Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-09-24
Absent Mr.. Reynders
Puts Three Questions
Up to People of City

J. V. w. Reynders, vice-president of
the Pennsylvania Steel Company and
one of the first contributors to the
fund of $4,000 which sixty public
spirited citizens raised to obtain the
services of an improvement expert,
was on the program for a talk on The
Broad Aspect of the Harrisburg I'm
provements.'
Mr.. Reynders was in New York city,
however, and was unable to get home
in time. He embodied his views. how
ever. in n letter TO A. Carson Stamm,
chairman of the committee on speak
ers. Mr.. Stamm read the letter.
After expressing his sincere regret
at his inability to get to Harrisburg
in time, Mr.. Reynders touched upon
the success of the Improvement pro-
gram begun fifteen years ago. 1T is
POSSIBLE now" he wrote. Ito form a
mental picture of the Harrisburg of
the future-beautiful by the hand of
man as it was intended to be by ma
ture; not growing sluggishly and with
Indifferent purpose, but confident and
enthusiastic in conscious and we'll
merited civic; a city whose financial
resources have not been dissipated in
evanescent and aimless expenditures,
but whose development has been guild
ed by forethought and careful judg-
rent Let us hope that our most
enthusiastic vision of the future may
be realized. There has been enough
accomplished in the past to fire the
enthusiasm of the future.
The Mattcr-of-Fact Attitude
The danger" continued the writer,
lies in the chance that the Harris
burg of the past generation will pass
out of our minds and that we will
cease to appreciate the tremendous
changes that have been brought about
as the result of policies that were
adopted fifteen years ago, and that in
consequence future efforts will be
paralyzed by a matter of-fact attitude
of complacent mediocrity. Harrisburg
has wonderful possibilities, but it is a
mistake to assume that they are fully
developed.
'Tn considering these subsequent
plans it is we'll to be reminded that
the method of procedure adopted in
the beginning will always continue to
be the safest guide for the future. The
Harrisburg plan so called, can be
simply expressed in the following
three questions:
"(1) What are all the permanent
improvements the city needs or de-
sires?
"(2) What amount of money can
the city afford to borrow or otherwise
raise?
"(S) Which of the desired improve
NentS VIII Jne aNallaDle FUNDS BUY In
whole or in part. leaving the remain
ing items to be considered at a later
period?
The Questions-And Answers
'The first question can be answered
by all better than any one of you,
each according to his individual tastes
or prejudices. The second question is
purely legal and financial. The third
question in the case of Harrisburg was
submitted to men of trained minds
and national reputation, who, coming
to Harrisburg as strangers, were able
to see possibilities which familiarity
caused most of us to overlook The
idea is so simple that one even Won
ders why it should be dignified by the
name of plan 1t Is nothing more
than common sense. and yet few, if
any, communities had adopted the
method of procedure until its value
had been demonstrated in Harrisburg.
"The experience of the past" con-
cluded Mr.. Reynders, Ought surely to
be a conservative guide for the future
and our confidence will surely not be
lessened by the fact that our example
is being followed by so many other
and larger communities"