Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-21

Ehfntng Gf1at


big contracting business say there
Is not going to be any doubt about
fi,ennsylvania's great road construc-
.loh program getting some of the
largest, most reSourceful and exk
perlenced highway building firms to-
pld on the contracts which will be
Kept TO make the Keystone State
system the best in the land. The
appearance here yesterday of some
oI o. the top notch highway building
Iirms and men who have handled
large railroad contracts is taken to
mean that they intend to pay at
tentlon to the Pennsylvania pro-
gram For time there were some
inlsSlNlngs on the subject, but they
nave disappeared. The men who
came here yesterday settled that.
me great trouble with much of the
road construction work in the past
IN TINS State was that firms tackled
J0ps which were too big for them.
mere We're a number of instances
wherein the State had to take over
JOBS when the contractors gave them
up and delay and loss occurred, one
OF the most notable instances being
was lnconVenienced for n long time
last year. 1t is predicted that when
the extensive road building gets
talrly started that there will be con-
Germs working in this State which
nave national regulations and that
the work will be of the very highest
character.
The Philadelphia Inquirer prints
some interesting things about the
| project to make the Susuuehanna
naVlSable in Congress saying Con-
gfessman j. Hampton Moore, one of
! tne great inland waterway authori-
ties is backing it up. The Inquirer
says: Representatives Aaron S.
krelder, of the Dauphin-Lebanon
cumberland district, and w. w.
Grlest, of Lancaster county, were
manly responsible for the passage
OF the appropriation providing for
TINS survey and since the bill was
signed by the President they have
with Mr.. Moore been busy with the
department in Washington to speed
! up the work Brigadier General
Harvey Taylor chief of the Bureau
OF Engineers of the War Depart
ment, has assigned Colonel J. P.
Garvey to direct the survey and it is
expected that he will begin imm edi-
ately upon the undertaking. There
mas been keen interest in this pro-
Ject since. Major William d. Gray
opened up the possibilities of the
the Rotary Club of Harrisburg and
there has been no more enthusiastic
| champion of the movement than Eli
\. Hershey. president of the Harris
l'burg Rotary Club, and chairman of
the Deeper Susquehanna Committee,
representing every community in the
Susquehanna Valley. The splendid
improvements made on Ha"risburg's S
river front present an object lesson
for serious consideration"
The Inquirer goes on to say
| There has been a wonderful devel-
opment of the Susquehanna Valley
since back in William Fisher Pack
er's time. when that energetic and
resourceful legislator, who after
wards became chief executive of the
Comm onwealth, made successful
fight against great odds to break
down traditions and inaugurate a
new regime in Pennsylvania. 1t
had been the policy of the State
leaders to discourage the building of
roads leading across the lines of its
improvem and directly to cities
of the other States. Packer was
then a member of the State Senate
from the district at that time COM
posed of Lycoming, Clinton, Centre
and Sullivan counties. He was cleo
ted by large majority over Andrew
Gregg Curtin, who, by-the-way, sue
ceeded him in the executives chair
in 1861. Before Packers elections
to the Senate, no railroads had been
authorized along the Susquehanna
Valley by which a close north and
south connection could be made be-
tween Washington and Baltimore
and the Great Lakes. Travel was
r 4 l. Il 4
by nature for a great public high
chains, or by circuitous routes
through other cities. In the session
of 1851. Senator Packer introduced
a bill which opened up this whole
subject. 1t called for the incor-
poration of the SuSquehanna rail-
road, with authority to construct a
road connecting with the York and
Cumberland road at Bridgeport, op-
posite Harrisburg, or with the Penn
sylvania railroad, on either side OF
the Susquehanna, or on the Juniata
and with the right to connect with
both or either of these roads and
running through Halifax and Mil
lersburg, in Dauphin county to Sun
bury.
Ex-Governor John X. Tener, who
was here yesterday in connection
with the State highway contracts
and who called on Governor Sproul
spent yesterday afternoon playing
golf on the new links of the Country
Club of Harrisburg. The former
Governor showed that he was in
good form and that he could drive
as long and as hard as ever. He was
warmly greeted by many friends
while here.