Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-04
WILL BETTER CONDITIONS
FOR MANY NET PLAYERS
Public Grounds Officials Find Merit in Protests Of
Public Court Users and Promise to
Favor Their Interests.

r. w. HOOVER, general mar
~ tional Association Of Pull
i is in thorough agreemeI
that the scent ticket she
dren under IL years Of age, and
U. S. Grant, Sd, director Of the OF
Parks, the president of the corpor
Mr.. Hoover Is not in such he;
tons put forth by the racket wielc
dictments that the courts are MOI
they were when operated as free ce
share of his associations expense
other than for actual expenditure!
A correspondent has written to The
Star suggesting that there are some
very unhealththy runors going the
rounds in tennis circles" and that 1t
Is also rSumored that the tennis courts
are charged for q greater share OK the
overhead Of the welfare assoclatlon
than proper"
The writer asserted that he knew
that the tennis courts are not kept IN
the same condition that they were when
operated as free courts"
Scores Condition Of Courts. I.
Some Of the courts are in about; the
same condition that you would expect
IL they were used between times Ior
polo" he wrote. THE courts are very
seldom properly marked 20 that even
when an important tournament matcn
is, going on, no backline comes TO view;
a very unfair system Of court reserVa.
tions Is used which results In fair-
minded persons paying 40 cents week
in advance to reserve courts at an ad-
ditional expense of time and trouble,
only to have to relinquish half the
court to court vultures who Will not 80
to the trouble of reservtng courts. out
will wait around and pounce upon any
court on which four persons are not
playing-and then only be compeueo 10
privilege of sharing the court which tne
other two players have paid 40 cents 10
reserve. ,y
writes the correspondent, that the per-
son who goes to the trouble OF reServng
his court a week in advance should pay
the same price as those who hang
around. force themselves on and pay
nickel. I believe, however, tnat tne
price OF general permits snoulo DC
raised and not the price OF specials
lowered. In other words, / oeneVe InaC
All courts should cost 20 cents an hour
during the time that Government
ofices are closed rather than that some
courts should cost 20 cents las In tne
ease Of suecials) and some only lO
cents per hour las In the case IN gen
eral permits). I believe that the man
having 40 cents per hour Is paying lot
the recreation Of the man next 10 MIN,
paving but 10 cents per hour.
No Interest in Investment.
"After all. we must consider that
these courts are Government properly
and that there is no investment 10 pay
interest on and no taxes. This makes
a great difference in arriving at costs.
The star asked Mr.. Hoover to state
his side of the question, and he eX-
blamed that it was only the fact that
the courts were on Government prop
erty and, therefore, free from taxes
or investment interest that mace ~
possible to provide them for the play
ers at such a nominal rental Zee. ne
opened up his records ana po 1h. to SeI
that only q small portion OF the tota.
receipts from the courts was appneo
ia overhead-that the majority OF the
funds were applied to the actual up
keep of the courts: this, Of course, m
Guiding the salaries Of the attendants
while actually on duty at the courts,
with the exception Of the superintend-
ent of the courts, only part OF whose
salary is charged against the tennis
court funds.
"Only a very small percentage Of the
general office overhead for the Welfare
Association activities Is charged against
the courts" said Mr.. Hoover, pointing
to figures on his book which indicated
that the amount charged against the
courts was about Az per cent OF the
total funds derived from them.
John Kammerer, whose duties are
those of Superintendent of the courts,
receives half of his salary from the
court funds and the other half from
the POUNDS Of the association, TO which
each Of the other Is activities Is con-
tributing," he continued. His salary:
of course, is charged to upkeep ana
not overhead"
Studying Condition Of Courts.
Referring to the charge that the
free courts were kept in better con-
dition, Mr.. Hoover asserted that ne
was having comparative survey
made now by those familiar with the
conditions under the old regime, and
felt that the report would not be un-
favorable to the present system Of
operation.
"If we do find that there is a tend
ency toward deterioration today" he
declared, I'VE are prepared to do what
we can at once to see that the courts
are properly maintained and expect
to be in q position to make extensive
repairs before the start Of another
season"
at was because Of a shortage Of
funds for the upkeep Of the courts
that they were turned over to the
welfare Association in the first place, "
he added. Had 1t been possible to
continue operating them without
charge to players. am sure this would
have been DONE"
Mr.. Hoover told The Star further
that. while tennis was one Of the few
welfare activities that did not pay for
itself last year, 1t was being made to
do so this year, and that he hoped by
the end of the season to have enough
of q surplus to order new surfaces put
on the courts needing them before the
season opens next Spring.
Attendants Salaries Cut.
eft has only been by practicing the
most rigid economy-even to the point
of cutting salaries of our attendants
on the courts (Which we hope to be
able to restore to their original status
later THAT we have been able to pull
the tennis courts out of the hole" he
declared "If it is possible, We hope
to put them permanently on a self
supporting basis without boosting
prices to the players. That has been
our aim"
With relation to the statement about
marking the courts, Mr.. Hoover ex-
planned that all the courts are rolled,
watered and marked OF each morning
and that there is an attendant always
on duty, who will be glad to remark any
court II requested to do so by the play
ers. The difaculty, however, is that the
players are so busy on the courts that