TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 73 



Privileges. — Regardless of the high prices of all supplies 

 used in the operation of the Privileges, and the fact that the 

 attendance fell off somewhat, the showing for this department 

 was considerably better than for the previous year. The epi- 

 demic of Spanish Iniiuenza which was prevalent during the latter 

 part of the year was the immediate cause of the reduction in 

 attendance, and quite seriously affected the total receipts and 

 profits for the season. 



Rocki7ig Stone Restaurant. — While the gross receipts for 

 the restaurant were below the receipts for 1917, about in propor- 

 tion to the drop in attendance, there were some improvements in 

 the conditions affecting this business so that we were able to 

 show a small profit for the year, which is about all that we can 

 expect to do in this class of refreshment business under the pres- 

 ent conditions. 



Boating. — A very substantial increase was shown in both 

 gross receipts and net profits of the boating business. Consid- 

 erable expense was incurred, however, in addition to our equip- 

 ment. One car-load of new row boats had to be added regardless 

 of the very great increase in their cost in order to replace old 

 boats that had to be discarded. The battery equipment of our 

 electric launches required one complete new set of batteries and 

 some repairs to another, involving the expenditure of a consid- 

 rable sum. The net profits of the boating were greater than for 

 any previous season. 



Boat-House Restaurant. — The closing of the dining room 

 portion of the Boat-House Restaurant during the winter months 

 and the operating of the lunch room only for that period was 

 continued, enabling us to make further reductions in our losses 

 over last year. With the closing of the war and the gradual 

 return to normal conditions, it is hoped that in another year we 

 may be able to operate without a loss. 



Soda Water. — The difficulties attendant on the operation of 

 this branch of the Privileges continued to increase during the 

 year 1918. Restrictions in the use of sugar and other supplies 

 for ice cream and soda water purposes were in full effect until af- 

 ter the close of our season. Anticipating this, we endeavored to 

 change our service so far as possible to plain drinks, and to this 

 end put in several special dispensing outfits for the purpose, with 

 the result that we were able to care for our refreshment de- 

 mands quite satisfactorily and at the same time conserve sugar 



