Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-06-07
COMMUNICATED
To the City Commissioners,

WAN Woouf ~ ~
Gentlemen:
I have this day been informed,
through your City Clerk, Mr. White
sell, that my appeal, In regard to the
bath house business has been OF no
avail; that I will be required to pay
a fee of about $40 if I desire to open the
bath houses; Notwithstanding the fact
that no such charge Is made by any of
the other South Jersey seaside resorts.
I respectfully request you to reconsider
your decision In this matter and to
carefully consider the folio wing:
With the exception of Wildwood,
there Is not a single seaside resort In
South Jersey where a fee Is charged for
the privilege of conducting a bath
house.
Ocean City charges NJ fee for con-
Quoting a bath house, nor for lifeguards
on the beach.
Avalon charges no fee for conduct
ing a bath house.
Sea Isle City charges no fee for con-
Quoting a bath house.
Stone Harbor charges no fee for con-
Quoting a bath house.
North Wildwood charges no fee for
conducting a bath house.
Wildwood Crest charges no fee for
conducting a bath house.
Even Coney Island, with its hum
dreds Of thousands of bathers, charges
no fee for conducting a bath house.
There can be no comparison between
Atlantic City and WILDWOOD; where
Atlantic City has as many as five
thousand bathers In a single day in
August from one bathing establish
ment, Wildwood has as few as five
bathere; and yet, Wild wood charges
four times as much for maintaining a
locker Tor small CLOSELY as Atlantic City.
Surely, this should not be.
There ale really but five days in the
season in which a profitable business
can be done in that part of Wildwood,
formerly known as Holly Beach; these
are, perhaps, four Sundays in August
and the day before the fourth of July,
and even these depend on the weather.
A person willing to work on these days
should not be asked to do go without
recompense; should not have all of
these profits taken from him for the
privilege of serving the public.
Would it not be wise to follow the
plan which all the above resorts have
adopted, and thereby encourage the
man who has chosen Wildwood as the
place to invest his money? With every
bath house in the old Holly Beach Sec
ton being offered for sale, with the
Atlantic Pier the most important i'm
provement made in hat section for the
pleasure Of the people) vacated and
falling into decay-with the facts be-
fore you that 1T is impossible to conduct
an honest bath house business under
the unusual conditions imposed by you
Is it the part of wisdom, or Is 1t for the
best interests of Wildwood to say that
you will give no heed-that. you will
not investigate-that you will not con-
sider-that the person who went to you
and placed his time and bis money
there; that all his care and anxiety are
nothing to you? That you will permit
thousands of bathers to battle from
other establishments free, but as to the
man who furnishes necessary and prop
er bathing accommoda atoms you will
compel him to pay you a fee greater
than the actual net profit made in any
one season since your system was
adopted?
Your petitioner does not contend
that a fee or tax should not be charged,
but that the fee should be in accord
ance with the benefits derived; and
that the burden should be borne equal
ly by all.
Your petitioner asks you to consider
what is being done by the resorts above
mentioned. Can Wildwood, with its
disadvantage Iof distance and rate of
carfare, afford to do differently? Can
Wildwood fairly. compete with these
resorts If 1t charges a city tax on a
property, and in addition charges an
other tax on every o and closet in
that property while the above resorts
do nothing of this kind?
1 trust that you will not look upon
this com munication as an imnarti-
nence, but rather as an effort by n
who is largelylinterested for the better
ment of Wild wood, and that you will
investigate and reconsider my appeals
made to you in the autumn of 1917 and
on March 18th, 1918.
1t has been reported to me that
s'speak easy" bath houses are conduc-
ted on the boardwalk; that by prear-
-