The Cordova daily times., 1919-06-30
TOLEDOFACINC BIG PROBLEMS
 IN HOUSING

TOLEDO, June 30 (by Associated Press) This city must gmpple with a difficult housing problem in prepar- ing for the enormous crowd expected here to witness the heavyweight cham pionship contest between Jess Willard and Jack Dempsey, July 4. With a seating capacity estimated at about 5O,O0O in the arena it is esti- mated that at least 60,000 visitors will be in Toledo the day of the bout. Of these about one-third or 10000 are expected to be in the city over night.
 Toledo itself is a city of about 300, 900 population and even in normal times the hotel accommodations are inadequate. The city boasts of eleven hotels of 100 or more rooms capacity and ten more of fifty rooms or better. The two biggest hotels have been "sold out" for the last six weeks. Nearly all the other larger hotels have reservations calling for their full ca pacity. The smaller hotels are filling more slowly, but unquestionably will be occupied to capacity long before July 8.
 All the hotels plan to install extra cots and beds in the rooms. A flat rate of $5 bed. whether there are two or half q dozen beds in each ?. em, has been established as the minimum. Only a few newspapermen, who have been on the scene month or more, will be permitted to occupy rooms alone. Other guests will be cbiiged to share their rooms with as many persons as the management sees fit to provide beds for.
 Estimates place the total bedding accommodations in the hotels at a discrepancy of 13,O0O beds for the number of persons expected to spend the night of July 3 in Toledo.
 Ad Q. Thatcher, a Toledo sports man, is the leader in the enterprise to provide sleeping accommodations for this overflow. Thatcher and sev- eral associates have obtained leases on number of vacant buildings in the downtown district and for the last month have been installing cots. The two largest of these buildings, the Terminal Building and a five-story structure formerly occupied by To ledo's largest department store. will provide room for 5000 and 2,500 cots respectively, while others probably will have room for another 2,00O beds.
 Thatcher and his associates are installing cots formerly used in army cantonments. All bedding for the tenn porary sleeping accommodations is being rented from Chicago, linen for 10000 cots having been secured by the Toledans. Probably 10000 beds will be ready by July 3, which leaves only 1000 "extra sets" for any emergencies which are bound to arise.
 Lodging houses are preparing to do a land office business. Like many other American cities, Toledo has outgrown its housing accommodations iii the last few years, due to the great industrial growth, and rooming quart CTS are none too plentiful even in normal times. Keepers of lodging houses are planning to double up their regular guests to make room for the expected influx of visitors.
 Toledo is within a short train dis tance of many large cities and hun dreds of persons will stop over night in these cities, coming to, Toledo only in time for the contest. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of persons will stay all night in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland, all within few hours ride of Toledo.
 Pullman and steamer accommoda- tions cannot be counted upon. The United States railway administration has ruled that it cannot permit the boxing contest to interfere with train vital to the demobilization of returning troops and has already permits for many special trains which had been planned for the contest. Persons who were plan ming on making the trip on these special trains will therefore have to come to Toledo before the bout and will add to the crowd of visitors here.