Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-21
CIRCUS POPULAR PAsTIME.
Peoples Love for This Form of Amuse-
ment Grows With Years.

ment Grows with Years.
From time immemorial the circus
has been the popular pastime of the
people. Centuries before the circus
maximus of Rome, it amused and in
structed, and now, centuries after
the olympian games and the famo u
races in the coliseum, the circus re-
mains the most potent of all the hip
podromes of the present day tented
exhibitions.
In America, the circus, in a small
way, was coDtemporaneous with the
theatre in finding a foothold. In
many sections of the country. and
especially in the smaller towns, the
circus existed when the theatre was
not permitted. For many years it
had but slow growth, because the
country was dominated by the in
herited sentiments of the New Eng
land puritans, with whom all forms
Of worldly pleasures were regarded as
denominations and tools of the devil
With advancing time came a heavy
tide of immigration and an expansion
of tolerance and this broadening of
ideas and increasing liberty of
thought and adoption of new Gus
toms has continued. until now when
those who look with disf4vor upon
the theatre, and especially the circus.
are in a very great minority through
out the country. And it may be
worth mentioning that all this has
occurred without there being any de-
crease of public morality or any in
crease in percentages in criminal sta
tistics.
II may seem somewhat I ec1liar
that the era of the present form of
circus entertainment began within
the recollection of the middle-aged
men of today. The greater half of
the men who have made the circus
popular in this country are still in
control of the circus tu sine:s IF the
country. Thirty years ago the great
circuses of the country were: The
Adam Forepaugh and p. L. BaEnum
show, operating principally in the
east; the Sells Brothers show, owned |
and operated by Allen, Ephra,m. Pc
ter and Lewis Sells, and exhibiting |
chiefly in the middle states; the W. |
w. Cole show, whose territory was
generally west of the Alleghenies aud |
to Australia; the John Rob- |
inson show. best known in the south |
ern states; the Cooper e Bailey show.
that gave battle principally to p. +. |
the Van Am berg show
and Howe's London circuses. OIL
these noted tented exhibitions, but |
three are in existence today; there are
four, counting the Robinson show, but !
it is run, if in existence this year, up
on a very small scale Old John Rob-
inson was the first of the show mag
mates of 20 years ago to pass away.
W W. Cole amassed a great fortune.
retired from business, and his show
went out of existence. The Cooper &
Bailey show, handled in a most mas
terful manner by the Napoleon of the
show world, j. A. Bailey. forced P. T.
to sue for peace, and new
concern was organized under the Bar
mum name and under the proprietor
ship of Barnum. Bailey, Cole and
the Cooper & Bailey show
ending. Mr.. Bailey became the real
of the establishment and in
time he bought out Messrs. Cole and
the latter retiring per-
from the business. Later
Mr.. Barnum died. and, after a period
Of i've years, Mr.. Bailey bought the
interest of the Barnum estate and be-
came the sole proprietor.