The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-19
PLANNING A TOWN
 FOR OFFICE BOYS Wall Street Youngsters Master
 Low Finance GET AHEAD OF LANDLORDS Set An Example To Great oreaniza- tons-Many Camps Now Give
 New York Boys Chance
 For Vacation.


 For Vacation.
 New York, April 19.-The ingenuity of a group of New York Wall street office boys who succeeded, on a salary
 of $6 week in getting all the luxury of country home while working down town in New York, has set an example to some of the great social betterment organizations which promises to work
 radical improvement in the summer life of thousands of young men who labor in the crowded metropolis during 1 the summer. One of the places Is | nothing less than a new Office Boy Town. These office boys came to the conclusion that to return at night to
 stuffy hot tenement or apartment
 and to spend their vacation week in New York was not consistent with the dignity of an office boy or an income of six per. They got together over
 the frankfurters in Broad street, aad found that they had money enough among them to buy a secondhand army tent and few cooking utensils
 The next Saturday half holiday found them on the banks of the Hudson with in walking distance of the Fort Lee ferry, and by night, beneath the ma jestic Palisades, there was camp with tent up and a wood fire over which bacon and eggs were frying merrily.
 The evening was spent in rowing around the river. In the morning there was an early swim, camp breakfast, walk to the ferry and then a subway ride to business. A younger brother of one of the boys who was not working was left Tn charge of the camp during the day.
 To their joy the boys found that they could live in this way all summer for be- tween $2 and $2 50 per week for food, with $l.2O for car fare For this expenditure they got good food two daily swims, boating and fishing and the health which comes from open air sleeping. On Satur- day afternoons and Sundays the young sters had a glorious time and found that their vacation problem was settled with out having to think of expensive car fare to resort or high-priced board at a A solved the problem of dress for the day. The end of the summer saw a group of boys, tanned to a fine leather color, with a veritable grin of health showing be- 1 tween their freclxles. They had solved a problem in congestion of population. | The New York Y. M. c. A. was quick to l discover this out-of-doors tendency on l the part of little New Workers and to 1 meet it. But they also found that the oh
 needed a chance to get away from Goth | am's summer-t time monotony of hot | streets which offered few opportunities | for amusement which could be classed as | desirable or healthful. There were many | adults, clerks earning BIO or less, who | could not afford to get out of town. The | central committee, therefore, established
 a great mems camp at Lake Oscawana,
 where men can board for $7 a week during | their vacations. The city committee also | secured the schooner yacht Amazon, on | which members can go for week or two- | weeks cruise at cost.
 ] The state committee also established | Camp Dudley for boys, on the shores of | Lake Champlain where youngsters can | have a glorious time for $6 per week.
 There is also great resort at Silver | Bay, Lake George, where men and wom- | en may board for SS per week up. | These camps have aided materially in solving the vacation problem for boys 1 and men, but are so far from the city | that they do not give the clerk in New | York a chance to get out of town at | night or Sunday. To meet this need, | the West Side Y. M. c. A., which op- | crates it's own summer camp at Lake | Membosha, Monroe county, where the l office boys can get weeks outing l for $5.50 started a plan of weekend l hikes and camping trips. This plan fol- o1nc al fln ctrcfn nf , office boy campers. A group of 10 or F members of the boys department starts off Friday evening or Saturday morning by trolley or train to some nearby camp | ing ground on the seashore or by a river. They pitch camp and stay over Sunday, which is spent in quiet walks and a campfire talk or right living and thinking, and return Monday morning to business freshened up for the entire week. Every weekend different groups of boys go to different points accessible for small car fare, and their three days cost them from $1.5O up to $2 for everything. Supplementng these. outdoor camping trips, are the Hikes" each Saturday on which boys are taken for long tramps through beautiful suburban districts un- der the guidance of a naturalist. In winter these trips have for objective some great manufacturing institution, the museums, navy yards. immigration sta ton, ana the puDllc lnSIllullOHS 10 dlu men In their ambition for the outdoor life the West Side branch conducts also a motor boating school in which the students build boats and later on the rivers, learn to operate them. There is also a riding club, in which members get fine mounts for about half the usual price, and go for long rides in the even
 ing and on holidays.
 r3ut oven these facilities do not meet the
 needs of all There are many who have
 to work so late that they are barred from
 these pleasures and to give them D.
 chance for outdoor exercise, the associa-
 ton has been compelled to equip it's
 great athletic field at Fifty-seventh. street
 and Eighth avenue, in the heart of the
 city, with electric lights so that office-
 bound New Workers may exercise at
 night
 These out-of door tendencies however,
 are but a beginning and there is now be-
 ing planned by the city Y. M c. A. two
 of the most novel suburban communities
 ever projected. Already the search for
 sites for these two Y. M. c. A. towns near
 New York is being prosecuted, and every
 available neighborhood is being inspected.
 The plan is nothing less than to establish
 on some lake or on the seashore within
 easy committing distance and low railroad
 fare of New York, a suburban boy town,
 which will have for citizens all summer
 600 boys, grouped into six camps of 1C0
 each To these camps after business the
 .~l.3 .x.1 l,nxrA