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now'even thejr do not know exactly.
Some idea of the vast expense of
creating and maintaining a great cir
cus may be gained' from the fact
that the Ringling shows' menagerie
'alone is valued and insured at more
than $1,000,000; the forty performing
elephants are worth $250,000 The
robe worn by one elephant alone cost
$12,000.
The length of Ringlings' main tent
is 580 feet, the largest ever erected;
the menagerie contains 108 cages,
and the parade is 'three miles long.
The 4,500 costumes worn in the Solo
mon and the Queen of Sheba spec
tacle of the Ringhng circus cost
$500,000 and the spectacle itself was
produced at the cost of more than
$1,000,000, and to present it a ballet
of 300 girls is carried.
Double these latter figures for
the Barnum shows are about the
same size,' add -one-thini for the
, smaller shows controlled and you,wfU,
have some idea of the magnitude of
the"'!show" business.
Thirty-three years ago Al, Otto;
Alf T., Charlie ' and John Ringling
started the show as a concert troupe
with a rag carpet and a paper whale;
an-'old cornet, played by Alf; some
bottles and a' lamp which Al Jug
gled; John doing Dutch comedy, and
Charjie giving recitations, while Otto
got the money.
After one frail season in halls and
barns and'vacant store rooms they
bought two "horses. Al rode them
forty miles. They had a small teat
For ten years they struggled along
under canvas as a small "wagon
show." Then they grew, large
enpugh to buy cars. By 1900 they
had grown so that they were Berious
competitors of Barnum, Porepaugh
and Robinson and ranked with Bar
num. Those were battling years, for Bar
num and Bailey's show was deter
mined to hold its claim to the great
est on earth. The two great ctf
cuses lought each, other for life, fol
lowing each other over the same
routes. The Binglings were deter
mined to stimp themselves as the
greatest.
As it costs $8,000 a day for 200
days to run each of the sHows, and
perhaps $5,000 more to operate the
smaller ones, and they average about
300 days a. season, you may figure
easily that the American people pay
oyer $4,000,000 into the box office
before the Binglings can begin to
take interest on their investment and
count profit.
I went marketing with the steward
of the Ringling shows when he or
dered his supplies for one day. This
is what he ordered:
Four thousand five hundred pounds
fresh beef, 300 doz. eggs, 800 pounds
bread, 150 pounds butter, 25 bushels
potatoes, 12 bushels other vegetables,
150 pounds crackers, 25 pounds tea,
500 pounds sugar, 12 cases canned
goods, '100 pounds lard, 2 barrels
flour, 70 gallons milk, 5 cases canned i
milk', 30 gallons pie fruit, 100 pack
ages breakfast food and half a wagon
load of the incidentals of cooking.
To feed the horses, dogs, elephants
and other animals he ordered 10 tons
of hay, 5 tons of straw, 300 bushels
of oats, 750 pounds of raw meats and,
other smaller items.
There are more than a dozen races
represented among the performers.
There are Spaniards, Chinese, Jav--anese,
Japanese, Austrians, French,
Germans, Turks,. Russians, " Indians,.
East Indians, Balkans.
Of the five brothers who started,
Otto is dead, and his portion of the
Ringling shows he left to Henry, a
younger brother, so they still are the
Five Ringling Brothers.
SUFFS RAID THEATERS
London, June 13-Suffragets raid
ed -nearly dozen theaters in West End,
making speeches and scattering liter-'
ature. Perpetrator of bomb explo
sion in Westminster Abbey Thursday
not found. Arson squad made three
attempts to- burn ancient church at
St Margaret's at Chipstead.
WTBMWWiwirwH
