Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-04-05
Errntttg Ul1at

'.eopie VINO observe the railroads
nave been impressed the last few days
by the. tremendous amount of traffic
being handled through Harrisburg. 1t
is coming from all parts of the North,
south and West through this city and
either the embargo along the coast
must have been raised or the big east
ern cities are drawing in supplies
of all kinds. There are some who say
that the railroads are making a great
effort to clear up all the traffic pos
sible to make room for what demands
war may bring. In any event there
has been 'ceaseless rumble of trains
through Harrisburg day and night
and some of the trains are barely
clear of the city before others take
their place on the lines. The wonder
full part about 1t all is the way the
yards handle the enormous number
of cars. The three great yards at
Enola, North Harrisburg and Ruther-
ford are apparently jammed with traf-
tic, but the work of sorting them out
Is going on Systematically. All seems
confusion to the ordinary observer,
but 1t Is order and rapidly moving or
der at that. The trains are coming in
made up to go to their destinations
beyond in many cases, but there is
an amount of classification work done
here that is amazing For months past
this has been going on without in
terruption even on Sunday and cars
from every railroad in the United
States and Canada are being sent
through Harrisburg. The railroads are
doing not only an immense amount
of work, but doing 1t quietly and it
is easier to get behind the railing
of bank than to get close to rail-
road yard.
The police crusade against persons
who fail to dim their electric lights
is having its effect and the last few
nights there have been few automo-
biles which have thrown their glare
about the city's streets On some of
the streets, notably Front, Second,
State and Derry, the police order has
had a gratifying effect and the blind
ing light which used to annoy drivers,
motormen and pedestrians and even
people along the sidewalks is notice.
| ably lessened.
A friend who lives in the suburbs
calls attention to the tricks of some
| dog fanciers whose love for animals
overcomes their sense of right. One
man who has q fine dog missed the
animal for several days. When he
came back the dog had a nice collar,
different from that with which he
| went away. And the dog license was
| also different. Matters were soon ad-
| justed. Several instances have been
heard of where dog owners found
missing animals home again without
collars. The dogs showed indications
] of harsh treatment having evidently
| been tied up and their collars re-
moved. The difficulty is that stolen
dogs when they escape are apt to be
picked up or shot. as ownerless be-
cause the thieves remove the collars.
|
Speaking of dogs a couple of them
caused considerable excitement in
Capitol Park yesterday. They started
to chase squirrels and a couple of
squirrel guards threw their canes at
the animals. That was what the dogs
were used to and they just put on
speed and made for trees. One beat
| a squirrel to it and was about to
| seize the animal when a woman threw
an umbrella and the ferrule struck
the dog on the neck. BY that time
one of the policemen mad recovered
his cane and had routed the other
canine visitor.
Wild rabbits are commencing to be-
come more or less of a nuisance to
| farmers in this section of the state,
| according to some remarks made by
people here and there is no compunc-
ton shown about shooting them by
men whose crops they have damaged.
The rabbits seem to have multiplied
| exceedingly in Cumberland county and
are to be seen in many roads this
spring. 1t seems rather odd that in
some parts of the state sportsmen are
| asking the authorities to furnish rab-
bits for breeding so that they will have
a stock while in others the animals are
a liability
If the Mearkle bill now pending in
| the House of Representatives goes
| through there will be considerable less
noise by automobiles in Harrisburg,
as there are some pretty stringent pro-
visions regarding the use of mufflers
and cut-outs. This bill would also
make pretty stiff penalties for persons
who stole cars and forbids any person
from blowing the horn of car which
Is standing on highway. This is an
interference with juvenile sport, but
the people who oppose the fun say
that it leads to tampering with ma
chimes, handling levers and other
things and that the safest plan is to
forbid any one having anything to do
with cars that do not belong to them.
This bill would also enable imposition
of fines for speeding on the riverside
| road or on Mulberry street Viaduct
and some of the speed machines that
tear up and down Second and Third
streets would run up against state
law Throughout the bill contains pro-
| visions designed to halt troubles which
have afflicted Harrisburg in common
with the rest of the State and which
the great majority of automobile
owners and drivers deprecate and do
their best to check on the part of
small number of persons who do not
care what they do.
Talking about traffic there is moth
ing worse according to a couple of the
traffic cops" than man who has
just taken out his new car for a trial
without an instructor. Such people
furnish the majority of the violators
of the regulations and as they do it
through case of "rattles" it takes
some time to untangle the knots. The
other day a man not familiar with
the management of a car got twisted
at Third and Market streets and the
policeman quickly sized up what was
going to happen and stopped every
one else. He held up trolley cars,
trucks, automobiles and a delivery
wagon or two and then watched the
fused up auto owner get out of the
tangle. He did not say anything but
the mans face was the color of n
red beet and he got enough advice
from the rest of the folks.
|.
| It's funny and vet saddening to