The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-08-05
HOW A CIRCUS IS RUN.
Tie General of the ShOw-Studying
the ROute-The Army of Employees.
Narr- XrnrI-

New York Herald /
Each circus has its general. Talk to
him OF any city or town in the country.
and the thought Immediately occurs TO
him: "Ah, yes; a town of $4,000 I$5, 900,
SO 900 or $12 900, as the case NAV be-
profit. f" He knows almost to a unit the
population and how much can be made
out of it. He knows also the character
of the inhabitants, and he is acquainted
thoroughly with the railroad 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
as possible every year. There are twenty
other in regular rotation. They look after
the advertising, the provender for the
animals, the lodgings, and contracts of
various kinds. These agents are pro-
vided with checks. They give checks on
the show for the amounts contracted for
The treasurer takes up and pays the
checks so that when the show arrives it
has no trouble in any direction. 1t has
happened few times that the firm has
been swindled, but it never refuses to
honor check, "to keep up the credit of
the circus. Not one of the great eX-
changes in New York is 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 place where there is much
commercial depression The character
istics of a town are studied before going
into it. For instance, it is known when
the miners of Pittsburg are paid off, and
right on top of the event. comes the
"show. 1t very rarely happens that a
misCalculation is made, but if money is
lost anywhere that place is given a wide
berth next season.
The weather, too, is watched almost as
fr,1I- =
bureau. The circus never goes farther
south tEan Omaha, Kansas City and St
Louis, or farther north than St Paul,
Mimi. There is no money outside of
those limits. The great aim of the circus
is to strike fair weather everywhere
When it is extremely cold in the north
the circus is enjoying the warmth of the
south and the dollars of the genial south.
erners When it becomes too hot in the
south then it wends its way in the oppo-
site direction. Moreover, it never at
tempts to compete with cheaper enter
tainment If Earnum is billed for Mary
Vile Miss, and % cent show gets ahead
of it the big circus passes on The gen
eral knows, too. how long it is profitable
to stay in town.
The army of employees is divided into
five divisiOns-the performers, the ring
attendants. the stable and menagerie at
tendants, the trainmen in circus parlance
razor backs -, and the canvasmen. The
canvasmen number 300 out of 700-a
large number but not too many to cope
with the huge tent which is put up in the
country. Tn the trains there is a special
place for everything and everybody. In
deed, the trainmen could load the train
almost blindfolded, the arrangements are
so precise, and have been so long in
smooth working order. The canvasmen
are the first to be packed off. They touch
nothing until the teamsters have arrived
on the ground with the canvas, and then
when the tent is up, they sit down and
just watch the others doing their bit.
So it is with the train men when they
have loaded or unloaded the cars they
will not put a hand to anything else, and
perhaps if they did they would be only in
the way. Every employe has a special
duty to perform and does not consider
himself engaged for anything outside of
that.
One of the heaviest items in the ex-
penses is the bill for advertising The
huge colored posters seen everywhere in
the vicinity of the show are costly. The
advertisement bill in the season averages
daily So, 700. Yet the expenditure results
in good return The salaries vary all
the way from so to $500 week. What!
circus performer with an income equal
to five times that of the secretary of state?
"Ah, but recOllect, says the circus man,
shat this does not last all the year round
Recollect, too, the risks that are run. If
a limb is broken then the occupation of
the poor performer is gone, and if he or
she has not saved enough for rainy day
poverty is the result These high priced
performers, also have to engage others to
assist them, and sometimes the engage
ment of quite family. The stars pro.
vide their own costumes and apparatus.
Possible Future of the Canine Creation.
II hicann Times