Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-14
Ehrntttg Gl1atl

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for Improvement of the Capitol park
SO that it shall be the civic center
or the Commonwealth, not only as
state executive, but as a citizen
of the state. I'VE have a compre-
hensive plan which looks very good
TO me and which should give the
capitol the setting which it has long
needed, said he in a conversation
about it the other day. There are
some details which have yet to be
arranged and then we will see what
Is required in the way of legislation.
DO not imagine that there will be
much, but 1t is well to have such
things down in black and white"
It is not generally known that the
governor when he was a candidate
Tor the nomination expressed his in
terest in the Capitol park improve
ment in no uncertain way and that
when he had been chosen he said
that he intended to put through the
plan while he was Governor. The
position he takes is that other states
have capitol buildings not as hand
some as that of Pennsylvania and
they are surrounded with handsome
parks. Here there has been erected
an unusual building with park
laid out about seventy-five years
ago. The Sproul idea is to that the
| cSSI DG Iildut VI IHG Olu pdTh
and the finest possible in the plot
ting of the new. Things are not
going to be any cheaper for a while
and people who wait for the times
to be right occasionally have to wait
a long time" is one of the Sproul
| remarks in regard to going ahead
with construction of roads and other
things. He is applying it to Capitol
park.
Among visitors to the city this
week was Andrew Hourigan, one of
the younger generation of attorneys
in Luzerne county. He is we'll
known to many here as former assis-
tant United States attorney and
while mentioned every now and then
for state office, is attending to his
practice.
Officials of the state government
are understood to be favorable to
an appropriation to the Camp Cur
tin Memorial Commission, so that
1t can erect a memorial to mark the
site of the great mobilization camp
of the Civil war on the plot pur-
chased last year with the funds pro-
vided by the General Assembly of
1917. The bill to make the appro-
priation for the construction will be
introduced soon and will cover a
sum which will be in keeping with
the importance of the project to the
state. There are few camps better
known in the Civil war history of
the Keystone state than Camp Cur
tin and veterans in every county
want the place designated for all
time. There is a sentiment among
officials that this memorial would be
, a good one to construct in accord
with Governor Sprouts expression
that the time has come when mail
order" monuments and foundry re-
. plicas should be forgotten and works
of artistic value be put up for fu-
ture generations.
: Not the least of the problems at
tending administration of the Work
mems Compensation Act in Penn
: sylvania pending the completion of
the work of the peace conference
: is the status of claimants residing
: in the nations into which the Aus
trian empire has split and what to do
about claimants who may be in Po-
land or in what used to be the Rus
: sian empire. When the war broke out
all claims for compensation of sub
] jects of the Austrian empire for
deaths of relatives in PENNSYLVANIA
. industries were taken charge of by
! A. Mitchell Palmer, custodian of
alien property. The claims of de-
pendents living in Italy and other
allied or neutral countries were
handled as usual, but dependents
living in Austria were enemy aliens
and their claims were held up pend
ing the close of the war. Now comes
the question of what to do about
such as may be living in the north
ern or southern Slav states which
this government has virtually recog-
nized or in the section which has
Joined Rumania. The German, Aus
!, trian and Hungarian claimants are
enemy aliens, but the question here
is whether the others are enemies
or not. The chaos in Poland and in
parts of Russia will lead to claims
by residents of those clouded Sec
tions being held up. while such as
live in Bessairabia, which has Joined
: Rumania, may get through more
! promptly. There are scores of claims
which will have to be held up be-
, cause of the Russian situation and
! some of them may not be settled
:, until after those of dependents liv-
: ing in the Slav states of the former
E Hapsburg empire are adjudicated.
$ The proof of relationship and iden-
tity of claimants will be additional
4 problems to handle.
t From all accounts the wheat on
e the farms of Dauphin, Cumberland,
= Perry and York counties, which for
S weeks past has been observable In
s numerous patches of green from the
{ windows of the State Capitol, is in
= prime condition and should GO
] through the winter very we'll. Rep
a resentative farmers say that the
;. acreage devoted to wheat in this
( { section shows material increase
e over any previous season, the esti-
mates made about January 1, hav-
ing had to be advanced as a result
of late reports. The mild weather
which prevailed clear up to New
Years Day enabled the wheat to
get an excellent start, almost toe
much in opinion of some farmers
in the Cubmerland Valley, and wher
the snow came it found the stalks
= strong. The snow covering came just
: at the right time to protect the
grain from the wintry blasts. There
I is no reason, say men who know the
n ogricultural situation why the coun-