Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-09-18
REV. SAMUEL WARD
VISITS NORTH JERSEY
A Comparison Of Five Mile
Beach with Some Northern
New Jersey SeashOre
Resorts.

OF the eeash0re resorts IN Inc nortnern
part Of the State, and the comparisons
he makes here are not for the purpose
OF taking away or diminishing ought
from the credit which is justly due to
those who have made Sea Girt. Spring
Lake, Ocean Grove, Asbury Park,
Deal Beach, Elberon. and Long
Branch but because a just comparison
cannot fail to be Of interest to all resi-
dents Of our allied resorts. 1t always
helps those who are engaged in any
line of business to know what people
in other places, who are engaged In
the same line of business, are doing,
even though some Of the conditions
under which they labor may not be
exactly the same. Therefore, with the
idea Of showing to our residents their
relative position in the building up OF
seashore places, l wish to make two or
three brief comparisons.
And first, the train service. Ever
since / have known Five Mile Beach
there has been q great deal Of criticism
INDUCED in against the sort OF train
service which we have to endure.
Much Of this criticism has been just,
some unjust !; . great deal Of 1t has
been true, some of 1t has been false.
1t Is often said by those who do not
know that our train service is the poor
est along the coast. l do not myself
think that 1t Is ideal Il certainly did not
think so on one occasion last winter
when it took me t~wenty-six hours to
get here from Philadelphia, but that
was In y heavy snow stormy but that
generally speaking there is plenty OF
room for improvement. Now, and
the point / want to make Is this, our
train service Is as good as that to
Asbury Park and the neighboring
resorts, II not q little better. For ex-
ample the best train n can get from
Broad street Station to Asbury Park,
ut this time OF the year takes two hours
and twenty-five minutes to make the
trip, while we have one from the came
station land the distance is about equal)
which makes the trip In two hours and
twelve minutes. It'll becomes any Of
us to criticise unjustly either q railroad
corporation or an Individual; and gen.
orally such criticism accompanies moth
ing, except q bad taste that 1t leaves IN
our own mouths. Moreover, 1t is foolish
to say Of the great Pennsylvania Rail-
road System that 1t Is favoring this or
that place to the detriment o fanother. |
d0-Ae&- -fRAsenses
Even to hint such a thing is tanta-
mount to saying that the railroad Is
not In the business for the purpose of
carrying passengers but for the pur-
pose of building up this or that favored
city. In our conflict with the Railroad
Company we must show them that we
are Justly entitled to more; that the
traffic demands it; that 1t will be q
winning bargain for them; and then,
and moi till then, they will be glad to
put on extra and faster trains. | have
said this much about the train service
because 1t is q point of comparison aud
as n Of our great commonly regarded
problems.
Once in q seashore place one gene
rally make sfor the beach as fast as he
can. This then will be the next point
of comparison. But here 1 find my
self at a loss to know what to say.
There is no comparison between the
beach here aud that from Sea Girt to
Long Branch, for the reaso that here
we have a long, wide, gently sloping,
smooth, hard, perfectly safe beach at
all times; while there what little beach
they have there Is none hardly is mar
row, soft because of the coarse sand,
rough and dangerous. Bathing there
is safe only within the ropes. Here
the reckless and bravados can walk out
into 1.-THE ocean almost an unlimited
distance and feel that no harm a
come to them. There the undertow is
an wei present peril, here it is seldom
known. We should have a great pride
in our bathing beach and do u mos
to let its unexcelled qualities be
widely known.
1t seems to me q foregone conclusion
that all who enjoy sea bathing will
sooner or later, depending on our
energy, find their way to the southern
coast of New Jersey.
After the bath, and in the afternoon
and evening n goes to the boardwalk
for the amusements. Here again, /
find little in the northern resorts which
can be favorably compared with what
we have to offer to the physically and
mentally tired who come to such
places seeking health aud rest. AS
bury Pa rk claims to have 1.-THE Wild