Wichita eagle., 1888-10-06
SPENT FOR PLEASURE.
AN ARMY AT SEASIDE RESORTS AND
PICNIC GROUNDS.
What New Yorkers Pay for Recreation
During the Summer Seascn-Fisures
Which Show That the American Tries
Very Hard to Enjoy Himself

SufInS tle summer Ses.SCn-rls5tirc
Which Show That the American Trie
Very Hard to Enjoy Himself.
y mere glance from the vantage groune
which the Brooklyn bridge affords is sufh
cient to acquaint one with the vast mum
Der of craft which ply the rivers and the
bay for pleasure purposes only, which
carry no freight save such things as the
| pleasure resorts to which they are bounc
desire; which have during the warn
months no other end than to chase the
cool breezes from one point of the com
pass to another, entirely for the benefit
of the million of New Workers who are
stay at homes The metropolis is veri
tably the home of ali manner of vessel
which may be found along the coast
| And they all come here OF are at least
| represented There is such demand by
| clubs and parties for small steamers and
| barges that they are impressed into serv-
| ice everywhere, and southerners and New
| Englanders may, while making a round
| Of the Battery any fine day, recognize
among the crowd of hurrying steamers
many that are as familiar to them at
home as the Union Ferry company's boats
are to Brooklyn people.
The craft that are used almost exclu-
sively for pleasure are year after year
| being more surely absorbed by three OF
four big companies, and by them the
rates are so fixed that pleasure seekers
desirous of chartering a steamer or a
barge and a tugboat have no appeal.
There are now in the neighborhOod Of LAG
three decked barges in the harbor that
will accommodate 1.200 persons each.
They are well built, and are as safe as
any vessel SO topheavy as they can be.
They are almost constantly engaged.
Day after day they leave their moorings
with crowds Of persons aboard and re-
sound with music and dancing and laugh
ter away into the night. They usually
carry about 1000 persons each, and with
this number there is plenty of room for
all sorts Of amusement. Therefore there
are in the neighborhood of 10000 per-
sons daily afoat on these three deckers
bound to almost all points along the
sound and the shores of the Hudson
river.
As an estimate of what these 140, 900
pleasure seekers spend to find the prize
they are after few figures will be inter
ecting. Metecrologists place one-third Of
the four months of warm weather as
among rainy or cloudy days. Of course,
when the sun does not shine prettily and
there is prospect Of a steady downpour
during the excursion the girls stay at
home and for obvious reasons the boys
do likewise Thus there are left about
ninety days that may be regarded as
fitted for excursions. The revenue of q
single day is something like this: Rent
fer barge and tug, $3.50; rent for picnic
ground, $50. These average charges
would make the receipts of the owners
OF the barges and parks amount to $685.
600 day, but as there are only about
sixty pleasure grounds within reach from
this city, and as the majority of excur-
sions use two barges, for which the usual
charge is S125, this total will be mate
rally decreased. A fair estimate, there
fore, Of the receipts Of barge and tug
owners and lessess of picnic grounds
would be $4,000. The receipts Of the
committees which prepare for the excur-
sions are much greater than this. al
lowing liberal reduction, at least 100, COG
persons are on the waters of the bay and
rivers ninety days out of the summer
allotment of 100. It is decidedly poor
excursion where the ticket costs no more
than twenty five cents. The average is
about thirty-fve cents. For liquors,
luncheons use OF swings, and the like at
the picnic grounds, few persons among
the exeursionists spend less than fifty
cents, so here is O grand total Of the in
come Of the days excursion Of $S5, 900,
which, added to the 81. 900 paid to the
owners, gives a result of S102, eco which
New York's picnickers expend for days
cutting. and which represents a seasons
total from the class OF persons who use
barges as means of getting from the city
to the pleasure grounds of SO, $50, 600.
The fact, then, that excursion agents and
the like lead an idle and luxurious GN
during the winter months is not necessE-
rly extraordinary.
But the army of persons carried BY the
excursion barges is nothing in numbers tc
the myriads who use the regular routes OF
steamers 20 get to the seaside. The sea-
son st Coney Island extends over fifteen
weeks. The average number of persons
who visit the island daily during the sea-
son is 81, 900, according 10 the statement
OF one of the Oldest hotel keepers along
the beach The average price Of an ex-
cursion ticket Is forty-fve cents, thus
giving daily total to the transportation
lines of $4,000 A person, no matter
how poor. who succeeds in going to the
island alone or in a party and contrives to
spend less than seventy five cents per
capita Is worthy CT the distinction Of
being the wonder and enigma Of MS age
Al this low average the receipts of the
landlords and thousand and one penny
grabbers of the beach would be about
S24, GO. This gives grand total Of SSS.-
co day, or S., 9ao, 900 for the season,
during ordinary weather. The warmer
the temperature is the higher the daily
average
The other resorts reached BY regular
lines Of steamers number about dozen,
bat the principal of these sre Rcckaway
and the beautiful Glen Island The daily
average CT the former is about 10000:
that OF the latter 500. The other ~
sorts have in the neighborhocd OF 500
persons visit them daily. Il per capita
expenditure Of slso apporsioned TO Coney
Island, this would give total expenditure
hy the pubic 10 get at these places of