The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-12-04
Do We overdo rtY

from the springfield, Mass, Republican.
lied? That is the view taken by a Wis
consin professor who complains that fine
high cost OF living is further Increased.
the needless multiplication of entertain
ments, attendance upon some of which is
almost compulsory. Every small town.
he says. SIS filled with more organizations
today than its actual intellectual, social.
moral and religious need warrants Wa
are used to the complaint so far as the
multiplicity of competing churches is COM
cerned; this rebelllous professor, who
may recently have been held up" fol-
the price of tickets for some fuction that
he hated, carries his analysis of conditions
further:
This is a problem of the man In the
town and smaller city. 1t probably has
little significance in the larger cities, but
this I DO know. It surely applies to towns
problem is nothing more than that Of
mans entertainment and the manner in
which this is furnished. There. entertain
ments are put on for the intellectual and
social betterment of the community to re-
lieve the weary and careworn for a brief
period and thus make life more pleasant.
the foregoing, but the actual fact is that
most of these so-called entertainments are
the schemes of some promoter, local or
otherwise to procure money for some
cause. Some organization needs money,
ana this Is one way of getting the public
to pay. The organization may be very
worthy, the entertainment may be high
class, but the multiplicity of organizations
in such towns and cities has produced
such a struggle for the means of support
That the entertainments have come so
feited and cannot enjoy the best when it
does come. The solicitations made in many
cases demand quite as much, If complied
with. as is actually expended for gro
cerles In the family budget"
The community needs entertainments.
or course, but they ought not to be too
numerous, and they ought to be made
can afford excellent concerts, lectures,
etc, provided the people will save up their
money for something worth while. The
trouble is that with so many mediocre at
fractions crowded in for the benefit of one
cause or another, this potential support is
dissipated. while the people are being
heavily taxed for what Is often rather
Of things described has created a great
field in America for a quite second-rate
class of public Observation-Disclosures
SIGNALS who could not thrive under any
message, bungling musicians, performers
of all sorts that the public would not pay
to hear If not drawn by loyalty to some
cause.
For these people a reform would be a
disaster. but after all they could find
Other ways to make a living. and the need
inspiring lectures, plays and concerts,
to be put first. 1t might at first
kseem a little hard on the causes" also,
yet probably the loss would be less tina
!rAa g5ped, for the waste in raising money
In thfsgway is great. Often when enthusi-
asm has done Its utmost to coerce people
Into tickets, the net profits will be pitt
fully small. Moreover, the greater the
competition, the less the profits for the
organizations which promote the enter
tainments, while the tax on the public In
creases, and with 1t the difficulty In sus-
tanning those performances which stand
on their merits. It would be much more
sensible to give directly to the treasury
or Is cents on the price of a N-cent ticket,
and save the rest for first-rate entertain
ments of interest and value to all.