Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-06-22
WHY NOT 4 SWIMMING POOL

born III Globe nearly every day, why, we won
 der has not someone come forward with plans
 for a large and sanitary swimming pool9 Sucf
 a mecca for hot weather sufferers would surely
 receive the support of the people, and it would
 have the thermometer as its ally for large
 part of the year. If established somewhere
 along Pinal creek to the west or south of the
 city, it could be assured of good water pressure
 and if necessary, well could be drilled there
 with comparative certainty of striking an ade
 quate flow of water. It is possible that the city reservoirs could supply all the wants of such 8
 pool. Surely there lies in this project an op
 portunity for business man to get good re
 turns from his investment, as the sentiment of
 the people as a whole would be favorable to it
 Next best, and perhaps better, than sending our populace to the watering places for the summer would be to establish miniature re
 sort of the kind in our midst. This, too, would be available for the great majority who have to stay in town willy-nilly through the summer season. The outlay involved would not be large, and the usefulness of swimming pool would not be limited to the summer alone, for with boilers to heat the water it could be kept open to the public the year around.
 Aside from the pleasure to be derived from a swimming pool, it would have the further mission of giving every citizen of Globe the opportunity to learn the useful art of swim ming. There arises in the life of the average person an emergency, sooner or later, when to know, at least how, to keep afoat in water would be decidedly advantageous, and in many cases, it would be the means of saving either ones own life or that of another. It is the duty of to ot, o1 edge of swimming. At present the opportunities here are limited, to put it mildly. There are few times in the year when the Pinal creek would permit of aquatic sports, and clandestine bathing in the reservoir would doubtless be discouraged by the city fathers. So the public in its chance to learn to swim is rather hel bless. Some ambitious people, ill desperation, report to the advice extended in newspapers at this time of the year. Therein are found such direc- tions as this:
 Lie in the water on your back, with the body as much as possible. Keep your lungs inflated and remain motonless. Follow these directions and you absolutely cannot sink" Thus writes the experienced swimmer for the benefit of the novice This knowledge might as well be inscribed in Egyptian hiero- glyphics or Sanskrit, so far as its value to the public is concerned At the first sensation of contact with the water, the beginner in the art of swimming has his reasoning powers thrown
 into chaos. But he obeys a natural instinct of self preservation handed down to the race through centuries, and straightway begins to struggle and splash and to get panic stricken. With the first feeling of fright, all the air is forced out of the lungs and the apprentice in
 he natatory art sinks ignominously and, as likely as not ships a goodly quantity of water through his mouth and nose This initial ex- perience usually discourages his efforts to swim for the time being, so he forsakes the water and again seeks the treatise on swimming to find out wherein he failed. As matter of fact, he came to grief through his lack of con- idence and persistency. Long years of read ng and of hearing related the details of deaths oy drowning have given him a dread of the watery element. Such is the experience of the adult. The child is in much better position Q learn to swim, for he has, still, the supreme confidence of childhood and his imagination has probably not dwelt, to any great extent, on the horrors of being drowned To learn to swim, hen, one needs but to realize that the three essentials are confidence in ones ability to keep lAoat, knowledge of the elementary principles ,f position in the water, and lastly and greatest ,f all, persistency. This is easy to write, but lard to practice. If one doubts this he has ,nly to try to be convinced. The first necessity n learning to swim, however, is by perfectly natural phenomenon, water of the proper depth, md this, at least. would be afforded by swim hing pool. The list of deaths by drowning that ve read of every summer is due largely to our chool children not having been taught to swim.