stated in the law to be the maximum contribution o 



The District Engineer's decisions are not sirapleo First, he must 

 decide whether it will pay to protect a given beach or shore lineo This 

 involves more than pure economics o No one wants io limit the improvement 

 of beaches only to places where bathhouse profits and increased sale of 

 refreshments would return the cost of protecting the beacho On the other 

 handj, a beach cannot be said to pay merely because people who already 

 swim there will have a better beacho 



He has to rule on the public interest involved o This involves such 

 factors as the number of persons who will probably make use of the beach, 

 the length of the season, the probable increase in public revenues due to 

 the improvement, and the benefits accruing to public agencies concerned 

 as landlords o 



Finally, the District Engineer must state specifically that certain 

 local interests will supply all the funds not contributed by the Federal 

 Government, and that some responsible local agency is prepared to assume 

 responsibility for maintenance, for providing all lands, easements, and 

 rights-of-way required, and for claims for damages arising from the im- 

 provement o 



EXTENT OF FEDERAL ASSISTANCE 



The extent of Federal assistance in shore protection needs some 

 discussion. IRiere is a certain parallel between shore protection and 

 flood control o Some officials have expressed themselves as anticipat- 

 ing that the Federal interest in shore protection will increase in the 

 future and will parallel the growth of Federal interest in flood control. 

 At a meeting last summer a prominent legislator stated that he thought 

 that the extent of Tederal assistance authorized by legislation now in 

 effect did not go far enougho He said that he believed, in view of the 

 extent of Federal assistance in flood control and the fact that the 

 Federal Government pays large sums of money for the development of 

 national parks that the extent of Federal assistance to shore protection 

 for publicly-owned beaches should be 100 per cent instead of 33 1/3 per 

 cento 



Ey far the major portion of our shore line, and certainly, with few 

 exceptions, the presently most desirable beach areas are held in private 

 ownership o Entirely aside from questions of restricted public usage and 

 development associated with private ownership, there is the problem of 

 conserving privately owned beaches o One owner may protect his beach to 

 the detriment of his adjoining neighbors o The best intentions in the 

 world cannot prevent this condition at presento Beaches occur as physical 

 units, not as subdivided lots, and protection should be provided on the 

 physical unit base. This is difficult to arrange for privately owned 

 beacheso 



