Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-06-29
THE CARNIVAL MENACE.
Danger to Small Communities
Pointed Out. .


SHY OF population, and in a meas
ure 1t Is right, says a writer III
Henry Ford's Dearborn lnde-
pendent. However, there are
some things for which the moral
consciousness of the big immor-
al' city won't stand but for
which the small town or small
city or rural community will.
Recently, tor example, ten men
were bound over by a New York
city court for trial III a higher
tribunal on the charge Of ope-
rating al improper amusement
venture. Yet the kind of amuse-
ment for the production of which
tney were held as criminals is not
ohiy permitted i'll the vast ma
JOrily Of small towns and cities
Dut Is welcome at places, such as
agricultural fairs, where rural
people come chiefly Tor diversion
anu ENTERTAINMENT.
The ten men operated what is
known as u carnival show
Inspector Henry stated that
both The governor and the mayor
had directed that such affairs be
prevented. lie declared that SO
per cent of the attendants were
children under II. AS result
OIL this condition. the inspector
salu, 'carnlvais are great men
ace 10 any community for they
are invariably Improperly con-
ducted.'
The reason why travelling
carnival companies always come
~ Ia town under the auspices of
some local popular organization
IS because they all violate one or
more sections OF the State laws
which prohibit lotteries, games Of
chance, gambling and indecent
SHOWS, and they need the infiu-
, ence OF some local organization
10 protect them from police i'll
tcrIcrence. That statement is
from ": Il. Miller, superintend-
entg OF the New York Civic league.
which has made extensive inves-
LEGATIONS of carnival shows"
ana as result has been endeav-
Oring to have them outlawed-as
they have been in great many
communities and, partially, in
one State, Parenthetically, it is
interesting to note that that
State, South Carolina, outlaws
them except when they operate
at agricultural fairs, where, all
agree, their worst features gener-
ally are in greatest evidence! The
law protects the "boobs' OF the
town and city, leaving those of
the rural districts to the tender
mercles of the sharps who ope-
rate the concessions which are
inseparable features of travelling
carnlvals.
In our long experience in
fighting these evils we have never
known OF u travelling carnival
company which was not largely
combination Of gamblers and
lewd women," declared Mr.. Mil
Ter. 'The demOralizing effect
Of such carniyals is seldom real
lied by the people Of the town.
The disastrous results to the
moral and physical health of the
young men, where one Of the car
niyals spends a week, cannot be
\ eradicated by the efforts OF the
churches in whole year.
In Pennsylvania town, is is
stated, the physicians traced 342
eases of certain types Of disease
to q travelling carnival company
How often you have known
or read Of some girl being en-
ticed away by. a carnival or fair
show" says an exconcessionaire
in the Confessions of Fair Fax
err published in The Country
Gentleman. Hundreds of farm
girls have disappeared that way,
swallowed up in the unhealthy,
degrading lice of the lowest type
of carnival show
Last year in Chicago, u carni-
val show operator was fined
$4,000 and gwen a 20 year sem
tence in the penitentiary for vio-
lating the Mann (white. slave)
act. -Four girls, all from small