The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-03-09
The Anglicized Barnum's.

When the late PHrNEAs TAYLOR BARNuM
took the smallest man on earth to England
and introduced him to royalty and others,
1t never occurred to his fertile Connecticut
mind to incorporate Tom THUMB there I'M
der the Limited Liability act as a permanent
British institution. He brought him back,
and Tom died an unadulterated American
citizen. So did BARNUM.
How different is the destiny Of the Great
est Show on Earth, the enterprise which
was the creation Of BARNUM's genius In its
maturer phase, and constituted both his
! monument and his legacy to the great and
gay American people!
We have before US the prospectus OF
"Barnum & Bailey, Limited" a company
now being fioated on the London market
in the ordinary, that Is to say, the non
Barnum fashion. The Greatest Show on
Earth is to be expatriated. It's headquar-
tors are to be removed from Bridgeport,
Conn, to Stoke-on-Trent. It's elephants
are to become British elephants, its mon
keys British monkeys, its simultaneous
performances in four rings British per-
formances in British rings !; all capt.
talized at e4oo,O 900, in 4oO, 900 shares
Of one pound sterling each. The pro-
gramme Of its future operations ignores
the continent which produced BAR
MUM. Provincial tours in Albion are set
down for 1899 and 1900. Then will occur
a Continental tour occupying at least two
years. Nothing definite is said in the purely
British prospectus Of this now purely Brit
ish grand aggregation Of its return at any
time to the shores where repose the bones
Of BARNUM. AS an American grand aggre-
cation it has passed, perhaps forever, be-
meath the Eastern horizon.
1t Is not surprising that the accomplished
Mr.. TOBY HAMILTON, whose soul-stirring
advertisements have appealed so often and
never in vain to the imagination and the
pockets Of the American public, should at
tempt to break the force Of this national
misfortune by the statement with which
he has favored us. We note a change
already in TOBY HAM1LToN's style. The
lone is apologize, not triumphant the adj
| ~jectives are at least three octaves underline
old pitch and-will it be believed ?-he re-
fers to Bridgeport as Bridgeport, Conn.,,
U. S. A." ToDY's old American heart is not
in this proclamation.
1t is in vain that he attempts to dismiss
cheerfully the sadder international aspects
Of the expatriation Of the Greatest Show on
Earth by calling it 1.-The latest gift OF Amer
lea to England, adding another link to the
friendly chain binding the two Anglo-Saxon
countries together" 1t is in vain that TOBY
holds out this vague prospect:
ut is further stated that one Of these days the big
affair will revisit the land of the free and the brave.
where tho big show was born. reopen some fine
spring day in Madison Square Garden. and make the
usual tour of the United States-but with an abso.
lutely new. grand and most magnificent show. with
every department augmented, with new animals,
new acts. new attractions. new everything. to again
capture the plAudits Of the people OF America. and
reinstate itself once moro in their hearts,
Pathetic, indeed, is this effort, coming
as it does from one who was 80 recently at
| the head Of his profession
1t only remains for the Wild West show
to reorganize at Berlin as the Mitbe-
schrankterhafnun OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
weltgesellschaft, or something of that sort,
and to promise to reappear some day in the
United States ito again capture the plau-
dts of people Of America and reinstate
itself once more in their hearts" with the
Sioux braves all smoking long-stemmed
porcelain pipes, and the A%rapahoes slash
ing with blunt swords at each others i'm
passive countenances, under the rules OBJ
tanning just across the river from Heidel-
berg,