The Washington herald., 1907-06-23
Vacation Habit Has GrOwn Faster Than PopuIa-
ton-NiIhOnS of Dollars Spent in Recre-
alton Travel Every Summer.


country make a vastly larger throng. At
the lowest expert estimate they number
10 per cent of the whole: at the highest.
10 per cent or more. If the 10 per cent be
accepted, about O. 100000 Of us will be in
cluded; more than thirty-one times as
many rs the foreign tourists If the
higher figures be accepted. the total num-
Der OF Uncle Sans sons and daughters
who take their vacations without leaving
his big farm is about a hundred thousand
in excess Of 1400.000 or forty to every
one of the foreign travellers.
If only 10000 home holiday takers
were each TO spend $50 on his vacation
the gross expenditures would be $40 000.-
00 more than half OF the S92j. .O00OO0 ma
t!onal debt If the larger Of the two esti-
mates be accepted. the total amount Of
cash put into circulation In their own
! land by American holiday makers allow
I ing so for each is not less than sos 000-
te nearly three-quarters Of a billion Il
would wipe out Rockefeller's entire for
! tune Of half a billion and leave deficit
/ of nearly half as much again for him to
/ borrow from his friends were his philan-
/ thropic impulses 10 take the form of
/ financing the outings Of the regulars for
/ just one year
Affects Business Conditions.
The Increase Of Io0 per cent I'm tbe vear-
/ ly vacation travel and expenditures can
not have been brought about IN ten years
without increasing profoundly the busi-
ness Of the entire country. But the heavy
growth Of the vacation habit reaches far-I
ther back than ten years. In twentvi
years 1t must have amounted TO more
than 200 per cent, as against a growth in
population Of only a little more than lI
per cent, the population in 1857 being es-
timated at a little less than so00oo00
The real beginning Of the great Ameri-I
can summer Play-spell dates back fortv-l
one years. BY all odds its biggest inn
pulse was furnished By the Centennial
Exhibition of 1876. which started many
thousands on the first big trip Of their
lives. There was a setback in the lean
mid" years. but il was wiped out and |
forgotten long ago
An Army Of Holiday HelDrr-,
The army Of holiday helpers In this /
country is larger beyond question than
any army Of soldiers ever mustered IN on
this continent This army includes many
more than the hotel employees at theI
thousands Of vacation resorts. the guides .
IN the shooting and fishing regions. and |
the employees who operate the summer
roads and boats
It takes the thousands who spend their 1
tilne the year round I'm the production ~ 4
vacation supplies, the thousands If extra 1
'falnmen and conductors on the regular
unaS. telegraph operators. and no end of
oihefS who devote only a part Of their
llHe % vacation work There must be at
least as many Of all these classes rs Of /
the vacation takers themselves
As for those who devote practically all (
or nearly all their time I'm the vacation
season 70 vacation work, getting their
own rest. If they get any at all. fin some
otHer season ~ the year there must he
quite a million 0f them at least. Estimates
Of their number can he only rlIessas cf
course. but no one thinks million foo
nigh, while some believe IL altogether too
low At }ao average earnings for tho
sixteen or eighteen weeks afnr1ovroart
IN the vacation season. their wages
amount TO f29N1o0o0 at least of the vast
total NJ cash the vacation season rut.
into circulation
Two Weeks Average stay.
II would take a good many more than a
full million employees Of aIl sorts T, care
for a 10 per cent vacation army Of HIM
900 were they all 70 go holiday making a+
once, or remain ut play the entire four
months. but they don't Two weeks is
about the average holiday duration. eoroa
take their pIay-speH early IN the season
and others late. the same set Of vacation
employees caring for both early and late
racationers. while thousands require the
help Of no one at all during the outing
season.
New York is the greatest vacation place
IN the world, not only because SO MANY
thousands Of its people take vacations
but also because it is a sort of clearing
house for vaCariCners from many sections (
or the country, and. likewise. because
thousands OF outsiders spend a part or the
whole Of the outing season yearly within
its boundaries.
thus, large part Of those New Eng
-a0deTs who go West for their holiday fun
must pass through the metropolis. 4 cor
iespondlngly large part OF the Westerrers
who go down East" must do the same :
ihing. and so must an even larger part Of
,he Southerners who take their HOLIDAYS
North. Furthermore. according 10 tho S
steamship experts 81 in every 100 Of all g
.he American travellers 10 Europe sail ;
rom the metropolis and spend from q
part or day 20 week CT 50 I'm the CITY ,
't the Hudson's mouth. either COMING. or
going. 1t would not be an overestin,ato Z
to say that 10000 vacation folk ara prob f
ably in New York nearly every day Of &
he outing season If
Vacation Outings at Little Cost.
Whole classes Of New Workers as well t
rs dwellers in many other big cities may d
be selected Of whom practically 100 Der h
,ent take yearly outings Of some sort
These are the staffs and employees OF big T.
banking houses. publishing firms. mcrcan- d
lie establishments. and concerns in a G
iozen or two different lines Of business. 6
Who are entitled to the standard two
weeks outing. with pay. every year. Not {
III Of these tens Of thousands spend the il
average of $50 on vacation: in fact many Y
# them manage 10 incur hardly any h
xtra expense whatever. You may find D
hese thousands from New York encamp- q
d to-day on the nearby Long Island g.
hores. on the Jersey shores Of New
FORK Bay. and the two Shrewsbury
Rivers. at the foot Of the Palisades. up
ne Hudso, and elsewhere. d
These campers are among those whose a
utlngs give no employment whatever to y
acation help" The men do the rough Y
york about the tents and the women do b
he cooking. While they do not entirely ],
'et away from business longer than the -
tandard fortnight's time. many Of them u
I've In their tents the whole season n
through at little more cost than if they p
emained in their stuffy city flats all the
line. 1t Is not hard TO rent ground on n
Which TO pitch a tent for a merely nomi- a
al sum, the cost Of the tent. distributed
yer its five or six years Of life. is merely Il
trifle, and it is as easy for the bread s.
'inners to get from the camp to the a
hop or Office as from the intovn Aat n