The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-18
MOVING ARMY OF
PLEASURE SEEKERS
How the Transportation Com
panies Handle Crowds
SOME SCENES IN NEW YORK
When the Vacation Throngs Return.
Vanguard of Recreation Hosts Now
Headed for the Surf-Bcaten
Shores ct Florida

New York. November 17.-(Specia..\ One
OF the greatest of the victories of peace
appears in the smooth and easy move
ment of the mighty armies of American
pleasure seekers. Only the other day
there was great excitement i'm Washing
ton when President Roosevelt telegraphed
the war department; arrange for 5000
troops to start for Cuba as soon as pos
sible.' Instantly the quiet gray build
ing on Pennsylvania avenue occupied by
the war department sprang into an up
roar of activity. Orderlies were sent sour
rying hither ana yon, a host of messages
set telephone and telegraph wires hum
ming from one end of the country to
the other, railroad and steamship sched-
ules were reclSlessly smashed, and easy
going department officials started in to
work overtime. all in the attempt to mob
ilize 6000 troops at the three separate ports
of New York. Newport News and Tampa,
under the concentrated attention of the
entire country. which was expected duti-
fully and periodically to marvel at the
wonderful exhibition o. what perfect or
ganzation can accomplish.
And yet to the transportation companies
affected the whole affair was of little
more Importance in their daily routine,
though a great deal more troublesome,
than a Sunday school convention of a po-
litical gathering.
For Transports ton companies are ac-
customed to handle much larger rmies
than this-the armies of peace and pleas
ure In the spring there is an army, many
times 5000 in number which moves peace
fIll nd 1,o- ,fo,f-
from every part o: the county on its
way to Europe. T. the autumn the same
army Yeturns and is distributed again to
the four co sners of the land. In the early
summer. wher pavements grow hot and
cities sitting, there is the exodus to the
shore and noun aims.
When the Crowds Move.
So that it seems strange to raise such
A hula baloo over the mobilzng of q
mere COCO soldiers when one remembers
the peaceful armies which are continually
campaigning through the country. Any
one who has witnessed the scene of hustle
and confusion as the returning advance
guard of the host of pleasure-seekers
come streaming into the Grand Central
station in New York on the first Tuesday
in September, armed with golf clubs,
tennis racquets and fishing tackle, with
baggage trucks on every hand piled high
With the lnpeulInenlS OF lfaNel, gets some
faint idea of the proportions TO which this
movement attains
More practice, perhaps. would facilitate
handling The soldiers Of Uncle Sans
army The armies Of peace, at all events
mobilize rapidly and yet successfully
They are always at it. Even now these
armies are gathering again, this tine for
the annual advance upon the winter re-
sorts of the south. The van guard is
ready to make its annual capture of the
baths at Virginia Hot springs and to
find recreation in the mountains of west
ern Virginia and the Carolinas. In u
few weeks .hese and other hosts from
every part of the land will begin to move
on to that marvellous stretch of surf
beaten sands which marks with an I'M
broken line of foam tn eastern coast line
of Florida from the mouth of the ST.
Johns, at the northeastern corner Of the
state through nearly five degrees of lati-
tude to Miami-an entire state given over
to great winter playground. forming the
nearest American approach to the famous
Riviera.
An army of 100000 tourists visit Florida
each winter--an army five time as large
as that which wears the uniform of Uncle
San and approximately as large as that
which goes to Europe In the course of a
year. Yet there is no undue excitement
over the coming Of such a host. Practice
has prepared the way for its every step.
For its transportation a fleet of ocean
going steamers ply regularly from the
northern coast cities throughout the sea-
SON. From New York and Chicago and
other cities OF the north and west. par
Tor car trains dash southwark conveying
this pleasure-seeking army in its pursuit
of summer.