Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-07-12
HANDS FLOWERS
TO HARRISBURG
John Price Jackson Pays Won
derful Tribute to City on
Planners Inspection

I'm all the cities I've ever visited
and I've visited a great many, includ-
ing Boston, and other progressive
cities of the East and West and South
II know of none m which public
funds for the development of munic-
pal improvements have been expended
so judiciously or with greater appre-
citation of the wishes of the people,
than Harrisburg!"
John Price Jackson, State commits
sioner of labor and industry, yesterday
handed that nice bunch of verbal
flowers to Harrisburg, its citizens who
have boosted for public improvements
and the officials who have solved the
problems.
The commissioner expressed these
sentiments as he stood with a little
party of local and visiting officials
from several cities or the Pennsyl-
vania beneath the blazing sun on the
parapet of the flood control dam at
Wildwood Lake
The Tour Begins
Following the conference of city
planners of various cities yesterday in
the State department of labor and in
dustry, a few of the commissioners
who stayed over for the purpose were
taken over Harrisburgs park and
playground system in whirlwind run
by Park Commissioner E. q. Gross,
Assistant Park superintendent V.
Grant Forrer, President z. S. Her
man, Secretary B. F. Umberger and
George W. Reilly of the city planning
commission.
Because it was so late many of the
visitors who expected to make the
trip couldn't go, consequently the
party was more or less limited. What
IL lacked in size however it made up
in the enthusiasm of its personnel.
Harrisburgs wonderful parkway
chain, it's great stretches of parkland.
and its modern methods of damming
the Susquehanna, controlling the
floods of Paxton creek, and building
the long line of front steps" along
the river front, won obs" and "ah's"
of admiration from the guests.
On the Road
The party was a little late getting
away from the capitol and from the
Statehouse the tour led out to the
river front along that splendid drive
way to Otis Lane and thence into
Wildwood park. The visitors declared
that they hadn't been so cool and
comfortable in many a day as when
they were rolling through the woods
of the citys most splendid park.
AT the breast of the dam some of
the party got out under the clear
skies and stood about in the hot sun
to gaze up the long shimmering
length of Lake incidentally Com
missioner Gross and Assistant Super
lntendent Forrer had to answer a lot
of quick questions that were fired
at them by Mr. Jackson, it's reclama-
uon, cost Of acreage, method of OBJ
tanning the land, ETC., were among
Things the Labor and Industry com
missioner wanted to know about He
questioned about the entire park sys-
tenn, area, cost, development and so
on
The Turtles Do Stunt
Then after the party had watched
the turtles painstakIngly perform in
the weir, the little auto train rolled
on down through Wildwood, past the
Hamilton Fairgrounds, through the
city to Bellevue park and then via
Bellevue to Reservoir. On Oak Knob,
the party saw Harrisburg and a big
section of the surrounding country at
a glance, and then the train left Res
ervoir and skinned over the new
parkway drive The trip was COM
pleted with final cool drive through
Cameron parkway and an Inspection
of the river dam.
Inc guests to man were nightly
enthusiastic over what Harrisburg
mas done and is planning to do and
even the most patriotic booster for
ms own home town., cheerfully de-
clared that harrisburg can show the
State and country a very, very great
deal Leo j. Buettner secretary of
hustling Johnstown's planning com
mission probably summed up the
views OF the party, when he said:
why l wouldn't have missed this
r!oe FOR worlds. It's a treat. Har-
rlsourg certainly has done wonderful
tnlhss ana It's people surely have rea-
son to be very, very proud of their
city"