THE SPENDERS.

Shannon News, 22 August 1924, Page 1

THE SPENDERS.

PAIiM BKACH MILLIONS. HOW AMERICAN SOCIETY SCATTERS THE DOLLARS. Palm Beach, Florida, is a synonym for millionaiits. In order to haunt the beaches you must have so much money that you can spend, and spend and spend , without keeping count. You can't have a dip in the Atlantic for less than 15s or £l. This story from a special correspondent gives some idea of the wealth and luxury of the world-famous resort.

For the luxury of a few winter weeks amid the waving palms and brilliant tropical flowers, the so-called Palm Beach colony spent all of 60,000,000 dollars last season. ■ l This estimate has been conservatively made, and, of coursje, it includes the expense of getting to Palm Beach and the much greater expense of getting away.- It includes the intake of. the two great hotels on the island, one of them the largest resort hotel in the world. It is nearly a ten-minute walk down the main corridor, running th e entire length of this building. The hotel has a capacity of 1700 guests, and when it is realised that 20 dollars (about £5) a day is a modest average for each guest, some, idea of the revenue can be gained. POPULAR EXPENSIVENESS. The mere matter of bed and board, however, is comparatively a small ! item in the daily life of the Palm j Beacher. There is an '• expense, to be met at every turn, and it is this very expensiveness which makes the place ■ so popular. Counting a wheel chair to | the beach and back, and the use of a I room in the Casino, you can't take an ' ocean bath for less than 4 dollars.or 5 dollars. A round of golf will cost you an average of 5 dollars, provided you don't lose any balls or wagers. The 5 dollars merely represents what the business man would call the overhead. Technically, of course, it is greens, fees and caddy hire.

But, spend as they will, the poor "butlanders" at the hotels contribute but a drop in the bucket to the total of Palm Beach's 60,000,000 dollar season. The cottagers are the ones who pay and pay and pay. And they, too, just love it. Take the Stbtesburys, of Philadelphia, for instance. If she follows her customs of past seasons, Mrs. Stbtesburyt . chatelaine of the beautiful estiate known as El Miraspl, will entertain thirty to forty persons daily at lunch, to say nothing of the; elaborate dinners which are always scattered through her social programme. ; "- One elderly couple, owning a . co.fc- : tage here; have brought down no less than four Rolls Royces as a part of their automotive equipment. Ong car is for the husband, another for the wife, and two for such guests as they may have through the season. The yachts and houseboats anchored in Lake Worth, or tied up to the docks, represent an expenditure of from 15,000,000 dollars to 20,000,000 dollars,, and an upkeep of fully 1,000000 to 2,000,000 dollars a month.

The clubs, of Palm Beach are another great luxury in which millions of dollars are spent each year. Some of these are merely social clubs for dining and dancing and bridge and man jong. The Chinese game unques- j tiomibly is growing in popularity, and usually one,sees about two mah jong tables to one of bridge. The stakes are rising, too, and it ; is feasy --to .jtiear 1 stories ; of great winnings and losings among the friends who meed to tear down the Chinese "wall and listen to the- siren voice of the East Wind. BRADLEY'S. ; Then; of course, there is Bradley's where green-topped tables abound, and where there is virtually no limit to what the young bloods among the millionaire colony can stake on the turn of a card or the paying click of the little roulette ball as it flies spinning into the lucky number 'and colour. Also there is the bootlegger who comes high, but evidently the cottagers simply must have .him., Yet, with all its wealth, and all its display, all of its prodigal spending and its occasional flings at games of chance, Palm Beach has a very large bit of piety in Its make-up. Sunday is almost as quiet as in some New England hamfct. Of course ther e is golf and some bathing, but there is much more of church-going and a general cessation of several activities. Even Bradley's is closed as tight as a convent.