Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-08-11
NJ 'CORM|CK BEGS
FOR REFORM LAWS
TContinued From First Pagel

had to lecture someone and so berateo
the people at large. He said great
wave of reform was sweeping over
the country, a perfectly safe state
ment in view of its comprehensive
ness. Then he charged that the Key
stone State had Jagged behind the
other progressive commonwealths of
the Union in matters of legislation
concerning general welfare"
Let us see where Pennsylvania has
Jagged behind the other progressive
commonwealths:" it will be observed
that the Patriot uses the word other
Take the acts of the Legislature passed
under the Tener administration alone,
or take the acts of the last session.
Mr. Mccormick says that con-
structive legislation is needed for con-
servation of natural resources. The
State has over a million acres of forest
reserves and has arranged a system
of auxiliary reserves which should put
thousands of acres of land under con-
troll of the State within a year; ii has
provided increased powers over
streams and their sources for the
State Water Supply Commission and
has provided funds to give away thou
sands of young trees every year to re-
place the trees cut down for mine tim
lands the Democratic gubernatorial
candidate can appreciate better than
some of the common people.
Mr.. Mccormick is said to have
pleaded for conservation of the soil
unmindful of the fact that speeches
of officials of the State Department of
Agriculture have been filled with SINH
lar pleadings. some of them almost
antedating McCormick's ambition to
be Governor. which is going back a
few years and farm counselors, pro
vided for by the last Legislature and
named by the present Governor, are
preaching soil conservation and max
ing demonstrations at county fairs
Last session the division of the
economic zoologist received an in
creased appropriation to further its
orchard conservation work. Also the
last Legislature provided for a bureau
of agricultural statistics and enlarged
the authority of the State Livestock
Sanitary Board for control of diseases
of cattle which, as an agricultur-
alist. as Mr.. Mccormick pretends to
be, he should appreciate better than
the rest of us.
In his glittering list of what has
been accomplished by the aforesaid
wave of reform the Democratic candi-
date for Governor jumbles up what
has been done under the Roosevelt,
Taft and Wilson administrations ana
what has been done by Pennsylvania
and the other progressive common
wealths. but does not specify what
Pennsylvania has done and what It
has left undone. Here are some of
the things he says have been accom-
plished in his roll of honor and which
Pennsylvania has enacted: Direct
election of United States senators,
initiative and referendum for second
and third class cities. new third class
city commission law, enlargement of
educational facilities, creation of a
public service commission ito give the
little fellow a chance as Mccormick,
now concerned for all men and anxious
to be his brothers keeper, phrases it;
new employment laws and the creation
of the splendid department of labor
and industry under John Price Jack
son to enforce them. Not to mention
the great department of health and its
manifold activities
Now let us turn to the acts of 1913,
which are very recent legislative his
tory, and see what commissions were
provided for that Pennsylvania might
continue 10 care for her people their
welfare and their happiness, for which
the wealthy former mayor of Harris
burg is now so apprehcnsive. Here
are a few: Commission to acquire toll
bridges; for economy and efficiency in
the state government, to secure pro-
ficiency of engineers; to probe exac-
tions of fire insurance companies. in
Guiding those which insure barns and
the small home: for safe construction
of buildings; to mark the historic
sites so that future generations may
know the spots where our glorious
history was made; to revise the penal
laws, to study the condition of all
the dependents, the imbecile, the
feeble minded, the insane. the halt
and the blind; to establish an indus
trial institution for women along the
lines of the Huntingdon Reformatory
for men and boys: to establish a state
home for inebriates and drug fiends,
and to continue the campaign for an
employers liability law, in which Gov
ernor Tener has been the leader and
who insisted upon the continuance of
the commission which drafted the
original compensation bill notwith-
standing its defeat in the last session
with the assistance of certain senators
identified with Mr.. McCormick's party.
A little study of the progressive his
tory of PENNSYLVANIA would be a fine
preparation for some ambitious can