Evening star., 1926-04-04
EASTER VISITORS
BOOM PARK PLAN
10000 Here Spend Much
Money, Indicating Benefit of
Shenandoah Project.

Fhe food of sightseers that has
been pouring through WashinEton's
gates for the Faster holidays is only
an example of the tourist tide that
Will Goll into the National Capital
every day Of every Summer month If
the Shenandoah National Park be
comes a fact. according To the ex-
peiience Of every other city that has
been fortunate enough to- he located
near ONE of the Government s big
outdoor Fairgrounds.
Within a single days ride Of more
than 10000 900 persons. the great
reservation that the Government is
considering creating in the nearby
Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
would command tourist trade of
more than AZ million persons year.
national pait experts declare and
support their claims with statistics
showing the popularity OF the West =
national parks
City Logical Gateway.
Washington fs the logical gateway
10 the proposed Shena udoah National
Park. 1t is on f3Ie great boulevard -
the Lee Highway which already af-
fOrds the quickest route 10 the site
from the North AID East and which
eventually will sweep out over the
Arlington Memorial Bridge 10
mighty thOroughfare, wide enough to
accommodate the ira tfic Of decades to
come and running directly into the
skyline drive that engineers are
planning for the park.
1t is estimated that at least 40, 600
persons are I'm Washington for the
Easter holidays. Hotels are tanmed
and reservations became exhausted
long ago. OF these visitors, 10 900 are
figured. by conservative estimates, 10
be stopping at the city's hotels. n
each one Of these 13 900 spends only
81 day in the hotels, IL will mean
that the hotel industry alone will ba
enriched $9l 600 a day by these tour.
lists during their stay in Washington.
That IS held only a fair idea Of what
tourist trade means TO a city in these
DAYS OF quick transportation, autono-
biles and the popular demand for
travel. Although 10000 persons would
not come into Washington every
single day en- route the Shena ndoah
National Park, the tourist food would
maintain an average population of
that size here, even il the most con.
servatiVe estimates were accepted
Would Come In Dull Time.
These park tourists. it is pointed
out. would come here during a period
that Is naturally dull. leaving behind
millions in wealth that would reach
Washington through no other agency.
Every day i'm the summer would be
like Faster to the busy hotel man. tho
merchant, the restaurant owner and
other business men in the city. And
eventually the stream of tourist gold
would find it's way. in some manner
at least. into the pockets of every
citizen
These, it is declared, are only some
of the visible reasons why the Sben-
andoah National Park committee Of
the District of Columbia feels iustI.
fled In asking the business men and
the citizens of Washington to CON
tribute $250.000 toward the purchase
of the site that the Government
wants TO create great national
park-the first of it's size and devel-
opment this side Of the Rocky Noun.
tains.
Some idea of how this park will
help Washington expand may he
cleaned from n study of the figures
that tell the story of Washington
growth during the last - years.
Since 1900, when the city fathers be
gan making the National Capital the
true city beautiful. its populat tion has
almost doubled. its wealth has more
than doubled. and its business turn
over has multiplied 10 times
City'S Wealth Increased.
In 1900 WashnGton's population
was 27S.7lS. today ii is 5lS. .994 in 1900
the city's wealth was S92S, ,74O. 900 to-
day il is more than 81 600 900 600: its
| bank deposits have leaped from Sal
! $4,000 to $239 sos O00. and it's ha hks'
resources from S43 $50 900 70 S2S4.s77-
| 600. And the clearings of Washington
banks have increase from $131 .5oS 9O1
| in 1900 to $1,000, $50 600 now.
Faced with this prosperity. the cam.
paign leaders declare. Washington can
| not afford to fail to raise it's $3.50 600
Tourists coming TO see the sights of
Washington, il is asserted, contributed
! the most toward this - wears of real
progress. Campaign leaders as conf
dentiH predict that if the Shena ndoah
National Park is created. bringing mil.
hons more tourists through the Ma.
tlonal capital, history will repeat Itself
for Washington. -.--