Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1910 — CITY COMFORTS INCREASING. [ARTICLE]

CITY COMFORTS INCREASING.

Statistic* Relative to Batblnn Beacbea, Zoo*, and Play Ground*. It Is shown In the United States Census Bureau’s special annual report for 1907, now in press, relative to' the statistics of the 158 largest cities each having 6ver 30,000 population In 1907, -that from 1905 to 1907 the number of bathing beaches reported increased from 44 to 63; swimming pools, from 56 to 61; and all the year baths, from 15 to 78. The total bathing attendance increased from 19,158,562 in 1905 to 29,204,838 in 1907, an increase of 52.4 per cent. More than half of this attendance was reported from New York City, those ranking next in order being Philadelphia, Bdbton, Chicago and Milwaukee. New York has the largest acreage (278.5) devoted to zoological parks, followed In order by Washington (166.5) and Atlanta (140). In the number of mammals and birds that such parks contain, New York ranks first and Cincinnati second, while Washington ranks third in number of mammals and Philadelphia third in number of birds.

Playgrounds are maintained in 76 of the 158 cities included in the report, and the city appropriations for playgrounds increased from 1516,177 in 1906 to $741,912 in 1907. More than one-third of the amount was appropriated by New York, the cities next in order being Milwaukee, Washington and Pittsburg. Private contributions for playgrounds was greatest ip Washington. The total acreage devoted to playgrounds was greatest in Indianapolis, followed by New York, Boston and Baltimore. In New York most of the area devoted to playgrounds Was connected with public schools, while In the other H cities named most of the playground area was in city parks. l