The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-10
JOHN RINGLING AS
 RAILROAD BUILDER
Transportation Wizard Of The Big Shows Indulges His}Fad
 In Opening New Ter z ritOrieS


 The wonderfuI success of the, Ring linz Fsrothers in the circus world is due to the cooperation that the brothers have always practiced- There was a large family, and each had a penchant for some particular feature of the circus business. The cornb1n- a+ion of inc resources of the brotherss and fhe continuance of the family spirit through their later life have fostered the success of their many enterprises. The career of their bus ir,ess is a striking exempliflcaton of tT,a fable of the father who called his sons together, and illustrated the strenesh of unity with the bundle of sticks
 roading. He loves to make railroad contracts and is charmed with the problem of transportation as IS youngster with a miniature ra1lPoad fresh from the Christmas tree.r Not c11x does he route the big circuses, and make the contracts for their trans portafion, but in odd moments he f31ffIds his own railroads and develops country that until he took hold of it's transportation problem, was 1naccess- Ible.
 A tight money market has retarded tbe building Nof -railroads for the last i've or six years and to such an ex- tent that to get money for such pur- poses is in itself an achievement.
  IL Hamon of. .Lawton, Okla, how hard it was to get money for a new rail road. Earnon used to. be chairman, of the republican state committee in oklahoma, and in his campaigns had learned a whole lot about raising funds But getting campaign money was easy compared to financing railroad Itfhad been his ambition for years to build a railroad, from Ard more to Lsawton. The line would rass through one of the richest agri- cultural sections of the state-the old f-hfckasaW Nation-w11ich had no railroad between Red River and the Arbuckle Mountains. Hamon Is a man of ceaseIess energy Secretly, he felt that if he should build this rail road it might stand as monument to the fact that he had rendered his state a public service.
 When he told his townsmen that he was going to New York to get money, and that he would stay until he got it. they bade him goodbye, and said they were sorry that he That was nearly two years ago. Hamon paid his own expenses.
 Found An Elephant,
 Month after month went by. Hamon explored every place in the east where men with big fortunes were said 4o live. Often he got no further than the E&kont office when it became known that he was a railroad pro- noter from a country town in the southwest. Hamon set his jaws and hung on, but sthe outlook was turn ing to a dull Blue color. He had been in the east almost year without having raised cent He learned by heart the story told to him by cap ifaIists that times were unprOpitious for investing in new railroads and that it was a waste of energy to talk about it.
 EfHamon was determined to keep up iappearances to the end, by putting A,sn at Inillfon-dollar hotels and fre- souenting places where miIlionaires eubIed. If he went broke the mis- sNprf11ue would take place where there was marble and music. After long Eaiting good luck came to him so .11ddenIv one night that he was dazed {or a week He got the money, Chunks of 1t. Down in Oklahoma it is called elephant money.
 Tn a fashionable grillroom Hamon was introduced to a tall, swarthy man vrith keen eyes, who has the reputa- fion of being able to ask more lead ing questions in a minute than a dozen men ordinarily would think Of S in an hour His name was John < EingIing not unknown to small boys who find happiness in going to cir cuses-
 you owe me $3.9O, owed it for twenty yearsy ana l am Tn ueed CT the money, said Hamon to Ringing stwhen I was a boy I ran away from 2 home, went broke in Nebraska, joined kour circus and got as far as Kansas City, where I was so overcome with homesickness that I cruelty deserted you without asking for my weeks wageG~