THE "NIGGER-BABY" SIDESHOW A POPULAR TARGET AND A SOURCE OF INCOME TO A WHOLE CLASS OF CIRCUS PERFORMERS sold in booths all over the grounds, and are said to make patrons spend more money than any other arrangement has ever accomplished. The Humphrey Brothers, who own Euclid Park, started a few years ago selling popcorn from a street cart in Cleveland. They prospered enough to buy a popcorn concession in Euclid Park and did so well that, when the park ran down financially, they were asked to undertake the management and rehabilitate it. Their scheme was to own and operate personally all the attractions in the park, a plan which succeeded with them as it did with Thompson and Dundy at Coney. The Humphreys have several coasters and rides in their park which earn them from $30,000 to $50,000 in a season. County fairs and state fairs are other phases of the amusement business that have become permanent and powerful because they are based on educational and patriotic aims. With the growth in national agricultural knowledge and output has grown the agricultural fair. In 1809 the first agricultural fair was held at Georgetown, D. C. To-day there is, in a dozen fair grounds, an average property valuation of a million dollars. Manufacturers of various kinds of farming devices are glad of the opportunity these fairs give to display and explain their contrivances personally to the farmers of the country, especially of the West. Thus the fairs have become a great commercial medium. President McKinley once said that fairs mark progress; and they unquestionably direct progress. The people of vast THE INVESTMENT IN ANIMALS ALONE IS ENOUGH TO MAKE THE CIRCUS ONE OF THE MOST CONSIDERABLE PARTS OF THE AMUSEMENT BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY. AUDIENCE LEAVING THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE GRAND OPERA IS PROBABLY THE MOST COSTLY OF ALL DIVERSIONS IN PROPORTION TO THE SEATS FOR SIX THOUSAND AARTIAL VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE HIPPODROME, IN NEW YORK CITY, WHICH EXPLOITS A HIGHLY SPECIALIZED TYPE OF SPECTACULAR PLAYS THAT ARE MOUNTED ON A SCALE OF EXTRAORDINARY SIZE A SUMMER CROWD OF BATHERS AT ATLANTIC CITY WHICH IS A TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT OF A FAVORABLY SITUATED BEACH AND SUMMER RESORT INTO A PROFITABLE PLAYGROUND OF THE PEOPLE communities get together, see what others are doing, exchange ideas, are approached by agents from the outside world, and lay themselves open to demonstration, and, the whole time, consider that they are enjoying the big pleasure time of their It is small wonder that the fair, state or county, is a permanent institution. Though the various exhibits of stock, poultry, agriculture, machinery, etc., are undoubtedly of first interest at fairs, the people expect and see that they get, on such gala occasions, some entertainment of a different order. Undesirable shows are now rigidly excluded, and even the fat lady and the midget do not find such camping grounds longer profitable. Good animal shows, acrobatic performances, moving pictures, panoramic views, model cities, and clean carnival companies are among the attractions that find general approval as sources of entertainment, and the eternally indispensable merry-goround and newer model playgrounds for the children always find a welcome. In connection with fairs, wealthy horse breeders often find a field of interest in horse shows. For many years Whitelaw Reid and Orlando Harriman were exhibitors at the shows held in connection with the fairs of their localities; and many other equally prominent names might be cited. Needless to say, these shows interest many spectators not "in society." Often fairs are visited, in circuits, by automobile racers. But a fair is not always necessary to attract this daredevil type of entertainer. Any town that can boast an "automobile club," however small and unpretentious, is likely to be visited, any time in season, by automobile racers promising some hair-raising sport. A fair profit is guaranteed to the performers. Automobile races on beaches and on circular tracks are very popular, despite the danger and the frequent casualties. Indeed, it is undoubtedly the imminence and likelihood of disaster that have made this variety of sport so popular. No other sport has drawn spectators from greater distances or in greater multitudes than the big races such as those for the Vanderbilt Cup, on Long Island, and those that are now held at Indianapolis and Savannah. Altogether, our amusements are a vast and varied industry, employing millions of capital and the time and skill of hundreds of thousands of people. As a business they are worthy of the respect that their size and universal appeal have earned them. On other grounds, we may well be hopeful of them, for with few exceptions they tend to be cleaner, more wholesome, more truly recreative, and more genuinely representative of the natural appetite of a healthy-minded people for innocent and helpful diversion HOLDING-UP THE STAGE," ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR SPECTACLES IN THE TYPE OF PERFORMANCE IN WHICH CONQUERING THE COST OF LIVING NEW ENGLAND WAKING UP TO WHAT TRUE COOPERATION WILL DO FOR BOTH PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS B - THE BASIC IDEA OF DEMOCRACY APPLIED TO EVERYDAY LIFE BY HENRY WYSHAM LANIER USINESS called me to Attle- 'a town as new to me as was San Salvador to Columbus. There was a half hour for Fate to fill since I learned I was but twenty-five minutes away from an appointment an hour later. I looked about. Two men came out of a shop just ahead, which bore the unusual legend, "Cooperative Store." One, in cap and butcher's apron, bent down to chalk up on a side-walk blackboard the alluring quotations for that day of veal and legs of lamb. On the principle of selecting an un distracted mind, I addressed myself to the other. After fifteen minutes on the sidewalk, in a keen March wind, I had the outlines of his life, the more impressive from the artless compression into Genesis-like bareness of years of everyday struggle, success, tragedy, more struggle, more permanent and better success. SAVING 10 PER CENT. ONE OF THE TWENTY-SEVEN COOPERATIVE STORES IN NEW ENGLAND THAT REDUCE THEIR CUSTOMERS' The son of working people in a small town, with scant schooling, he had at eighteen taken a job in a Fall River restaurant with his parents' adjuration to "be a gentleman and be honest"; after two weeks, the boss handed him the keys: "Herb, you run this place." For five years he ran it, and then his employer |