, 1888-10-16
SPENT FOR PLEASURE.
AN ARMY AT SEASIDE RESORTS AND
PICNIC GROUNDS.

which show That the American Tries
Very Hard to Enjoy himself.
mere glance from the vantage ground
which the Brooklyn bridge affords Is sufR-
cient to acquaint N with the vast num-
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 bound
desire; which have during the warm
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 yeri-
tably the home Of all manner of vessel
which may be found along the coast.
And they all come here or are at least
represented. There is such a 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 IN 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 exc1u-
sively for pleasure are rear after year
being more surely absorbed by three or
four big companies, and by them the
rates are SO fixed that pleasure seekers
DESTROYS Of chartering a steamer or q
barge and a tugboat have no appeal.
There are now in the neighborhood Of 140
three decked barges In the harbor that
Will accommodate 1000 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 mornings
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
all sorts of amusement. Therefore there
are in the neighborhood Of 140, 900 per-
SONS daily aloat 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, 600
pleasure seekers spend to find the prize
they are after a few figures will be inter
Getting. Meteorologists place one-third of
the o months Of warm weather as
among rainy or cloudy days. OF course,
when the sun does not shine prettily and
there is prospect of q 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 nay be regarded as
fitted for excursions. The revenue of q
single day is something Like this: Rent
for 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 q day, but as there are only about
sixty pleasure grounds within reach from
this city, and as the majority of excur-
ufo1o r,co 4rrN ho--oc g. .-l..1 ~
charge Is $125, this total viii be mate
rally decreased. A fair estimate, there
fore, Of the receipts Of barge and tug
owners and lessees Of picnic grounds
would be $17, 900. The receipts of the
committees which prepare for the excur-
sions are much greater than this. Al
lowing a liberal reduction, at least 100, 900
persons are on the waters of the bay and
rivers ninety days out of the summer
allotment of 100. It is a decidedly poor
excursion where the ticket costs no more
than twenty-five cents. The average is
about thirty-ive cents. For liquors,
luncheons, use of swings, and the like at
the picnic grounds, few persons among
the excursionists spend less than fifty
cents, so here is a grand total of the in
com of the days excursion of $S5, 900,
which, added to the 81, 900 paid to the
owners, gives a result of $102, 900 which
New York's picnickers expend for q DAYS
outing, 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, 100, 600,
The fact, then, that excursion agents and
the like lead an idle and luxurious life
during the winter months is not necessa-
rily extraordinary.
But the army Of persons carried by the
excursion bargesi is nothing in numbers to
the myriads who use the regular routes of
steamers to get to the seaside. The sea-
son at Coney Island extends over fifteen
weeks. The average number of persons
who visit the island daily during the sea-
son is 81, 200, according to the statement
of one of the oldest hotel keepers along
the beach. The average price Of an ex-
cursion ticket is forty-five cents, thus
giving a 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-ive cents per
capita is worthy of the distinction of
being the wonder and enigma of his age.
At this low average the receipts of the
landlords and thousand and one penny
grabbers of the beach would be about
$4,000. This gives a grand total of $685.
900 a day, or So, 900, 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 q dozen,
but the principal of these are Rockaway
and the beautiful Glen Island. The daily
average of the former is about 10, 900;
that of the latter 5000. The other re-
sorts have in the neighborhood of 5000
persons visit them daily. At a per capita
expenditure of $1.20 apportfoned to Coney
Island, this would give a total expenditure
by h public to get at these places of
mates which are given by TRANSPORTATION
agents, los, 900 persons daily leave the
shores of New York in search of cool
breezes and find them at a cost of $187,-
600 a day, or $10, OBS, 900 for the season.
And yet the libel has gone the rounds OF
the world that Americans take no holt
days, but wear themselves out with con-
tinuous work.