Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1920-02-14
A DECISION, WTAL
TO CITY, DEPENDS
ON ELMAN RECITAL
IF AUDIENCE FAILS 0. n. S.
BOARD SWAN SONG WILL BE
SUNG FOR FURTHER APPEAR
ANCE HERE OF WORLD "A.
NOUS ARTISTS.

NOUS ARTISTS.
\ note of warning that unless the
.Nischa lllman recital Thursday, Feb
ruary -, was well attended, future
attempts to bring world famous art
lists here would be abandoned in the
future, was issued today by the
township nigh school board of eduCa'
tiun. The note, in he form of a state
meat, is signed by all members of the
board, and sets forth the hopes OF
the high school to continue its grade
Of entertainments without meeting
serious financial rcverses.
That the prospects Tor q big au
dionCe Thursday hight are good, is
evidenced b., the rapidly disappearing
fear Of intiuenza, the recent epidemic
having been almost entirely conquer
ed, while reports coming from the
health department announcing thIt
fear of further spread OF hte contagiOn
is reduced to a minimum. Then there
is the further assurance of the high
school auditorium being the best ven
tilated room in this section OF Hi
nois.
The statement OF the board sayS:
"TO THE PEOPLE OF OTTAWA
AND VICINITY:
The high school board desires to
call your attention To the following
facts.
l. In the past we haze authorized
our principal to book on the average
about two iirSi-claSs entertainments
each winter. to be given in the high
school auditorium. These entertain
ments have been much appreciated
and we'll patroniZed From them a
small profit has been realized, all of
which has been used for strictly
school purposes
,, Last fall We authorized Mr.
kingman to booN for this winter the
Syncopated Orchestra, which gave
their entertainment here on January
9th, and also Mischa Elman. who is
to give his recital on the evening OF
the 18th instant These two enter
tainments are the very best to be
secured in their respective spheres.
The SyEcopated Orchestra gave an
excellent recital. but was only fairly
patrunized, and we suffered a slight
loss as a result.
Mischa Elman is the greatest VIC
lin artist of the present or the past.
In order 10 secure him we are com
PEELED to pay him $3.50 for the even
ing which is considerably less than
he charges for his recitals in large
cities. This price includes. of course,
his acCompanist and all other charges
connected with his organization. In
addition TO that sum, however. We will
have the expense Of advertising and
the expense of lighting and heating
the auditorium at the time. We have
very little money left in the fund de-
voted to this purpose. and unless we
have ull house we will not break
even, and it may use up the remain
der of our fund.
:" We cannot continue to bring to
Ottawa entertainments of this char
acter unless we can at least make
both ends meet. Ii our citizens do
not desire to have the opportunity of
attending these entertainments at
home, but prefer to go to Chicago to
see them. and thereby incur very
much greater expense therein. the
High School Board will make no fur
ther effort along that line We cannot
use the money raised by taxation for
the purpose Of meeting any dc felt
that might result from losses incurred
in bringing these entertainments to
Ottawa. We sincerely trust our peO-
pie viii show, by full attendance
at Mischa Elman's concert, that they
desire a continuance OF these OppurlJI-
mites.
f. The high school board feels
that ii is entirely proper use to make
OF It's auditorium, and il cannot b"
said that we have overdone the mat.
ter in bringing only two of such en-.
tertainments to Ottawa during each
school year, Whether or not you de.
sire TO have the opportunity in the
future to attend cutertainme lts of
this character will. of necessity. be
determined by the patronage accord
ed by the public. II that patronage is
not sufficient to pay the actual eXpen-
SEES Incurred we will be compelled to
cease our efforts in that behalf
So many favorable expressions of
opinion have reached us in the past
on this particular question that We
feel encouraged in the matter, and we
felt that the great additional work
imposed by reason thereof was com
pensated by the fact that the enter
tainments gave general public salts
faction. The work in making proper
arrangements for them. and of carry
ing on the necessary advertisement,
and the great amount of detail con
nected with each entertainment. has
proven no small additional labor for