt. And elections are just as noisy