Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-09-21
READING AND HARRISBURG
[From the Reading Herald


He is poor planner for Reading
who does not consider our riverside
And indeed there are but few aspi-
rants for local office who have not
said something about preserving the
mountains and beautifying our river
banks. How sincere and how practical
they all may be is another story. But
at least this has become a stereotyped
phrase.
Half a dozen years ago people
laughed at the playground enthu-
siasts Now every candidate laws
his hands upon his heart and vows
tAat he counts Fairgrounds as the
most important thing agoing. Doubt
less If quizzed he could not tell you
how many Fairgrounds there are in
town and could not lead you to more
than one of them. Still the play
ground is the thing now for the as
piring candidate. And next to it come
the mountains and the river.
What our coming mayor and coun-
cilmen are going to do with our river
banks is puzzle; as much of a puzzle
as the personality of this mayor and
councilmen. We know well enough
what the Consumers Gas Company
is going to do. 1t has its plans cut
and dried. Down will come Willow
Grove one of these fine days. And
then will the river bank be left all
desolate.
Meanwhile it need not be amiss to
be a bit constructive. These river
banks of ours, all the way from
Haines Lock down to Highs Woods,
are susceptible of conserving and de-
veloping. Who is the hardy candidate
or even the plain, common citizen
who will step forth and show us
how?
At Harrisburg next week they are
to celebrate the consummation of IA
years of civic development. The most
important development has been that
of the river bank. For years these
banks were good for nothing. save as
dumping place for household trash
and domestic refuse. Thither went all
the old tin cans, the corn cobs the
rusty nails and the offscouring of the
back alley Therefrom emanated
strange and titillating odors, making
one thankful he had hay fever or a
bad cold, setting the keen-scented re-
penting that noses had ever been in
vented. inducing one to wish that for
his walk he had gone into the far in
terror or that for his dwelling place
he had moved fifty miles away.
Harrisburg's river banks, now
stretching for miles and miles, are
without a peer in this land of the
living. A river wall with steps leading
down to the waters edge extends from
the northernmost to the southernmost
limits of the town. The rubbish is all
gone. The rank weeds are uprooted.
The brickbats and the bottles are de-
posted elsewhere. And hundreds
seek the river bank each summer
evening for relaxation and comfort
And many thousands will be stamped
ing those banks next week to watch
regattas and aquatic sports and golden
sunsets and such charr-s as Venice
hardly knows.
All this due to natural beauty plus
civic enterprise. And much of this
could be done here in Reading. We
have both the beauty and the enter
prise, but they have not come into
cooperation in the case of the river
We do nothing but lament and de-
plore. Harrisburg was in the age of
lamentation and deploration fifteen
years ago. Now the river banks are
actually saved. And great jubilee
is to be held in honor of that happy
event.
When William Morris wrote News
From Nowhere" he harped enthusias-
tically on the joys of coming days.
But the most striking feature of all
his harping was the charm of the
Thames river and the potential love-
liness of that somewhat sighted
stream. Those of us who revel in
Morris and mis- dreams of a happy
day to come remember more than all
the gayety and loveliness. the cool
ness and the health of his idyllic
Thames.
We are unable to compare all of
Morris hope. We cannot bring his
sweet Elysium to pass day after to-
morrow. But we can do much to-
ward making our Schuylkill just as
fair and delightful as his pictured
Thames.
Why not learn lesson from Nor
ris, the Socialist? And why not add
thereto a lesson from Democratic
Republican Harrisburg? And why not
quit lamenting over our neglected
riverside and start to do something