Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-17
Ehrnt1g Gl1at

| Some interesting railroad history Is
recalled by the fling in the office of
the Secretary of the Commonwealth
the other day of the official papers of
the merger of half dozen railroads
into the Western Maryland railroad.
The combined companies have q cap
| ital of S78,000,000, and the Pennsyl-
vania and Maryland companies of the
system are now one as was accom-
plished recently when the big Pan
handle merger was made by the Penn
sylvania and the New York Central
| consolidated many of its lines in
northern and western Pennsylvania.
The names of the companies absorbed
| by the Western Maryland are indica-
| tive of what was once contemplated,
especially the scheme to make Harris
burg in reality as it now is in the
matter of freight traffic, the northern
| terminus of the Western Maryland.
| In the list are the eastern and western
extensions of the Baltimore and Har-
risburg railroads. which were part of
an ambitious plant to tap the rich
agricultural regions of the lower Sus-
quehanna and Cumberland Valley,
which held charters from both Mary
! land and Pennsylvania and which
| formed the backbone of the system in
southern counties and the Georges
Creek and Cumberland, which is the
West Virginia end and the Connells-
Vile and State line. Hundreds of cars
from the latter two lines pass through
| Harrisburg every day. They come
from the Connellsyille cut off,
which is supposed to shorten the haul
from Pittsburgh to tidewater, and are
brought into Harrisburg over the
Reading lines from Shippensburg
where the Western Maryland connects
with the Cumberland Valley and
Reading, by the huge engines of the
railroad.
Few meetings of medical men in
| Harrisburg outside of sessions of the
State Medical Society have brought to-
gether as many doctors and surgeons
as the conference held at the Capitol
yesterday by the Department of La
Dor and Industry for discussion of
treatment of wounds. 1t was really q
preparedness meeting for the doctors
as the most advanced methods,
learned on the battlefields of France,
were presented with pictures. The
doctors were told from actual expert
ence what had to be done to stop the
deadliest of all diseases, gangrene, and
what was explained yesterday will be
applied to industrial accidents. Men
who were in attendance said that the
lessons were invaluable and that more
meetings of the kind should be held so
that the medical men who have to
deal with emergencies could have op-
portunity to hear what is done in war
W lIlG emu lIdJ JllSy WOulu Dc lGeluS
to take their part in time of stress.
Can justice of the peace admin
lister an oath to a man he meets on
q highway? That is question which
the State Game authorities are trying
to solve and DR.. Joseph Kalbfus, eX-
pert in matters pertaining to game,
says that it is getting beyond him. 1t
appears that the doctor Tagged"
some of the afiidavits sent to him by
claimants for bountiess for scalps of
foxes, wildcats and other vermin be-
cause they we're all written in one
mans handwritinG~~Qne explanation
given by a justice who was interro-
gated was that he had met the claim
ant on a road and "swore him." AS
he did not have paper and ink with
him he simply agreed to take the
trouble off the mans hands and wrote
out and signed the whole business.
He got the fee, of course, but whether
he is guilty of fraud or perjury is the
problem.
These are the busy days for the
photographers, especially those who.
specialize in outdoor work. The nue.
merous conventions and other gather
ings being held here have caused the
picture men to be right on the job.
Every day this week a photographer
has had his camera sighted on the
Capitol front steps and there has been
one group after another photographed
with the great granite building and
the Barnard statues taking the place
Of the woodland scenes of the studio
DR.. Joseph d. Findlay, of Altoona,
Pennsylvania railroad physician in the
city at the foot of the mountains, and
one of the premier road enthusiasts in
Central Pennsylvania, attended the
conference on industrial accidents at
the Capitol yesterday. DR.. Findlay is
not so busy with his large practice
that he cannot devote some time to
his pet hobby-better roads, and he is
Blair county's representative on the
Board of Governors af the William
Penn Highway.
Secretary of the Commonwealth
CYRUS f. Woods, former minister to
Portugal, who is to speak before the
Civic Club in it's series of winter ad-
dresses, will give some of his ex-
periences while at the court of Lis
bon Mr.. Woods was minister at a
very interesting stage of affairs in the
Lusitanian realm and was a figure in
the social as we'll as the diplomatic
life of the world famous city.
According to a note sent by
friend Ohio is about to pass law
which will require the reading of the
Declaration of independence in all
schools. Years ago this used to be
the custom in this State and in Har-
grandfathers, there were prizes for
the boy or girl who could recite it
best. In fact, in those days the
Declaration ranked next to the Bible
in the schools, as attested by old time
letters.