TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 59 



To carry out the above program, the members of the Society 

 now are being asked to subscribe, for the year 1919 only, the 

 $18,000 necessary to keep the Park up to its present level. Sub- 

 scriptions are being made on the express understanding that 

 under no circumstances will the Zoological Society ask its mem- 

 bers to assume for 1921 any portion of the cost of maintaining 

 the Park. 



We look forward to the future with grave apprehension. 

 The size of the collections of the Zoological Park was based upon 

 our agreement with the City that it would maintain the build- 

 ings and collections. Large and numerous collections require a 

 large force of men, and large quantities of food and fuel. Mil- 

 lions of visitors call for a large force of cleaners. 



The sum allotted us for 1919, $190,000, is totally inadequate 

 to the needs of the Park if it is to be maintained at its present 

 standard. This year the Zoological Society will make up the 

 deficit, and we will go on, on what will seem to be the 100 per 

 cent, scale. Next year the Society will make up no deficits m 

 maintenance. Will the City give us next year the fund of $220,- 

 000 that will be absolutely required for going on? That ques- 

 tion we cannot answer. 



One thing, however is certain : we can not pay men or buy 

 food and coal with wishes. If the annual funds given us here- 

 after are not adequate for our maintenance, we vs^ill have no re- 

 course but to reduce our collections in order to live within our 

 means. 



It is useless to dwell here upon the huge annual influx of 

 visitors (always from 1,750,000 to 2,000,000) , or the educational, 

 recreational or financial value of the Zoological Park. 



Few consider the financial return that the Society secures 

 for the City, but that return is very substantial. Every visitor 

 not a resident in the immediate vicinity, (and the number of 

 such visitors is a very large percentage of the total), contributes 

 at least ten cents to the transportation system in which the City 

 now has a very substantial interest. The annual total is very 

 nearly that granted by the City to the Society for annual main- 

 tenance. Every stranger who visits the city and comes to the 

 Park, (and there are many thousands of them), usually must 

 remain an extra day in order to do so. The total annual cash 

 expended by these visitors we have no means of knowing, but it 



