Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-10-25
REPORT ON BATHING BEACH
COMMITTEE IN CHARGE SUBMITS AN
NUAL STATEMENT.
Exhibit of Receipts and Expenditures
Recon N dations Made-Condi-
lions Mt the Pool.

| tor of buildings: William Tindall. secretary
| to the board of District Commissioners. and
W. ]. Douglass, assistant engineer In the
sewer department, the committee appointed
| by the Commissioners to manage the Dis
| trct bathing beach. today submitted a re-
| port covering it's operations during the
| bathing of 1900.
The beach was opened to bathers on the
3Oth day Of May and closed the 18th
of September, the superintendent of the
beach reporting that the number of bathers
during the season was 51,575. The receipts
and expend;e ures from November 1, 1899,
to Septembe, 80 1909, both dates included,
were foil
Appropriation of June 9. 1900, "for the
| care, improvement and repair of the public
bathing beach in the Potomac river, in the
District of Columbia, $500 of which shall be
Immediately available $1,000; balance of
receipts from rental of bathing suits and
other charges, 1889 account. $500. 70; receipts
from rental of bathing suits, etc, 1900 &C
count, $S54O2; total, S. 154.S1.
The Expenses.
observation-disclosures Of officers
and employees, s1,972.26: for labor, s35O.34;
for improvements supplies, etc, s506. rs:
lapsed balance of appropriation for 1899,
s2.05. total of s. S31.40. leaving a balance
available October l, 1900, of s323.41.
AS this balance will not be sufficient to
provide for the compensation of the en-
ployes of the beach which will accrue be-
fore further revenues Of the beach become
available, the committee recommends that
a proviso be inserted in the appropriation
law which will make $500 of the amount
appropriated Immediately available, as was
done in the appropriation for the bathing
beach for the fiscal year beginning June 80.
1900.
Although the appropriation for the beach
during the past season was not suff1cient
to enable the authorities to put the beach in
the condition desired, enough was done,
states the committee, in addition to the ex-
penditure heretofore made on the beach. to
secure very great Improvement with re-
gard to the safety and comfort of the bath
ers. Three hundred and eighty-nine and
one-half cubic yards of sand were depos
tied on the bottom, and to make more grad
ual slopes at the northern and southern
termini. A very uniform surface on the
bottom was obtained from the shore line
out to a depth of about six feet at low tide.
The grade of the slopes from the two ter
mini should, the committee believes, be still
further lessened. Sufficient provision should
also be made for the removal of the sea
weeds and grass. which have been I'M
usually luxurant during the present season,
and on some portions of the beach not only
caused great inconvenience to bathers dur
ing the recent bathing season, but will be a
source of danger by impeding their move
ments if permitted to grow unhindered next
summer.
Want Houses Rcmodeled.
The committee states that while the bath
houses and appurtenances will on their
present plan, with liberal repairs, suffice,
they are almost uninhabitable very hot
days because of deficient ventilation. The
committee therefore recommends that they
be so remodeled as to permit air current
to traverse the rows longitudinally over the
partitions between the bath rooms which
might be done by raising the present roofs
or by removing them and placing single
roof over them all.
The statement of the superintendent as to
the number (thirty-nine) of rescues of bath
ers by the life guard during the past sea-
son is a further vindication, the committee
believes, of its judgment that open floats
attached to the shore, where they might be
readily reached by unskilled swimmers
persons unable to swim, are sources of ex-
ceptional danger.
The following recommendation made by
the committee is renewed:
'One or more floating bath houses sub
startiaily similar to those used in many
other cities should be provided for at
the beach and at other places on the river
front convenient to the more thickly set
tied parts of the District. = In Boston,
where baths of this kind have been in use
for many years, no casualties or serious ac-
cidents have occurred in them
Such floating bath houses, the committee
states. could be provided for about $1,000
each, and it suggests the location of one at
a point most accessible to the people OF
West Washington. and another for those
residing in East Washington.
Swimming in Cold Seasons.
The committee regrets that it Is not pre-
pared to discuss the question Of municipal
facilities for indoor swimming during the
cold seasons. AS swimming is apparently
more a form of personal diversion than
public sanitary necessity the committee
would like to have more information to
the use of municipal swimming tanks IN
~. her hpfore
mendation for their adoption here, but
hesitatingly concurs with the health officer
that municipal tub and shower bath ac-
commodations should be provided for the
comfort and health of many who now are
without convenient access to them, espe-
cially during the inclement seasons.
There was a falling off in the attendance
as compared with the three Immediately
preceding seasons. The committee believes
this was apparently due partly to the cold
weather in the early part of the season and
later to the unfortunate drowning Of two of
the bathers, which led many who We're
aware Of the circumstances under which the
casualties occurred to regard them as
chargeab bic to some defect in the character
of the beach or in its method of manage
ment.
The thanks Of the committee are extended
to the gentlemen who took charge of the
swimming events on the 18th ultimO whose
report is herewith transmitted, with the
statement that money received by them
for the purchase of prizes was properly eX-
|
service was rendered, the committee says
in the most efficient and acceptable manner
under embarrassing circumstances arising
from lack of funds to make adequate prepa-
ratons and from the stormy weather on the
day the contest occurred.
Agrees With Committee Races.
The committee comedies with that on races
| in the latter's recommendation that all
| future contests at the bathing beach be
confined to amateurs and that no entrance
| fee to such contests be required of anna teur
swimmers, and that the District provide
| out of the revenues of the beach sufficient
| funds to purchase prizes for events for
which prizes shall not have been donated
| by private parties.
| 1T is a matter of surprise" says the
| committee. that much larger number of
| persons have not taken advantage of the
excellent facilities the beach affords for
! summer bathing and natatorial diversion.
| With the exception of a very few days,
| when it is turbid consequence of vio-
| lent summer storms up the river, the water
! is clear. and as shown by frequent analyti-
! cal tests. practically free from objection on
| sanitary grounds. This beach affords the
! people of Washington unsurpassed OPP
/