The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1949-05-05
Around Town W
The Editor

st making the kids suffer in order to
save few dollars for the city.
The latest move in the Mayor and
Councils so-called economy drive is
to increase the price of admission for
children to the Municipal Swim
ming Pool from II cents, including
tax, to 20 cents, including tax, and
they've also raised the price for
adults from 80 cents, including tax,
to SO cents, including tax. And the
move is made on the grounds that the
swimming pool is losing money.
All right, let's take a look at all
this losing money talk. According
to information supplied to me, the
swimming pool showed a loss of
some $4,000 during the 1948 season,
but that was mostly paper loss, and
here's the reason why.
The Water Department and the
Municipal Light Plant charged the
Municipal Swimming Pool total of
$1,066.78 in 1913 for water used in
the pool and for lights. In addition
to that, the Water Department charg
ed the Municipal Swimming Pool
in 1948 something over $4,000 for
repairing leaks and renovating the
piping and other maintenance work.
So that if you deduct that total,
which comes to over $4,000, from
last years expenses (and after all,
all that money went to the city any
way) the swimming pool didn't
show such bad loss after all.
And another thing that should not
be forgotten is the fact that this 3d.
900 for maintenance work was for
a renovating job at the pool that
had been building up for almost
fifteen ears.
Now, let's see what this great
economy drive" against the kids
could lead up to- When young
ster has to pay 20 cents to go into
the pool, and then of course all kids
want to have bottle of pop and
some popcorn when they come out,
it would mean that a great many
youngsters won't be able to go very
often. The result of this will be that
the kids will be driven to swim
ming in the creeks and streams. and
risk getting polio from polluted va
tiers, to say nothing, of course, of
the ever present risk of drowning
1t seems to me that right at time
when we're trying to get things sta
bilized, little, and big business is
making big hullabalou about re-
ducing prices, that the Mayor and
Council have set very bad example
in almost doubling the prices at the
municipality owned swimming pool.
thought the purpose of our swim
ming pool was part of the city's
program of health building in the
community, just as its city parks
and Fairgrounds are, and not a
proft-making business.
It's not too late for the Mayor and
Council to reconsider this matter
even though l understand that the
tickets have already been printed,
and / hope that at tonight's meet
ing of the Mayor and Council this
matter will be taken up again. l
don't believe that the majority of
the Council wants to make the I'M
derprivileged youngsters of the COM
munity suffer just so that the city
can save few paltry dollars and
make so-called good showing.
Mayor Mills in his determination
to economic, even went so far as
to suggest that the swimming pool
be leased to the highest bidder for
1949, but to the everlasting credit of
the Council, that suggestion was
quickly thrown out the window.
And talking about the Mayor and
Council, here's good one.
Edgar King and Kenneth Sim
were both Republican candidates for
Council in Ward in the Primary.
When the final ballots We're counted,
Sim was the one that was nominal
ed. But as we all know, he was
beaten in the election by the DEM
ocratic candidate, Roy Knight.
Usually it's the case that when a
party wins control, they take care of
their candidates who lost in the elc-
ton. But the Mayor and Council
have appointed as City Purchasing
Agent, not the candidate who won
the Primary for his party, although
he was defeated in the election, but
the candidate who was defeated in
the Primary.
Of course, / don't know whether
Mr.. Sim would have been interested
in the position of purchasing agent,
hs4x T,r3 lilo ~ hot xyo,, . JoI1ar ~, .,