Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-21
A REAL CAPITAL CITY

Capital City of Pennsylvania
in fact as well as in name
In his speech before the Chamber
of Commerce and the members OF
the LEGISLATURE at the Penn-Harris
Tuesday evening he said he means
to concentrate in Harrisburg all or
the State offices now scattered broad
cast throughout the Commonwealth.
His suggestion should, and no doubt
does. extend to the Supreme Court
of Pennsylvania, which tribunal OIL
last resort should sit permanently
in Harrisburg. Chief Justice Brown
and the other members of the court
have expressed themselves as favor
able to a change from the present
peripatetic character of this august
body to regular sittings here in the
spacious and well-equipped quarters
provided. The old objection of no
adequate hotel accommodations no
longer stands.
The people of the State have a
right to expect their officials to have
their headquarters in the capitol and
the Governor again has sensed public
opinion in his determination to con-
centrate the scattered State offices
here where they belong.
But as Mr.. Sproul said, the re-
sponsibility of providing the new
comers with suitable houses rests not
with the State, but with the city. He
places our housing problem in a new
light, or, rather, he casts new light
upon it. Most people have long
since realized that there are few if
any good houses at cheap rentals
to be had here and that many of our
smaller houses are run down and not
fit for human habitation. But it
required the Governors address to
bring us to a clear understanding of
the serious lack of houses of the
more expensive sort. lt ~, >. d.. --
Now that we realize the extent of
the need, we must undertake to rem
edy it. We cannot afford, from any
point of view, to let this chance for
a very material and desirable in
crease in population slip away. We
must prepare to take the Governor
at his word. He will bring the peo-
pie to our doors and we must find
homes for them; MUST is the word
Just how this shall be done is a
question not only for those who are
interested in solving the house short
age, but for the public minded finan-
ciers as well. The. public will be
deeply grateful to the man who Of
fers a businesslike solution to this
problem.
OF course, any additional housing
of the right kind will have a bene-
fetal bearing on the whole situation.
There is much good sense in the
proposal of the Housing Committee
of the Chamber of Commerce to go
to Philadelphia for an inspection of
the great developments there. The
committee should take with them a
number of the practical builders and
contractors of the city as their guests
in order that they may have the
benefit of the best that Philadelphia
builders recently have incorporated
in their operations. Every scrap of
information that we can gather;
every bit of knowledge we can ac-
cumulate as to what has been done
elsewhere to meet similar conditions
we ought to have. Our problem
here has developed into one that can
not wait. The Governors decision
to bring more people to Harrisburg
gives the situation a new and some
what unexpected angle, demanding
that quick and perhaps unusual
methods be devised TO meet it.