1918-10-21Theater Owners Protest

It was not just the churches in Hamilton that were closed by the Hamilton Board of Health, that same piece of legislation also ordered doors of Hamilton’s many theaters shut tight. The Spanish Influenza epidemic was spreading exponentially in mid-October.

In response, Hamilton Medical Health Officer, backed by members of the Hamilton Board of Health, ordered closing of places where the influenza might logically be expected to be spread indiscriminately.

While many other communities, including Toronto, did not go so far as closing movie and vaudeville theaters because of the epidemic, Hamilton’s theaters were ordered to close. Ambrose J. Small, owner of Hamilton’s Grand Opera, was also president of the Canadian Theater Managers’ Association, and in the latter capacity, he wrote the following letter of protest, calling the theater ban in Hamilton unjust and unwise:

 “Editor Herald, - In connection with the temporary embargo which has been placed on the Grand Opera house and the other theaters of the city of Hamilton, I respectfully submit that all citizens in your community should be treated alike and no distinction made as between places of amusement and any other place of business or quarter of the city where the public are wont to congregate or assemble for any purpose whatsoever, as no logic or reason can be found in endeavoring to abate the epidemic in one place if it is to be encouraged in any other. The Grand and the other principal theaters of your city are thoroughly well-ventilated and infinitely less dangerous to the general public than departmental stores, market places, office buildings, elevators and street cars that are jammed to the point of suffocation during rush hours.

“I fully appreciate the sincerity which undoubtedly moved the board of health to take the action in question, but nevertheless feel that they cannot be fully aware of the very serious consequences to the managers of the theaters and those in their employ, and to the members of the various companies booked for engagements at Hamilton in the immediate future. The business has been brought to a complete standstill, all employees are thrown out of work, and the incoming attractions are forced to lay off and lose every dollar expended on salaries to their performers, customs duties on their scenic productions and advertising material that had to be paid before they could enter Canada at all, together with the hundred and one other items of expensive incidental to the transportation and movement of theatrical companies from point to point in the province of Ontario.

“It is, unfortunately, a fact that those employed in the theatrical calling, are not, as a class, saving people, and I can assure you that in the case of theater employees in Hamilton, the loss of income due to your closing order is going to be an exceedingly serious matter in very many cases. I am informed that several have already expressed themselves to the effect that they will be forced to go to other cities in search of work, and the disruption of the local theatrical business that will certainly follow, unless the order is very soon rescinded, will mean a financial loss to both managers and employees which it will be quite possible to estimate.

“I would not press this seemingly selfish point of view if I was not thoroughly convinced that the opinion of the chief officer of the Ontario provincial board of health, Dr. J. W. S. McCullough, who expressed himself as not considering the closing of such places as theaters necessary, is founded upon sound judgment. I respectfully refer you to Dr. McCullough’s published statement in the Toronto Mail and Empire of Tuesday, October 8, in column three on page five, and I also quote you the following from an editorial in the Toronto Daily News of Saturday, Oct. 12 : ‘We do not believe that the range or severity of the influenza epidemic is sufficient to justify the closing of either the schools or other places of public resort. Those who are suffering from the disease are at home. Why compel thousands of young people to expose themselves unnecessarily to infection by remaining in close touch with the patients?’

“If thought desirable by the board of health, the management of the Grand Opera House would be altogether willing, as a matter of more abundant caution, to fumigate the theater under the direction of the board, at such intervals as they might think proper. By keeping the theaters open, well-heated places of amusement are furnished to hundreds of people who otherwise will be forced to spend their time in lodgings and other places where they will be much more liable to contract colds and influenza than they would in the comfortable surroundings of the theater. Those who attend theaters are very rarely face to face, and the danger of infection is by no means as great as in places where large numbers of people are meeting face to face. The long, continued wet weather appears to be over, and with it, we may reasonably expect better health conditions.

“In conclusion, the theatrical season is a very limited one, not more than nine months of the year at most, and the earlier portion of it (September, October and November) are the only months in which the managers of theaters are at least fairly sure of some profit and a reasonable rate of interest on their investments. After that period, the Christmas shopping season begins in earnest to the great detriment of the business in theaters, the three weeks immediately preceding the holidays being invariably the dullest of the entire year; and once the Christmas and New Year festivities are over, it is but a short space of time until the Lenten season is ushered in, and with its advent, the theater is always due another protracted period of depression.

“I sincerely trust that your board of health will see their way clear to rescind the closing order and respectfully submit that in many parts of the United States, where the type of influenza is much more aggravated than in Canada, all theaters have been allowed to remain open, with only this restriction : that the members of the audiences are warned that they must use their pocket handkerchiefs  when sneezing or coughing, under a penalty of ejection from the theater.

                                                Yours very truly,

                                                          AMBROSE J. SMALL,

                                           Canadian Theater Managers’ Association.

Tuesday, October 21, 1885¹

¹“Letters to the Editor : Closing of Theatres”

Herald.    October 23, 1918

1885-06-16oo Circ Wars

In June 1885, the management leaders of the Hamilton Spectator wanted to in no uncertain terms assert the Spectator’s dominance in the City’s newspaper.

Besides the competition between the Spectator and its main rival, the Hamilton Times, there also recently had been a third daily newspaper in Hamilton, the Tribune. Despite investing in the latest equipment for newspaper production and building a substantial office and plant for the paper on James Street North, the Tribune proved to be short-lived. The Spectator purchased the main assets of the Tribune, and in June 1885, the name, Daily Spectator and Tribune was used on the editorial page and on the front page.

Several months earlier, the Spectator had challenged the Times as to which paper had the highest circulation numbers. By June 16, 1885, the Times had not responded, so the challenge was repeated, after being fine-tuned :

The local newspapers of Hamilton in 1885, the Spectator and the Times were keen competitors. Ever out to trump bigger circulation numbers, more copies sold and more advertising revenues being garnered than the Times, the Spectator rolled out a challenge on June 16, 1885.

In that day’s Spectator, on the editorial page, the Spectator laid out, in detail, the complete nature of their message to the Times:

“The matter of newspaper circulation concerns you. The greater the circulation of the newspapers in which you advertise, the greater the return for the money invested in advertising.

“The following proposition was first printed in the Spectator of Wednesday, August 6. It has appeared in the Spectator every day since. The Times has not dared to accept it, or any part of it.

“The Times and Spectator to nominate each a prominent advertiser; then to nominate a third. The committee to examine into the circulation of both papers.

“The Spectator agrees to put up money as follows;

1.   A hundred dollars that the circulation of the Spectator is not less than that of the Times.

2.   A hundred dollars that the circulation of the Spectator exceeds that of the Times.

3.   A hundred dollars that the Spectator’s circulation exceeds that of the Times by one thousand copies daily.

4.   A hundred dollars that the Spectator’s circulation exceeds the Times’ circulation by two thousand daily.

5.   A hundred dollars that the Spectator’s circulation exceeds that of the Times by three thousand daily, and

6.   A hundred dollars that the circulation of the Spectator is double that of the Times.

“The Times to put up an equal amount of money, and the loser’s money to be paid over to any charity indicated by the winner. The circulation of both papers, as found by the investigating committee, to be published in both papers, first under the editorial head, in brevier type, on the day following that on which the committee makes report.

‘NO DEADHEADS

“No free papers to be included in the count.

“The Times has not dared to submit to the test, and

“MARK THIS :

“The Times WILL NOT, in future, DARE NOT submit to the test.”¹

¹ “To Advertisers : The Spectator’s Circulation is Double That of the Times ”

Hamilton Spectator     June 16, 1885.

1885-07-01Holiday Baseball

Full evidence of the grip that baseball had on Hamiltonians in 1885 was the schedule of the Canadian Baseball League. Hamilton was the only city in the league to have two franchises, the Clippers and the Primroses. On the national holiday, the Primroses played the Clippers at the Dundurn ball grounds in the morning. In the afternoon, the Clippers played an exhibition game against the Cass from Detroit also at the Dundurn yard, while the Primroses had to quickly travel to Guelph to play an afternoon game with that city’s Maple Leafs team. There was also an afternoon game involving the Torontos playing in London against the Londons.

          In 1885, the local newspapers were generally only a pages long, with only one page reserved for Hamilton local news items. As evidence of the interest of Hamilton residents on the baseball news of the day, the Spectator on July 2, 1885 devoted nearly have of that one page to sporting news, mostly baseball.

Following is that coverage as regards baseball in full, including full box scores.

         

                   THE CLIPPER-PRIMROSE MATCH

“This match created much interest among the admirers of the game. The fact that the Woods brothers were to be the battery for the Primroses led many to suppose that the Clippers were to be beaten, and almost everybody thought it quite possible that that result might be attained. There were five thousand spectators, and the Primroses had the sympathy of the crowd. People who had refused to applaud the Wood brothers cheered them vociferously yesterday. It was evident that the crowd wanted to see the Primroses win. Little Richardson, too, when he stepped to the front was received with applause. The game was a good one. There was little choice between the batteries. Both catchers caught well – Moore perfectly. Pete Wood pitched out more men than Chamberlain did, but eight hits were made off Wood, but two off Chamberlain. This fact is partially accounted for by the relative batting strength of the teams. As it was right there that the Clippers had the advantage; they out-batted the Primroses by a very heavy majority. And the Primroses assisted the Clippers’ batting by making errors rather too profusely. The very newest of the men in either team did not show to good advantage. Except Richardson and he is hardly a new man in Hamilton. He was the only man of the team who got to third base. It might be mentioned that only two reached second base, and only four arrived safely at first. The game was characterized by good sharp play, and it was quite evident that both teams played to win. Everybody was thoroughly satisfied that they had seen a capital game, and all Hamilton people are prepared to state, openly, that there two particularly clever ball teams in this neighborhood. Crowfoot umpired and did it well.  The scorer has this to say:

Clippers    A.B.    R.  B.H.  T.B.  P.O. 

 A.  E. Rainey, 3b    4     0      0        0       4     4  1

Andrus, ss                4    1      2        2        1     2  0

Moore, c.                  3     1     1        1         8    1  0

Chamberlain, p.        4     0     0        0         0   9   2

Crogan, lf.                 4     1     1        2         3   0   0                             Stapleton, lb.             4     1     2        2       13   0   0

McGra, 2b.                3     0     0        0          1  2   0

Wilson, rf.                  3     0     0        0          1  2   0

Hoyt, cf.                     4     0     1        1          1  0   0

_____________________________________________

Totals                       83     4     3        9        27 18  3

Primroses            A.B.    R.  B.H.  T.B.  P.O. 

 Bierbau,2b              4    0      0        0       1      0  0

Richardson, ss         4    0      1        1        2     0  0

Wilson, lf.                  4     0     0        0        1    0  0

P. Wood, p.               3     0     0        0         1  11  7

J. Wood, cf.               4     1     1        2         3    0  0                             

Jones, 1b, lf.              4     0     0        0         2   0   1   

Kirkland, 3b.               3    0    0        0           2   0   1                 

F. Wood, c.                2     0     0        0          1  2   0

Hoyt, cf.                     4     0     1        1         10  0   0

Barnfather, rf.            3     0     1        0           0  0   0

_____________________________________________

Totals                       29     0     2        3        24 13  13

Clippers ………… 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 *      4

Primroses ………… 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0      4

Runs Earned – None

First base on errors – Clippers 8, Primroses 1

First base on called balls – Clippers 4, Primroses 1

First base on Fielder’s choice – Clippers 1, Primroses 0

Reached first base – Clippers, 17, Primroses 4

Total called balls – On Chamberlain, 58, on Wood 83

Struck out – Clippers 8, Chamberlain, Crogan 2, Wilson 2, Hoyt 2; Primroses7, Bierbau, Wilson, 3, j. Wood, Kirkland, F. Wood.

Total strikes called – Off Chamberlain, 47; off P.Wood 42.

Left on base – Clippers 9, Primroses 3

Two base bit – Crogan

Double play – J. Wood to Richardson

Passed balls – Moore, 0, F. Wood, 1

Wild pitches – Chamberlain 1, P. Wood 1

Umpire – Crowfoot, Toronto.

Time of game – One hour and 35 minutes.

Attendance – 5,000

                   THE CLIPPER-CAS GAME

          “The Clippers have had their revenge. A little while ago, they sent a crippled team to Detroit without a catcher, and the Cass club played the Detroit league team and several other big teams against them, and crushed the poor Clippers 12 to 1. Yesterday, the Cass club sent one or two Cass men, the big slugger of the crack Indianapolis league team, and a lot of professional players over here to repeat the performance. But they didn’t. Rooney, a new man, pitched for the Clippers. He is a fat, good-natured sort of fellow, does his work easily and, does not seem, from the reporters’ box to be much of a pitcher. But, all the same, he makes them pound wind in an eminently satisfactory manner, and the hits made off him by the aggregation of sluggers opposed to him were few and far between. It must be that he deceived the reporter. He certainly deceived a large number of heavy batters. The Cass men were overmatched – the Clippers had a catcher – and the Clippers pulled away ahead of them. The seven foot slugger from Indianapolis finally knocked the ball away over the trees and back of the right field crowd. It had been agreed before the game that two bags only should be made of a hit in that crowd; but the tall fellow ran home. Then there were some expostulations. Finally, the Clippers grew generous and gave him the home run. Another man followed with another ball in the same direction, and made three bags. Then there was more expostulation ; but the umpire said that as the rule had been broken, it must stay broken. These performances and some errors judiciously placed by the Clippers, shot the Cass people up to 6 runs, but they staid there – just two behind the Clippers. The game on the whole was not a very brilliant display of ball; but the crow was invigorating. The attendance was probably the largest ever seen at a ball game in Hamilton. Listen to the score:

 Clippers    A.B.    R.  B.H.  T.B.  P.O. 

 A.  E. Rainey, 3b    5     2      3        3       2     2  0

Andrus, ss                4    0      1        1        1     2  7

Moore, c.                  4     2     3        3       11    5  1

Crogan, lf.                 4     0     0        0         1   0   0

Stapleton, 1b             3     0     2        3         8   0   1  

McGra, 2b.                4     1     2        2         3   4   1

Myers,cf.                   4     1     1        1          1  0   0

Rooney, p.                3     0     2        3          0 11   7

Hoyt, cf.                     4     2     1        1          0  0   1

_____________________________________________

Totals                       36     8    15       17        27 24  12

Cass            A.B.    R.  B.H.  T.B.  P.O. 

 Buckenberger,2b     1    0      0        0       4      3   1

 Poorman, lf.& p.       4    0      0        0        1     3   3

Walker, c.                  3     0     0        0        6    6   5

Thompson, 1b.          4     2     4        9        9    2    1

Rouseau, 3b.             4     2     1        1        2    0   0                             

Robinson, ss.              4    2     1        3         0   0   0   

Lawrence.p & lf.          4    0    0        0          1   2   2                 

Leadley, cf.                 4    0     0        0          1  2   0

Williams, rf.                 3     0     0        0          0  0  0

_____________________________________________

Totals                       30     6     6       13        24 16  15

Clippers ………… 2 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 *         8

Primroses ……     0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 2      6

Runs Earned – Clippers 0, Cass 1

First base on errors – Clippers 3, Cass 7

First base on called balls – Clippers 2, Cass 5

First base on Fielder’s choice – Clippers 2, Cass 1

Reached first base – Clippers, 20, Cass 14

Total called balls – On Rooney, 39, on Lawrence 22, on Poorman 40

Struck out – Clippers 5, Crogan, Stapleton. McGra, Myers, Hoyt; Cass 11, Buckenburger, Poorman, Rousseau 2, Robinson 2, Leadley 3, Williams, Lawrence.

Total strikes called – Off Rooney, 49; off Lawrence11, off Poorman 20.

Left on base – Clippers 6, Cass 2

Two bas

Two base hits – Stapleton, Rooney.

Three base hit – Robinson.

Home run - Thompson

Double play – Andrus to Stapleton, Poorman to Thompson to Walker

Passed balls – Moore, 0,  Walker, 2

Wild pitches – Rooney 2, Lawrence 1, Poorman 2

Umpire – Crowfoot, Toronto.

Time of game – One hour and 50 minutes.

                   MAPLE LEAFS v. PRIMROSES

          “Guelph, July 1 – The game here today between the Maple Leafs and the Primroses resulted in favor of the Leafs, much to the surprise of Guelph. The Primroses were strengthened, while The Maple Leafs had to put in the veteran Billy Smith to pitch. It was the first professional game he pitched since the old professional Maple Leafs and Tecumsehs were rival on the ball field. He received and ovation from the spectators as he stepped into the box. The Primroses presented Young and O’Neil as their battery as the Wood brothers, who played in the morning game against the Clippers, were not on the field this afternoon. Barnfather relieved O’Neil after the first inning, and caught the rest of the game. Both side batted freely. The following is the score by innings :

Maple Leafs ………… 0 3 1 0 0 1 1 0  2       8

Primroses ……            3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0        5

                   NOTES

“Poor old London!

“Yesterday was London’s Knight off.

“Richardson has forgotten how to run.

“Stapleton was struck four times by the ball while at bat yesterday.

“The Maple Leafs have some idea of joining the Canadian league.

“Two games and a long ride to Guelph was too much for the Primroses yesterday.

“The blue suits of the Primroses were better filled yesterday morning than ever before.

“News comes of a terrible accident at Guelph. The Maple Leafs have won a game.

“The Torontos are the most fatigued men in the league today. Nineteen times around the bases – Phew!

“Were they really men – ball playing men paid for playing ball – that let another lot of fellows make nineteen runs yesterday?”¹

¹“The World of Sport : Items of Interest to the Noble Fraternity : How It Was Observed By Hamilton People : Notable Ball Games ”

Hamilton Spectator     July 02, 1885.

1885-07-01 Holiday

“Canada’s eighteenth national holiday has come and gone, , and it leaves a memory of a cool and pleasant day, of flying flags, of music from many bands, of fire crackers and flaring fireworks, of dust, of ice cream, of soda water, cigars and – beer.”

Hamilton Spectator     July 02, 1885.

The first of July, 1885 was a national holiday in Canada. In Hamilton, all shops, factories, and stores, in fact nearly everything was closed for the day.

One of the very few that workers that did not have the day off was a Spectator reporter, who had the assignment of capturing the events of the holiday in Hamilton. He was busy from the break of day until well after sunset:

“Both early morning and late at night the streets were thronged with people, hurrying to the various attractions in and around the city, hustling to catch the excursion trains and boats for Buffalo, Toronto and elsewhere. But through the middle of the day, the streets were almost deserted. The weather could not have been finer. The sun was shining from a cloud-flecked sky, but a delightfully cool breeze blew through the day and prevented nature’s self-feeder from making things uncomfortably warm. There were happy faces everywhere, and it is safe to presume that the eighteenth anniversary of confederation was thoroughly enjoyed by Canada’s loyal subjects.”¹

¹  “Our National Holiday : How It Was Observed By Hamilton People : The Big I.P.B.S. Demonstration at Dundurn, House of Providence Picnic, and Other Holiday Attractions”

Hamilton Spectator     July 02, 1885.

The biggest of many attractions in Hamilton, on July 1, 1885 was at Dundurn park where the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society leased the grounds for the day, and provided all sorts of events within, tempting one and all to pay admission at the gate to enter:

“It was a successful event. This society’s demonstrations always are. They make their arrangements carefully and generously, provide excellent attractions, and spare neither pains nor expense to secure the enjoyment and comfort of their patrons. It is a way they have and a way that has made the Hamilton people feel , and know that when the I.P.B.S. undertake to do anything, they do it with all their might, and that in every instance, they can be depended upon to make that particular part of the day’s entertainment which they have under their care, an overwhelming success. It was so yesterday.

To induce ticket buyers to head for Dundurn, a procession containing a band and some uniformed marchers gathered in the city’s core:

“At 1:30 p.m., the Thirteenth band and two uniformed societies, the Royal Scarlet Knights and the knights of Sherwood Forest, formed in procession at the gore and marched to the grounds. They took a large crowd with them, and thousands more filed in through the afternoon.”¹

Dundurn Park itself was always an attraction, particularly in the summertime, and it was an animated, jolly place on July 1, 1885:

 “Dundurn was looking as pretty as it well could, and it was crowded with a jostling mass of promiscuous humanity, plentifully sprinkling with white and colored summer dresses, that contrasted well with the more sober garb of the male portion of the audience.”¹

Hamilton was baseball mad in 1885, and the managers of the demonstration scheduled two games at Dundurn’s ball grounds, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, to induce the baseball ‘cranks’ to pay the fee to get into the grounds. The grandstand beside the baseball field, only constructed that spring, would be well-filled for both games.

“The morning game was between the two Hamilton franchises in the professional Canadian Baseball League, the Clippers and the Primroses. The number of people estimated to watch the game was about 5,000. Of especial interest were the three Wood brothers, top level professional baseball players from Buffalo, New York. The brothers had recently left the Clippers, saying that their contract had been broken because the Clippers’ manager had not played all three at the same time in a game, despite them being promised that they would always be on the field together. The Wood brothers had simply decided to break their contract with the Clippers and signed up with the other Hamilton team, the Primroses.

While the morning game was well-attended, the afternoon game attracted more than twice as many, believed to be the largest attendance at a game ever before in Hamilton’s sporting history. Not only was the grandstand completely full, fans circled the field and had to be restrained from getting into the field of play itself. A ball which landed in the outfield crowd was an automatic double, while any ball hit over and beyond the crowd was a home run.

However, as the game was in progress, several other things were happening at Dundurn:

“While the match was in progress, the uniformed societies (each body 23 strong) gave an exhibition drill, and won frequent applause for the excellent manner in which they went through the difficult evolutions they were called upon to perform.

“The Thirteenth band was in the park all day, and furnished the exquisite music that Hamilton people have been taught to expect from it. Melody was also provided during the afternoon and evening by the Lomas family of juvenile musicians. The Thirteenth string band played at the dancing platform for scores of people who tripped the light fantastic until their feet ached”¹

In a series of brief descriptions, which appeared under the heading, Notes, the Spectator reporter wrote:

          “The grounds were very orderly. There were no disturbances and no inebriates.

          “The children from the boys’ and girls’ homes were on the grounds during the afternoon.

          “The blind gentleman with the violin and extraordinary vocal powers reaped a harvest of pennies.

          “Mr. J. H. Eager and Mr. Robert Irwin attended to the ticket selling. They did it well, and appeared to be able to keep Barnum’s lightning pasteboard dispenser hustling to keep up with them.

          “ The street car service to the park was excellent, and plenty of accommodation was provided. Mr. M.C. Dickson, the superintendent, looked after it in person, and patrons of the line feel grateful to him for the thoroughly efficient manner in which he did it.”¹

By late afternoon, most of the huge crowd which had been in Dundurn Park started to leave, and for a very brief time, there were few people left in the beauty spot:

“Ball match and games at an end, the spectators filed out , for the afternoon was getting unsatisfactorily near 6 o’clock, and thoughts of edibles to dispose of were disturbing the sight-seers. But the grounds were not empty long for the people had scarcely gone out before they commenced to return again. The band and the plumed knights marched up again in the evening. By 6:30 o’clock the grandstand and the grounds were once more filled to overflowing.”¹

The evening experience at Dundurn was made memorable for many on July 1, 1885 as outdoor electric lights, still a novelty at the time, were turned on, until the time came to turn then off again:

“The electric lights were in full blast, though they were put out while the fireworks were being set off. The fireworks were all arranged to face the grandstand, and people who chose that vantage point to sit in, had an excellent view of the magnificent display. Mr. J. Pain, of London, England, who was running the exhibition of colored pieces, seems to understand how to do sort of thing pretty well. The effects were novel and ingenious and the colors artistically blended. The bombardment of Alexandria was about the most elaborate set piece of the evening, and brought prolonged applause from the people, whose upturned faces looked very peculiar from the effects of the variegated lights. At 10 o’clock, God Save the Queen sounded from the band, which signified that it was time for all to skip.”¹

There were other attractions for Hamiltonians to choose from on July 1, 1885.

At Bayview park at the far west end of Hamilton bay, an immense crowd, who were mainly taken there by the steamer Lillie, enjoyed picnicking, roller skating and outdoor dancing. At Ainslie park, along the line of the Hamilton and Dundas street railway, the Sons of Temperance held a picnic. At the Ocean House, the hotel at the beach strip near the canal, roller skating was a prime indoor attraction, while outdoors, picnic parties on the sand were held and numerous fishermen could be seen trying their luck from shore or out on the waters of lake or bay. Finally, there was the then new Lansdowne Park, on the shoreline of Hamilton bay at the foot of Wentworth street north, where another temperance picnic was held attended by about 600.

However, Dundurn was the place to be for thousands upon thousands of citizens, and it proved to be as popular with all who went there at some time during the day:

“The demonstration was more largely patronized than the average demonstration is, and this is due to the fact that the committee did not provide a multiplicity of attractions, dispensed with speech-making and a long list of games, and had the attractions they had, the best they could procure. The total attendance was considerably over 12,000.”¹