The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-11-17
NORTH CAROLINA INUNDATED,
So Declares Mr. Morgan, Writing of DIRTY
Circuses" and Midway Fairs"

TO the Editor: North Carolina was
greatly Inundated in the month of De-
tober last. The circuses and the fairs
did it. The writer proposes no contro-
versy with any one, but, as one of the
people when, as in case of the Fair the
late President OF that Institution throws
down the gauntlet he feels that it is
time for the people to speak
1t is admitted that recreation and fun
are essential to health and happiness
1t is the duty of parents to provide these
things for their children. But Just how
any father can encourage his son to drive
the cows to and from the pasture, to feed
the pigs, or to run errands by promises
to take the little fellow to the circus, the
circus as it is, is inexplicable in the case
of intelligent people. To illustrate: A
father came to the circus. that great
moral lesson" which the Robinsons
brought to Goldsboro on the Nth of Oc-
tober. This father brought his family
He saw an innocent looking Snowman
fooling with a thimble and a pea. or
something similar, and offering to bet
hiohOy' HiS luiIl6i odW IHfouSH Tic
trick, fright straight through it," and
won five dollars the first pass. The next
pass" he lost one hundred dollars.
Just how any lady can attend the cir
Gus, the circus as it is. not as it might
be. with its dust and dirt and filth, it's
gamblers, its drunken profane white men
and loud mouthed negroes, a place where
'all coons look and smell alike passes
comprehension, considered simply from
an esthetic point of view. But they do
1t. AT any rate it would not be safe in
their presence or that of their friends to
intimate that some who attend are in the
least unlady-like. And it does not stop
with the people of the world The
Methodists and the Baptists, the Pres
byterians and the Episcopalians attend
in squads and battalions. If these four
denominations would withhold their pat
ronage, Robinson's circus could not ex-
hibit in North Carolina But name
counts for little. 1t is scarcely possible
that one single prayerful, consecrated
Christian went under Robinson's tent
while. it was touring the State.
The so-called State Fair was held in
Raleigh 1t was extensively advertised
40 IL SIlOulu nave D66U. Inc people.
proud of their native heath. in numbers
never before Appropriated went up for
holiday and to see and admire the pro-
ducts of the land they love, and to mark
her progress. But what did they see
Not an exhibition of the field, or the
shop, or the mill. Too rarely have these
things been mentioned in the press re-
ports. But the Midway! The Midway!
The Midway!!! 1.-THE space had to be
doubled to accommodate the Midway, -
an acre of He'll cut off and broughts here
to debauch our youth, pervert their taste
and befoul them with the stencil of the
pit!
A State Fair at Raleigh is necessity
OF this age. 1t is proper to offer prizes
Tor the breeding and training of horses,
cattle, sheep, hogs, the products of the
held and the loom, and for all kinds OF
handlcraft. But the Midway and the
swarms OF pick-pockets against whom the
management seems to have taken no ade-
quate precautions, this year completely
ecl1psed the legitimate work of the fair.
Most OF the daily papers about exhausted
the superfative degree in their efforts
to praise. 1T went off in a blaze of
glory, they said Even the work of the
pick pockets was spoken of as a mere in
cident; "a matter of course:' and there
is hardly community within three hun
dred miles of Raleigh that did not suffer
at the hands of these gentry only one OF
whom was arrested and he was detected
by a woman.
II this thing of dirty circuses and Mid
way Fairs is to be continued. the de-
bauchery OF the people is the only re-
suit. If the people want these things, il
is the duty of the pulpit and the press
TO enlighten the people. If the people dc
not want these things, and the majority
do not want them, it is the privilege OF
the pulpit and the press to cry out
against them and to spare not, and it Is
the duty of our legislators to protect us
If need be.
Respectfully,
A. r. MORGAN