Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-05-12
CITY PLANNING
EXPERTS GATHER
]. Horace Mcfarland Tells of
Convention Held at
Kansas City

]. Horace Mcfarland has just re-
turned from attendance upon the
Ninth National Conference on City
Planning, held at Kansas City, Mo-,
the first three days of this week
This conference was originally ar
ranged by the Sage Foundation, but
has for several years been continued
because of tbs extreme value to those
who are working in city betterment
When asked about this meeting
Mr.. Mcfarland said:
THE conference was the most
largely attended and influential con-
ference that has yet taken place in
the United States upon these i'm
portant subjects. There was present
q strong note of patriotism in it's ap-
plication to economy in city pro-
gress.
The delegates included practically
every noted city planner or municipal
engineer in the United States, from
California to New York and from
There were many members OF
city planning commissions and others
concerned in municipal advance, in
constant and interested attendance
The sessions of the conference were
full of interest and suggestion. When
men like Frederick Law Omsted
George e. Kessler, Thomas Adams
and other pro f e ssi n al men,
whose fees run from 500 to $30C
q day are willing to sit for three days
in discussion, giving of their very
best to all who apply, 1t will be
noted that no surprise need be eX-
pressed at the presence of live city
planners and those interested in city
advance from all parts of the coun-
try.
philadelphia, Pittsburgh and
several other Pennsylvania cities
were represented. but Harrisburg
failed to connect in any official way
L sometimes wonder why our City
Planning Commission does not at
tend sessions of this and similar
organizations, at which are dis
cussed problems that apply i'm.
mediately and particularly to the
welfare of Harrisburg.
But the special occurrences of the
sessions are-well worth noting. Mel
son P. Lewis, Chief Engineer of the
Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment, New York City, who was Har-
risburg's expert adviser in the first
paving program, spoke on Street
Widening to Meet Traffic Demands.
There was notable discussion on
trolley terminals and on electrifica-
ton. The most important statement
in respect to which was undoubtedly
made by Lawson Purdy, president OF
the Department of Taxes and Assess
ments, of New York City, who has to
do with getting and spending two
hundred millions of dollars annually
in the metropolis. Mr.. Purdy's state
ments in respect to districting and
coming, and the effect of the work be-
gun in New York in this direction
nearly a year ago, were intensely in
teresting.
"If Harrisburg is to protect heI
parks, her residence sections and her
business locations, she cannot much
longer neglect attention to what is
being done in other less progressive
cities in zoning and districting, under
legal relations found to be abso-
lutely impregnable and wholly avail
able to us.
George B. Dealey, the able pub
Usher of the Dallas News, of Dallas
Texas. presided over a session upor
the planning of cities and towns, ir
the course of which Thomas Adams
the town planning adviser of the
Commission of Conservation of Can
ada, an English engineer of great
ability, made a notable address.
Contact with the businessmen OF
Kansas City was had in a great
luncheon meeting held on Tuesday in
the same convention hall which last
Sunday welcomed Joftre and Vivian