Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-04-11

mess and faced financial ruin, unless
an end was brought to discriminatory
prices of gasoline dictated by the
Standard Oil Company.
Hanover, president, called the meet
ing to order at 1915 o'clock this
morning the hall was we'll filled
Sessions will be held this afternoon,
this evening and tomorrow morning
and afternoon and the convention will
conclude with reception to the dele
gates by Governor Brumbaugh in the
Governors reception room at the Capt.
tol at o'clock tomorrow night.
In opening the convention this
morning President Chrostwaite traced
the history of community building
from the beginning of the world and
pointed out how community improve
ments and developments run side by
side with civilization. He also talked
of the conditions of thoroughfares and
| lighting and sanitation systems in the
! cities or the ancients and compared
them with the systems of the present
day.
Need for Better System
Mr.. Chrostwaite spoke of the forma-
ton of boroughs in Pennsylvania and
| of the great number of prosperous
communities in the State to-day. THE
history, growth and development of
the boroughs in Pennsylvania" he
said, should make us conscious of our
strength and our possibilities and of
our needs and necessities. It may be
safely said that boroughs have devel-
! oped in this Commonwealth in spite
OF an obsolete. incomplete. chaotic
cumbersome, inconsistent, incompre-
hensible system of flaws, and surely with
out any uniform or organized method
of judicial construction. We seek and
need no special favors: we are entitled
TO none: but we do need, should have,
! can have, and probably will have, that
elastic, breathing. self conforming un-
hampered, healthful. easy-to- be- known
and ouick-t adapted system of
| government which will give us in it's
! fullness all our birthright due us
! through the ages of community build
! ing" &c.
Population of 2,5OO,OOO
Mr.. Chrostwaite also gave some in
| teresting figures pertaining to bor-
oughS of the state. He said: "The
| boroughs of this State have a popu-
lation of close to two and one-half
millions. In the last ten years they
have gained in population about 46
per cent. This gain Is about twice as
much as any other class of municipali-
ties in the State and nearly four times
as much as the rural increase in popu-
| lation. There are so per cent. more
boroughs in the State entitled to be
cities than there are cities in the State.
| and the popuIation of the boroughs
entitled to be cities is about three
fourths the population of the cities of
the third class Boroughs over 5000
! population have over 100000 more
| people than all the cities of the third
class. The population of the boroughs
| is now greater than the whole popu-
lation of the State when the general
! borough act or 1851 was passed. yet
neither the Constitution nor the Legis-
lature has seen fit to give these bor-
oughs the llgnt of local home rule nor
| has seen fit to pass any broad, gen.
eral legislation during the past sixty
years. The population of the boroughs
of Pennsylvania exceed the population
of the States of Wyoming, North Da-
kota, South Dakota, Nevada, Idaho,
Arizona, Utah, Oregon, New Mexico
and Alaska"
Offer Resolutions
! At the conclusion of the opening
address the following resolutions. Of
| fered respectively by John ID. Meyer,
solicitor of Edgewood borough, Allie
gheny county; G. +. Greiner, secretary
and solicitor of Ridgway, Elk county.
and w. w. Hall, solicitor of West
| Pittston, Luzerne county, were passed:
Resolved, That committee of
three be appointed to submit nomi-
nations for officers of this association,
]
be adopted. they to report at a session
of the association to be held ooni
day afternoon.
! Resolved, That a committee of five
! be appointed to prepare constitution
! for this association, they to report at
/ the session to be held on Wednesday
I afternoon.
Resolved, That committee on reso-
1 lutions. consisting of five members, be
appointed, to whom all resolutions
shall be referred without debate, they
to report at tomorrow afternoon
session, when debate thereon may be
had.
To-night's Speakers
The speakers at the session at
| o'clock this evening will be J. Elmer
Saul. burgess of Norristown; Charles
f. Gettemy, director of the Bureau of
Statistics of the Commonwealth of
/ Massachusetts,: A. w. Powell, Auditor
General of Pennsylvania, and A. c.
PleydeH, secretary of the New York
Tax Reform Association.
/ The purpose of the whole conven-
tion is to bring the boroughs of Penn
sylvania in closer contact with each
other and secure legislation which will
enable them to work on the same basis
and assist in their uplift. The call for
the convention was issued by Governor
! BrumbauRh and arrangements for the
sessions were made by the Division of
| Municipal Statistics and Information
of the Department of Labor and In
dustry.
Paul n. Furman, chief of the Bureau
of Statistics and Information of the
Department of Labor and Industry,
was one of the speakers this afternoon
and after talking of the work of his
division said:
THE department is always willing
and anxious to take up, investigate
and render all helpful and possible aid
in the administration of your activi-
ties, and it is absolutely necessary, in
order to do this promptly and eff
GENTLY, to have your cooperation.
'"The division will be glad to take up
with any of the municipalities of the
Commonwealth, or their officers. any
subject of administration and will fur
nish the information just as soon as it
can be gathered and properly tabu-