Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-09-17
Howll cj,,rUs Is RUN.


Each circus has its general. Talk TO
ihiii. o. any city OF tpwB-int the country.
Sandthe thousht immediately oceursto
him; "Ah. yesi town OF q, 600 (S5.-
600. $4,000 or $4,000. rs tho case
may be) profit" He knows almost to
o unit the population and how much
can be made out Oft A ID knows also
Tie cbaracter of the hllabitants. and
the.is acquainted With the railro bad and
other facilities for getting into the
place. He maps out the route at the
beginning Of the season, Of course,
changing It as much rs possible every
year. There are twenty-four advance
agents, who follow each other in reg
&ular rotation. They look after the adj
fvertising. the provender for the ami
malz the lodgings. and contracts Of
tvafious kinds. These agents are pro-
vided with checks. They check on
the show for the amount contracted
for. The treasurer takes up and pays
the checks so that when the show ar
rives it has no trouble in any direction.
1t has happened q few times that the
firm has been swindled. but it never
refuses to honor check, .'to keep up
fthe credit of the circus.'l Not enc Of
Nthe great exchanges,in New York 10
better posted as to the monetary
condition of any town or city than the
managers of the circus. The circus
managers well know it is useless going
into a place where there is much COM
mercial depression. The characters
tics Of a town are studied before going
Into lit i For Instance 1t is Known
when the miners of Pittsburg are paid
of, and right /, on top. Of the, event,
comes the 4'show:n 1t very rarely
happens that q lmiscalculation is made.
but if money is lost anywhere, that
place is given . wide berth next sea
son. n NN 81 M,A a
sSThe weather. too, is watched almost
as carefully as 1t is by the signal-ser-
vice bureau. The great aim of the
circus is to strike fair weather. every
where. When tits extremely cold in
the North, the circus is, enjoying tho
warmth of the South and the dollars of
the genial Southerners. When it be-
comes too hot in the South. then II
Wends its way in the opposite direc-
tion. Moreover. it never attempts to-
compete with cheaper entertainment.
II Barnum, is billed for Maryville,
Mas, and a twenty-fvecent show gets
ahead of 1t the big circus passes on.
The general knows, too, how long it is
profitable to stay In town.
The army OF employees Is divided in
to five, divisions the performers, the
,;r, ottard.rt. kha yseohlo and Ex,oan
agerie attendants, the trainmen, Tin
circus parlance ssrazor-backs"), and
the canvasmen. The canvasmen num-
ber two hundred out Of seven hundred
"a large numbers but not too many
to cope with the huge tent which is
put up in the country. On the trains
there is special place for everything
and everybody. Indeed the trainmen
could load the train almost blindfold-
ed, the arrangements are SO precise,
and have been 80 longin smooth-work-
ing order. The canvasmen are the
first to be packed btf. They touch
nothing until the tepmsters have ar
rived on the ground with the canvas,
and then, when the tent is up, they sit
down and just watch the others ''do-
ing their bit. So it is with tho train
men when they have loaded or unload
ed the cars they will not put hand to
anything else, and perhaps If they did
they would only be in the way. Every
employe has special duty to perform
and does not consider himself engaged
for anything outside of that.
One of the heaviest items in the. .ex-
pense is the bill tfor advertising. 4. The
huge colored posters seen everywhere
in the vicinity of the show are costly.
The advertising bill in the season ,av-
eragos daily, 90, zoo Yet the expenl
diture results in q good return. The
salaries vary all the way from $40 to
$500 week. What! circus perform
or with ;(nsincomes equal To- five times
that of tho secretary Of stateP "Ah,
but recoIlect. y says the circus man,
..that this does not last all the year
round. Recollect, too. the risks that
are run. If a limb isgSbroken then the
occupation of.the pstformer is gone,
and # be. or she has not saved enough
for a,rainy day. poxerfy II the result.
These high priced Epsrformers also have
to engage others u assist them, and
sometimes the engagement of quite, q
family The stars provide " their own
6ostuInes and apparatus o. 1yd Biss.y
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