The Topeka state journal., 1921-07-29
TOPEKAST JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, d. @.
OUR INTELLECTUAL CIRCUS.

OUR INTELLECTUAL CIRCUS.
Washington. D. c., July 26.-High
! in the list of typically American in
stitutions, together with Election Day
an6 the Ziegfeld Follies. is the in
/ creasingly popular form Of entertain
ment known as the Chautauqua, which
has been termed the Intellectual Cir
Gus of America. Chautauqua authori-
| ties say that last year approximately
! one-third of the population Of the
! United States-35,449,7 people-at-
| tended ~chautauqua performances. It
has been predicted that this year the
! rumber enjoying this form of educa-
tional entertainment and its sister
| type. the lyceum program, will reacn
the fifty million mark.
Every state in the Union has COM
munities which patroniZe the chau-
tauqua, but the Great ChautauQua
Belt, as the trade term has it, lies in
the middle western states including
nois, 1852; Ohio, S17; and Pennsyl-
| vania, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri
Wisconsin and Oklahoma. New York
state has 201 separate chautauquas
, aside from the great organization at
Lake Chautauqua- Last year S,IS1
towns granted their inhabitants and
those of neighboring communities the
privilege of chautauqua programs.
The movement is growing beyond
the bounds of this country and at pres
ent two continents including four
countries have chautauquas in their
midst. In North America the United
States, Canadafand Alaska are favored
with the presence of these organiza-
tions. In Australia, chautauqua pro-
grams are given in New Zealand. Chr-
nese students m this country are said
to be eager to carry the chautauqua
| IN
Lloyd George, prime minister of Eng
land has been quoted as giving the
chautauqua his heartiest approval.
There seem to be four prime factors
in the psychological basis which lies
beneath the marvellous success OF
this institution. They are the getting
away ct the members of the audience
from thei- mere community interests,
the getting together of a large body,
of people under the cover OF one of
these khaki-covered COLLEGES the
formal discussion of big prob
lens; and the decidedly informal
atmosphere discussion of big prob
lens, and the decidedly informal
atmosphere of the place where the
program is given. These factors,
extremely paradoxical, yet they are
not And, above all, one should not
forget, in this connection. what GIL
bert K. Chesterton, king Of paradox
, lists Qf such a word may be permit
ted) has stated, namely, that the
American people have a positively he
roic capacity for giving and receiving
/ lectures
Under the Brown Top.
Come inside the big brown tent for
minute and stand with othersl be-
hind one of the poles which support
the great brown top" Every folding
| chair in the place is filled with solid
men, nervous women, blinking chill
dren. A young lady in foulard
| dress sits with folded hands before
the rented upright piano. row OF
perspiring but earnest speakers and
town officials rest their hands on
their knees as they sit in semi
circle on the little platform, the archi-
tectural crudeness of which is hidden
beneath gay red, white, and blue
draperies. Tiny flies polka-dot the
sputtering electric lights. The i'm
the flock of automobiles outside is
sounded occasionally. At length the
gentleman standing by the rickety
| little cherry-varnished stand support
ing the proverblal pltcner OF ICE
water, has ceased speaking. A swarm
| ing buzz of discussion gradually arises
after the first timidly volunteered
questions. Struggling groups wait to
shake the speakers hand. The string
quartet, which played Tschsikowsky'
up the Star Spangled Banner.
The subject on the program may be
on any issue of general interest. New
foods, Shakespearian drama, selections
from grand opera, clever readings by
famous authors, Bolshevism. the
League of Nations, the latest thing in
Iairplanes, national debts, are all sub
jeets which have been brought before
interested chautauqua audiences. the
object of the chautauqua is the bring
| ing of knowledge and uplift in all
directions to the people.
The admission price is low, the pro-
gram full of live interest and the entire
performance as carefully thought out
and planned beforehand as the menu
which a skilled French chef prepares
for the most particular of banquets.
The mental diet qualities of each pro-
gram are carefully weighed prior to
their selection. There may be a GER
tain number of calories of science, a
| few of travel. considerable music of
varying kinds, a little politics, and this
year especially, plenty of good solid
Anericanisn1.
The Radcliffe Chautauqua system,
one of the largest of the fourteen large
systems in the United States is special
izing in American ideals this season.
The three big programs offered by this
system have as their topics Americas
Political IDEAL" Americas Social
Idear' and Americas Industrial
Ideal" The other numbers on this
chautauqua's programs for the present
season are equally topics of the
moment including "A Community Pro-
gram THE Value of the Individual"
and Americans All" The last is de-
| tachment of men collected from the re-
cruit educational centers of the United
States army. This Radcliffe system is
said to be the only one in the country
which carefully collects the material
and performers for the entire seasons
programs in preliminary cooperation
to see that there will be no overlap
ping Of interests, no trite methods of
treatment, and, above all, that there
may be complete unity in each pro-
gram.
All of the various systems attempt