Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-27
Enormous Expenditures Of American
Pleasure Seekers.
MANY MILLIONS SPENT ANNUALLY
Thousands Of Hotels and Vast
Army Of Employees.
LARGEST SINGLE RESORT

stood aghast at the idea of leaving his
business for two or three weeks in the sum-
mer season. Consequently he never thought
of Offering such a rest to his employees.
But the summer vacation habit gradually
fastened itself upon us and has grown
stronger every year until it may be said
to be a characteristic American habit.
In almost all business offices it has be-
come customary for everybody, from the
head of the firm to the boy who carries the
mail. TO take vacation of from one to four
weeks. Professional men were among the
first to take up the vacation idea, and
many factories have adopted the plan of
shutting down for a week or two in the
middle of summer in order to give all their
employees an opportunity for summer
outing.
All this has resulted in the building I'D
of an immense business-that of catering
to the needs Of summer vacatonists. How
extensive this business is it is impossible
TO realize until one begins to investigate.
In point Of capital invested persons en-
ployed or patrons served it ranks far ahead
Of many of the industries to which we refer
with pride In speaking of the greatness of
our country.
Into the Millions.
1t is impossible to say exactly how many
persons take summer vacations. The term
may be made to include outings of day
or two, in which almost everybody in the
country INDUCES; but setting as a limit
a trip that occupies week or more of
time, it is found that the number of sum-
mer vacations is surprisingly large. The
most accurate estimates place the number
between 10000 and 10.O00.00O.
The immensely of these figures appears
on little reflection. They are greater
than the entire population of any one of
half dozen among the smaller European
nations They mean that one person IN
every ten the country over takes some kind
or summer outing.
II all this number stood hand in hand
they would form line reaching around the
entire boundary of the United States It
would take $4,000 ordinary passenger coach
es to hold them. line of the largest
ocean steamers reaching two-thirds across
the Atlantic ocean. If the whole throng
was gathered in one place it would form a
standing room only crowd large enough
to cover all available space on the Island
of Manhattan.
Where Do They Cor
The question that naturally suggests itself
is: Where do these 5000, 900 go?'' The an
swer is found in the line of summer hotels
stretching along our coasts and dotting the
lake and mountain districts. In the great
gatherings like the Chautauqua assemblies
| in numerous rail and water excursion lines
and the immense resorts of one kind and
another. OF which every state has its quota
The people of the eastern states have the
Jersey, Long Island and New England
coasts, the White mountains the ACiirou-
dacks and the Maine woods for their sum
| mer playground Those of the middle sec
ton find recreation among the Wisconsin
ana Minnesota lakes Further west are the
Rocky mountain resorts, and the Pacific
states have their special attractions in
Alaska and their own coast line. Then
there are the great religious and educa-
al m h1lG. oil 10
there are always trips to Europe for those
who can afford them. These various out
lets enable 100000 persons to take their
vacation without much disturbance or
crowding anywhere.
There are between 10000 and 5000 sum-
mer hotels in the country. They furnish
employment for $4,000 people. $1,000 more
than are employed as clerks In all the
stores of the country. twice as many as are
employed as bookkeepers, three times as
many as there are physicians or lawyers
and nearly ten times the number in the
standing army Of the United States
New York leads all the other states in
the number of these hotels. containing
something like 1000 of them within IT'S
borders New Jersey is good second,
while Maine, New Hampshire and Catifor-
MIA have 1880 or more each.
Largest Single Resort
The largest single resort is Atlantic City.
N j. The ordinary population is about
1900. Its summer population varies from
10000 to 100000 Saratoga is, or at least ii
was until recently, the second on the list
Asbury Park and Bar Harbor are among
the largest.
In Atlantic City alone there are over
800 places of public entertainment Esti-
mating these hotels to contain twenty-five
rooms each, which is a modest average We
have accommodations for between ~ uJ0
and $1,000 guests. If the hotels are filed
to two-thirds of their capacity and one
quarter of the guests arrive and depart
each day this one summer resort can en-
terrain three-quarters of a million peopIe
every season.
The employees who are engaged directly in
looking after the wants of the visitors to
this great summer city probably number
15,to Cooks, walters and porters to the
number of one-third the army of the
United States are kept busy in attending
to the wants of visitors to this great
summering place. Not less than $1,000
40, the indemnity paid to Spain for the
loss OF her possessions. is expended here
annually for vacation enjoyment
The same state of affairs, a slightly
smaller scale. prevails in many other parts
of the country during the summer season.
In the Adirondacks there are more than
1000 hotels, large and small. There are
an equal number on the Long Island coast
The Catskills the White mountains and
the Wisconsin lakes show half as many
There are 800 in Asbury Park Computing
these hotels to contain average of
thirds of their capacity during the summer
the hotel bill of Americans ON their vaca-
lions must amount to at least 81, 500, 900 per
day during the hot season.
In addition to the hotels there are thous-
ands of village and farm houses where
summer boarders are lodged and fed In
some parts of the country nearly every
family takes summer boarders, and there
are probably many wha find entertain
ment in this way as visit the hotels The
great American summer board bill cannot
fall short of 100000 per week
All over the mountain and lake districts
are located camps where summer vaca-
tienists pitch their tents and live in more
or less primitive fashion. The number of
those who spend their outings In this
fashion grows larger every year. 1t is con-
siderably above the million mark now
Their expenditures for camp outfits, pro-
visions and guides must aggregate sos
go, 600
Ten ThOasand Yachts
Others who like the freedom of independ-
ent vacation trips, but who do not care for
the piney woods. turn to yachting as
means of recreation. A coasting trip on a
small sailboat affords an inexpensive and