“All taxation is an incubus, a handicap upon productive energy, and every dollar taken out of productive channels to go to public running expenses is a dollar gone.”1
When Robert M. La Follette became governor of Wisconsin in 1901, he had reform on his mind. He sought to stop governmental corruption and throttle big-business influence peddling. The governors who immediately followed La Follette (James Davidson, 1906–1911, and Francis McGovern, 1911–1915) had similar agendas. These years became known as the Progressive Era in Wisconsin.
One element of reform that grew out of this political climate—though some argued it was not reform but a drag on progress—was a state income tax. On January 27, 1911, a state income tax bill was introduced in the state legislature. After considerable debate in both houses, Governor McGovern signed the income tax bill into law on July 14. Wisconsin’s new graduated income tax levied a 1 percent tax on annual incomes over $1,000 ($18,500 in 2002 dollars) and 6 percent on incomes over $12,000. In 1911 most people did not earn even $1,000 per year and thus would be exempt from the tax. Nevertheless, “[t]he new tax was subjected to brutal attacks even before it went into effect, but it survived all tests in court.”2
The Ringlings, of course, would be subject to the 6 percent tax, and they were furious. They considered the income tax grossly unfair because they earned most of their income outside the state, and they quickly began voicing their unhappiness. A Chicago Tribune reporter described the Brothers’ financial situation:
The progressive legislation of Wisconsin includes a graduated income tax ranging up to 6 percent. The Ringlings, who winter their [Forepaugh-Sells] and Ringling circuses in Baraboo are thus called upon to contribute somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 (approximately $525,000–$700,000 in 2002 dollars) on an income derived almost entirely outside the commonwealth. This they consider unfair. They said so to the legislature, to the governor, and to the tax commission with no appreciable effect.3
The Ringlings suggested they would not return to Wisconsin at the end of the 1912 season. Once again, rumors spread about the Ringlings leaving Baraboo.
The Chicago Tribune story fed the fire. The reporter penned his article as if the circus was leaving Baraboo in the spring of 1912 for good.
No more will the unwieldy elephant his lithe proboscis swing upon the picturesque streets of Baraboo, Wisconsin; no more will the tiger’s fearful symmetry inspire the casual admiration of the inhabitants of that sophisticated town. Gone are the red chariots, following in the wake of many sleek and plumed coursers; gone the yellow railway cars, the blithe calliopes, the bright band wagons, and all the arenic glory that once was Baraboo. In short gone are the Ringlings, taking with them everything from snakes to spangles—the reason being that they have found it cheaper to move than to pay taxes.4
The Ringling Brothers detested all forms of taxes. They were especially appalled at Wisconsin’s new income tax, arguing that they earned only a tiny portion of their substantial income in Wisconsin. MADISON DEMOCRAT, JULY 14, 1911; WHS MICROFILM P43429
Over the years there were several times that it seemed the Brothers would leave Baraboo. In 1888 the Milwaukee Sentinel reported, “The Ringlings have lately purchased a tract of land here [Waupaca, Wisconsin] to accommodate their circus and menagerie and will winter here in the future.”5 In 1896 the Ringlings seriously considered moving to the old Forepaugh winter quarters in Philadelphia.6 In 1897 the Ringlings had apparently considered a move to Whitewater, Wisconsin: “There has been considerable talk about Ringling Bros. changing their headquarters from Baraboo to Whitewater, but Baraboo will continue to be the home of the ‘World’s Greatest Shows.’”7 Such rumors surfaced again in 1906 and 1909.
This time it seemed like a move was a sure thing. But during the winter and early spring of 1912, the Brothers continued to make improvements on the buildings at Baraboo winter quarters. In March Al Ringling purchased the old Wisconsin House in downtown Baraboo (across the street from the courthouse park) with the intent of razing it and building a new twelve-hundred-capacity theatre at the location. The Baraboo Weekly News proclaimed, “The playhouse will give Baraboo a building not equaled in other cities in its class as no expense will be spared. … It will no doubt be known as ‘The Ringling’ and should be so called for the ones who have done much for Baraboo and who are willing to keep the good of the city at heart as the years go by.”8 In April the Isenberg brothers began tearing down the old ring barn, at that time the oldest of the Ringlingville buildings, built in 1888.9
It’s possible that the Brothers believed that the new income tax would be amended to exempt firms that did much of their business out of state. Likely, they had not yet made any real decision about their future winter quarters. But Al put his downtown Baraboo theatre plans on hold, and the Brothers continued to let the public believe they would not return to Baraboo in the fall of 1912.
In early 1912 the women’s suffrage movement was gaining momentum across the country, and on April 1 of that year the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association wrote to the Ringlings:
You are perhaps aware that on April 9 the question “Are you in favor of the extension of suffrage to women?” will be submitted to the men of Chicago on a preferential ballot. This is the first time the matter has ever been presented to the voters of Illinois, and the women are very anxious that the attention of as many as possible shall be called to this opportunity. … We would very much like to put some advertising features in your circus. Of-course, this will be widely noticed in the papers to your great pecuniary advantage we hope and believe. … [T]o save time may we hear from you by telephone, Harrison 3856.1
The Ringling Brothers replied on April 2:“Esteemed Madam. … [I]t has been an inflexible rule with this company to avoid giving publicity to anything in the way of either religious or political movements, and we are sorry to say it will be impossible for us to introduce any advertising features in our circus.”2
NOTES
1. Mary R. Plummer, Secretary, Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, to the Ringling Brothers, April 1, 1912, Fred Pfening III, private collection, Columbus, Ohio.
2. Ringling Brothers to Mary R. Plummer, Secretary, Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, April 2, 1912, Pfening collection.
The deadline for the income tax payment was April 1. On March 6 Al wrote from Baraboo to his brother Charles, wintering in Sarasota, Florida: “It is getting time we should send in our tax list. I understand people around here are filling out their lists and sending them in. We do not know what to do in this matter. Will you be here soon, or will you suggest to us what you think we should do in the matter as the time will soon be up when we are supposed to have our list filled out and sent in.”10
When people across the country read about the Ringlings’ apparent plans to leave Baraboo at the end of the 1912 season, offers for new winter quarters poured in. Most came from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The offers included a three-hundred-acre farm one-quarter mile from a “steam railroad” (Ravena, Ohio), an abandoned woolen mill plant (Peru, Indiana), a cement works (Kimmell, Indiana), fifteen acres and nine buildings with three railroad spurs (Kankakee, Illinois), an “old race track grounds” (Joliet, Illinois), and an old fairgrounds (Adrian, Michigan). By July 1, 1912, the Ringlings would receive fifty such offers.11
Wisconsin newspapers carried several stories about the possibility of the Ringlings leaving the state. One article began, “Baraboo is receiving one bad commercial blow after another; recently the Northwestern road changes affected a number of families causing their removal to other points, now comes the statement that the Ringlings are leaving the place on account of the effects of the income tax.”12
Some people weren’t sympathetic to the Ringlings’ plight. To someone making less than a thousand dollars a year, hearing that someone earning two hundred times more had to pay income tax, the likely response was, “Tax them, they can afford it. After all, wasn’t that what the so-called progressive income tax was all about?”13 Charles apparently had been hearing comments to this effect, and on April 19 he wrote a letter to the editor of the Sauk County Democrat:
I am advised that there is a decided misunderstanding as to the taxes the Ringlings have been paying the past years at Baraboo. I believe statements made by some of our friends have created a wrong impression, and in order to correct same I wish to state that the Ringling families, including taxes paid on homes and personal property, as well as on circus property, have been paying about ONE TWENTIETH of all taxes collected in Baraboo, a city between six and seven thousand inhabitants. This of course does not include taxes paid by employees of the circus. As this is a matter of record the above statements can be easily verified by anyone interested enough to inspect the tax records.14
Not everyone in Baraboo thought well of the Ringling Brothers. A Chicago reporter wrote about their apparent departure:
So Baraboo is perturbed. Not demonstrably so, for I saw a Northwestern locomotive pull forty Forepaugh cars out of the shops the other day and start east with no one in Baraboo looking on. It was deemed expedient, however, to apprise the tax commission of the catastrophe and Mr. Haugen … a Progressive, was none too tactful, and he told Baraboo quite candidly that Mr. Otto Ringling, deceased, had not paid his fair share of the expenses of the state.15
Nevertheless, a group of business and professional men of Baraboo, no doubt recognizing the Ringlings’ economic contributions to the city, offered the Brothers their support and made a plea for them to stay in Baraboo. Mayor G. T. Thuerer, chairman of the group, declared, “Some step should be taken to keep the show in Baraboo and that the present conditions came about as the result of the income tax law.”16 The group drafted a resolution that read in part:
The business men and citizens of Baraboo on this 23rd day of April 1912, at a mass meeting assembled, hereby resolve: That it is the sense of this meeting that the citizens of Baraboo as well as the citizens of Wisconsin feel a just pride in the success of the Ringling Brothers. … Their success is chiefly due to their integrity, their loyalty to their home town, their manly methods, their devotion to business, their fidelity to each other and their high ideals. They have materially assisted in building up our city, have built beautiful homes and in addition to the annual amount of money they spend, they have added greatly to real estate values and the general prosperity of the place. … We pledge our loyalty and offer our undivided support to Ringling Brothers and express the hope that their business interests may not be antagonized to any extent that will necessitate the removal from Baraboo of their permanent winter quarters. Adopted, George T. Thuerer, Chairman, T. F. Risley, Secretary.17
The Brothers, still having made no firm decision about a new winter quarters location, continued planning and preparing for the 1912 season. As usual, John Ringling spent much of the winter in Europe seeking new acts. During one trip he learned about a stage show featuring Joan of Arc. He described it in a letter to Al:
When the spectacle of “Joan of Arc” was done at the Hippodrome in Paris it was the biggest success of any spectacle every produced in that city. … One feature in this spectacle amounted to a sensation and was the talk of Paris; in the spectacle they burned Joan of Arc, and as the smoke and flames came up around Joan, she made her getaway into the bottom of the funeral pyre, and in her place there was a very finely gotten up dummy, dressed like Joan of Arc, and two angels came down from the top of the building on wires … This could easily be done at the Coliseum in Chicago and would be a great effect.18
Al was not especially impressed with the Joan of Arc idea. He wrote back to John:
Your letter of recent date received and note what you say concerning Joan of Arc. Yes, I believe that the burning of Joan the way you say would be well as far as the flash and spectacular work is concerned, but we all thought to keep away from that part of this: finishing the “Spec” with the coronation of King Charles. I doubt whether the burning scene would take so well with a big majority of our patrons. It might perhaps be looked on as sacrilegious.19
John, obviously exasperated with his older brother, wrote back, “Regarding the burning of Joan of Arc, I think you will make a big mistake if you don’t put this on. It certainly will make a big hit and will create a lot of talk. No one could look upon this as being sacrilegious—in fact it will be considered the opposite.”20
Later that spring Charles, now back in Baraboo to help with the tax payment, wrote to John in New York City:
With reference to the Joan of Arc matter: Al says that we will try to work this ascension if we can. Of course you know that our drop curtain at the coliseum comes out to the edge of the balcony, and we would have to work this from a position in front of the drop curtain as we cannot draw her up through the balcony floor. However, I believe this can be worked out all right and shall try to assist Al in getting away with it, which he seems agreeable to.21
The Ringlings featured the spectacle “Joan of Arc” in 1912. The Brothers had some disagreements about how it should be staged. The press later applauded this new spectacle, proclaiming it a “welcome change from dangerous thrillers.” COURIER COLLECTION, CWM
With regard to the 1912 season opening in Chicago, Charles wrote, “Do not know whether I will be able to come down to the opening or not. Wisconsin state tax matter has got us going here, and it must be attended to before the first of April.”22
In the wardrobe department at Ringlingville Baraboo, “Joan of Arc” (Elizabeth Rooney) tried on costumes for the spectacle, assisted by equestrienne Edna Curtis. Charles Ringling, second from right, was actively involved in the smallest details. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
Amid rumors and speculation about the Ringlings’ future winter home, the two shows opened their 1912 seasons. The Barnum & Bailey show, with John and Alf T. Ringling in charge and featuring the spectacle Cleopatra, opened in New York’s Madison Square Garden in March. The show played East Coast towns into July and then moved into the Midwest and the West.
The Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows and the new spectacle Joan of Arc opened at the Chicago Coliseum on April 6, 1912, and played there for thirteen days before going under canvas in Danville, Illinois, on April 26. The show moved east and by June was in eastern Canada, where it played from June 10 to June 22.
The 1912 Ringling parade featured a twenty-camel team, with five camels walking abreast, a team of eight zebras, six elephants driven tandem, and a “great golden band chariot with a team of 30 horses.”23
The Ringlings billed their new Joan of Arc show as a “$500,000 magnificent spectacle.”24 Reviews were positive. The Toledo Blade (no doubt with help from a Ringling press agent) reported, “The addition to the regular performance of the wordless spectacle of ‘Joan of Arc’ has given Ringling day a double significance. In one big scene, the coronation of Charles VII, 1,200 characters are within view of the audience.”25
Another Midwest newspaper declared, “Joan of Arc Spectacle Welcome Change from Dangerous Thrillers.” The story went on to applaud the spectacle:
The gorgeous pageant of Joan of Arc was perhaps the most unique and impressive feature of the entire circus. About 300 took part in this magnificent spectacle, arrayed in the brilliant and elaborate costumes that were peculiar to the French court life of that day. It was a beautiful feature, and a welcome change from the harrowing “loop the loop” or “dive of death.”26
New safety laws began affecting the Ringlings’ shows in 1912. Before the namesake show’s opening in Chicago, an official from the Coliseum wrote to John Ringling: “This is to remind you that some provision is necessary for light on wagons with the show in some of the states, which will required a light showing both forward and backward on all vehicles.”27
As in every season, the Ringling circuses had their share of problems in 1912. While the Barnum & Bailey show was playing in New York City, a sheriff attempted to claim the entire menagerie because of a bareback riders’ suit against the show seeking $25,000 in damages. “A score of deputies accompanied the sheriff to Madison Square Garden. When the sheriff found it would cost the city $3,500 a day to feed and care for the animals he agreed to permit the circus managers to exhibit the animals.”28
A serious fire on August 22 in Sterling, Illinois, destroyed the Ringling Big Top—a loss estimated at $25,000. An Ohio newspaper recounted:
There was no one but circus employees in the “big top” when sparks from a barn burning near the show ground ignited the oiled canvas, but so rapidly did the flames spread that one man was seriously burned before he escaped. There was panic among the animals in the menagerie tent but they were quieted when great canvas covers were drawn over their cages.29
By August the Brothers still had not decided where they would take their circus at the end of the season. On August 8 Charles wrote to Al from Lincoln, Nebraska:
I wrote to Henry today telling him I would like to leave the show by the end of August and asking him to telephone you and see whether either one of you could care to come on at that time. … I am also suggesting to Henry that you and he decide upon the wintering of the show. I believe I have not been fully informed as to what you propose to do on this matter at any time and I am satisfied to step aside and have you and Henry decide it regardless of my opinion at all. Only a decision should be reached at once so that the show can be routed accordingly as Wilson [Ringling railroad contractor] is now ready to close up contracts and must know whether the show goes to Wisconsin or Connecticut or where it goes. Hope you will let me know about these things very soon.30
For the most part the Brothers got along well. But disagreements happened occasionally, and some rifts developed, often involving the sometimes arrogant John Ringling. For instance, in early January 1914 Al wrote to Charles:
Sam McCracken [a Ringling official with the Barnum & Bailey Show] was here the other day. … In talking to him I asked him to let me see the list of side show people they had engaged for the coming season. He did this. In his list I see that he had a contract with Mlle Gabriel, the Living Half Lady, so I told him that we had her engaged and showed him the contract we made with her through Mr. Pitrot last August. He said that he did not know anything about it only that John gave him this contract and told him that she was to be with the Barnum Show.
John Ringling knew she was to go with our show for he talked with me about her and said she was the greatest freak in the world, and so she is, and John said we ought to let the Barnum Show have her. I told him “No,” that it was hard work for me to get her to sign a contract to remain in this country and I was fully three weeks in arranging with her and that we needed a strong attraction for our side show, as she would be a drawing card wherever she is placed. The only way I figure this is that John went and cancelled our contract with Pitrot and then got Pitrot to make a contract with him for her to do with the Barnum Show. I am writing to Pitrot today that we have signed this lady to go with the Ringling Show and will expect her to fill her contract with us. … Now if John has made any other arrangements with any the rest of you, let me know, but this Living Half Lady is a great feature.1
Clearly, John had done an end-run around his brothers—behavior that did not sit well with them, particularly Al and Charles.
NOTES
1. Al Ringling to Charles Ringling, January 2, 1914, Fred Pfening III, private collection, Columbus, Ohio.
Charles, an avid sportsman, most likely wanted to go on an extended fishing trip, which he often did. So it was up to Henry, the new partner, and Al to decide on where to winter the Ringling show in 1912. John and Alf T. were with the Barnum show, and they apparently were not directly involved in the decision.
In his letter to Al, Charles also listed the World’s Greatest Shows’ daily gross income from ticket sales from July 25 to August 7, which ranged from $5,399 in Sheldon, Iowa, to $14,501.70 in Sioux City, Iowa. The average daily ticket sales for twelve days in Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska were $8,540.31
The two Brothers made their decision, and without fanfare, the Ringling show returned to Baraboo in the fall of 1912, quieting those who “knew for sure” that they had left their old winter quarters for good that spring. The Barnum & Bailey show returned once again to Bridgeport, Connecticut. In true Ringling fashion, the Brothers had left the decision about returning to Baraboo in fall 1912 an open question until the last minute, or so it seemed. It appears that Al and Henry made the final decision and it really didn’t matter to the other Brothers where they wintered. Al had the strongest connections to Baraboo, and as the oldest brother, his opinion likely had considerable influence on Henry, the youngest. And the Brothers were still hopeful that a change would be made to the new income tax law, exempting their out-of-state earnings.
In April Charles had had the Isenbergs build him a new home in Sarasota, and by late December he and John were back in Florida. Charles picked up his new sixty-foot launch in Tampa on December 10. As a Baraboo paper reported, “It is magnificently appointed and reported to be one of the finest and swiftest in American Waters.”32
Alf T. and Henry Ringling spent winters in New York City, where they could be close to the Barnum & Bailey winter quarters. Only Al remained in Baraboo.33 The typical flurry of activities took place in Baraboo during the winter of 1912–1913. As usual, the staff at Baraboo was busy ordering necessities for their winter work—disinfectant by the barrel; sandpaper, varnish, and shellac; dry white lead, lamp black in oil, imitation gold, turpentine; and hardwood lumber—necessities for the winter work.34
They also ordered new tents that winter, as they did nearly every year. John Snellen, superintendent of canvas, sent a letter at Charles’s request to Al Ringling, outlining details for the new dressing room and trapping room tents:
Dressing Room: A fifty foot round top with one forty and one twenty foot middle piece, made with four widths of cloth between the side poles, and an eleven foot side wall of khaki cloth. … Trapping Room: A fifty foot round top with one forty and one twenty foot middle piece, made with four widths of cloth between the side poles, and an eleven foot regular wall as used in all other tents.35
The Ringlings were always looking for horse meat to feed their lions, tigers, and other carnivores. They advertised in area papers and received many interesting replies. One display ad in winter 1912 read: “Wanted to buy old useless horses in good health to be used for animal feed. Apply to Charles Smith, Ringling Brothers Winter Quarters, Baraboo, Wisconsin.”36
A fellow from Hancock wrote the Ringlings:
I could pick up a few horses in this section, and ship you dressed horse meat, mostly rather thin. If you are in need of anything in this line, kindly write me and I will dress some in good shape and ship to you. Let me know whether you want them examined by a horse doctor before butchering. The manner of shipping, whether boxed or wrapped and all particulars including price. Hope to hear from you, I am, Harry Humphrey, RFD #1, Hancock, Wisconsin.37
Even with all their wealth and prestige, the Brothers themselves continued to work on the minutest details. That winter Al was concerned about the need to replace the Number 3 advertising car and wrote in a detailed letter to Charles, “[The car] is not as strong as the number one and number two cars but the only fault of the number three car is that the roof is in bad shape, but this could be easily fixed.” He went on to say that John was looking for a new Number 3 advertising car.
By 1915 Ringlingville on the road had grown to the size of a small city, its tents requiring about fourteen acres. With few exceptions, the show moved to a new town each day. PHOTO BY STEVE ALBASING; ALBASING COLLECTION, CWM
The more the Ringlings’ circuses grew, the more people marveled at how Ringlingville’s twelve hundred residents could move from town to town, day after day. An example of this incredible accomplishment was recorded by a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, observer in June 1913:
Ringling Bros. Circus arrived this morning from Holyoke, Mass., at 3:30 a.m. and the first section started to unload at 4:30 a.m. First section consists of 21 cars: 17 flats, 2 horse cars, 2 sleepers, 56 wagons of which 30 are cages.
Second section came in at 7 a.m. and consists of 21 cars: 19 flats, 6 horse cars, 5 sleepers, 25 wagons and 3 small wagons.
Third section came in at 7:30 a.m. and consists of 20 cars: 14 flats, 5 horse cars, 1 stock car, 38 wagons, 2 chariots.
Fourth section came in at 8 a.m. and consists of 20 cars: 7 horse cars, 4 stock cars, 9 sleepers.
Twenty horses are loaded to a car so there are over 400 horses, 27 elephants, 20 camels, 5 zebras.
Stock cars are painted yellow and the ends red. Flats are yellow. Sleepers are red and the wagons are red and yellow. Some have gold lettering. Advance cars No. 1 and No. 2 are red and advance car No. 3 is blue and yellow.
All tents were put up Sunday morning except the big top [the Ringlings had no shows on Sunday]. There are 17 tents—big top, menagerie, side show, dining tent, colored dining tent, private dining tent, cookhouse, 3 horse tents, 1 pony tent, 2 dressing tents, ballet tent, wardrobe tent, candy stands and small tents. All of the wagons are unloaded by 10:30 a.m.
A large crowd was watching the unloading and also on the lot. Sunday afternoon the horse tents were open to the public. A large crowd was on the street Monday watching the 10:00 a.m. parade which was the best circus parade ever seen here.1
NOTES
1. Unpublished notes by Isaac Marcks, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, June 22–23, 1913, CWM.
Most of the Brothers’ letters are solely business related, but Al ended this one a bit more personally:
Everything here going good but the weather is very cold, in fact we are having the coldest weather of the season. I hope that you are well and putting in a nice winter. Henry was here a few days last week. He and his family are going to Florida—I think they left Chicago last night for the south. The weather and climate does not agree with little Henry so this is the reason for them going south.38
That winter Al also took care of awarding the 1913 balloon privilege. During the 1912 season the balloon contract (which included the privilege of selling “toy balloons, whips, canes, beads and badges”) had gone to Thomas Zingaro of Jersey City, New Jersey. Zingaro had paid the Ringlings $150 each week in advance. The Ringlings furnished transportation for four balloon sellers and paid a twenty-five-cent meal allowance.39
Al assured Zingaro that he would have the privilege again in 1913. In December 1912 Thomas Zingaro sent Al Ringling two kegs of wine, one white and one red, and a letter asking about the contract Zingaro’s brother had signed. Zingaro wrote, “What my brother signed is all right. He told me he didn’t leave no deposit if you want it I will send it to you.”40
Al replied, “Your letter as well as the wine arrived here alright. I surely thank you very much for same. … In regards to the deposit for your privilege: It is alright, you can suit yourself. … The privilege is for you and we will look for you to handle the balloons with the Ringling Bros. show next season.”41
That winter the Brothers were also concerned with larger matters. They had been considering taking one of their shows to Europe, and in December 1912 Al wrote to brother John:
You ask me to let you know what I think about the London proposition. Would it be the Ringling show that would go over? If either of the two shows goes over I should think it should be this show for the simple reason that this show would be new over there while the Barnum show would not be a new attraction for them. Besides, the B & B show may not stand so well over there on account of the stock being sold at a loss and perhaps the show had quite a lot of newspaper notoriety on that account. But I don’t think much of any of them going over. Surely we can do plenty of business without running those chances and going to all that trouble.42
Al’s downtown Baraboo theatre project had been on hold since 1912, and in February 1913 the architect for the project, George Rapp of Chicago, wrote to Al:
We have not heard from you for quite a while, but judge that you will be ready to go ahead with your theatre proposition now within a few weeks. Your plans and specifications, of course, have all been completed and figures have been in for some time.43
When the Ringlings returned to Ringlingville in Baraboo in the fall of 1912, they were aware that the Wisconsin legislature was considering income tax exemptions. In reply to Rapp, Al Ringling wrote:
Our state legislature is now in session and I hope that legislation will be so that I can go ahead with the construction of the theatre building. From what I can learn the conditions are favorable and I should be in position to let you know concerning this within a few weeks.44
The legislature had considered the Ringlings’ complaint of unfairness and debated whether to give the Brothers a reprieve from the new state income tax. An April 1913 news item in the Baraboo Weekly News detailed the legislature’s discussion. “Most of the argument against the bill to exempt the Ringlings and other shows from the income tax on business done outside the state was that it was an entering wedge for other lines of business to ask the same favor.”45
Assemblymen Andrew Gulickson and George Carpenter explained that the Ringlings paid monthly license fees of $13,000 while on the road, meaning that they were already heavily taxed. After considerable debate, the bill to exempt the Ringlings from state income tax passed sixty-nine to sixteen.46 The exemption would save the Ringlings up to $40,000 a year ($700,000 in 2002 dollars). Their income tax nightmare was over.
No doubt feeling the sting from their hassles over state income tax, the Ringling Brothers agreed in 1912 to come under the provisions of Wisconsin’s new Workmen’s Compensation Act without complaint.47 A labor newspaper in Duluth reported:
The Ringling Circus has over 1,000 employees who are on duty practically 24 hours a day when the show is on the road. All are included in the number coming under the protection of the act. Twenty-eight other concerns [businesses] have elected to come under the act so far this month.48
The Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows, again featuring the spectacle Joan of Arc, opened in the Chicago Coliseum on April 5 and played there until April 20. The show moved east until late June, when it returned to the Midwest. From there it continued on to California and then south, closing on November 1 at Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Barnum & Bailey, The Greatest Show on Earth, with the spectacle Cleopatra, played at Madison Square Garden from March 22 to April 19 and then played in Brooklyn for the week of April 21. Barnum & Bailey moved on to the Midwest and then played in eastern Canada until the end of June. Then it was back to the Midwest, including dates in Milwaukee and Madison, west to the Dakotas, and then into the South. The Barnum & Bailey show closed November 3 in Louisville and returned to winter quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
| Baggage horses: 23 | Blacksmith shop: 5 | Harness shop: 3 | Wardrobe: 5 |
| Ring stock: 7 | Car shop: 16 | Wagon shop: 1 | Watchmen: 2 |
| Animals: 8 | Paint shop: 16 | Repair shop: 8 | Office: 1 |
| Elephants: 10 | Boarding House: 12 |
Average weekly salary for workers was $3.50; car shop workers earned sixteen dollars each week and blacksmiths and harness-makers earned about fifteen dollars. Meals (worth about seventy-five cents per day) and lodging (about fifty cents) were also furnished to the working men.
Salaries for superintendents ranged from a little over fifteen dollars per week for Charles Rooney, who was in charge of baggage horses, to seven dollars per week for Howard Anderson, superintendent of wardrobe.1
NOTES
1. Ringling Brothers 1913–1914 Winter, Working Men Time Book, CWM.
Even with excellent leadership in all departments, the Brothers maintained their hands-on management approach. In August 1913 Charles wrote a detailed letter to Al about plans for the 1914 season:
With reference to the Saxons. In my opinion the act is good, but hard to place in a number with other acts and a lot of stuff to carry; but outside from this I would not reengage them because they demoralize things in the cars. They had been bringing tubs filled with beer into the sleepers and breaking all the rules. I have had this stopped, but I would not reengage them under any condition. …
Regarding the spectacle: I think we should have it next year. I believe it is a necessity, but I would do as you say—have one scene only, one change of costumes only and a ballet of fifty instead of sixty. I would open same with a fanfare of twenty trumpeters, the musicians in the band, then the band and tournament followed by an assembly and ballet, and confine the slow pantomime work to the least possible. I would put it away up high so that everybody can see it. Our spectacle this year is not put up high enough and the people on the back side of the blues [bleacher seats] cannot see it. It will be easy to arrange a spectacle of this kind and it will advertise as well as before and give better satisfaction.
With reference to Detective Brice. In my opinion he is the deadest detective we have ever had since we have been in show business. He is a good fellow personally, but no good on the job, and I would positively not reengage him. I have one other reason besides this which I will explain to you later.
With reference to the Roeders: Mrs. Roeder pretty near put an end to the Martinettes [a “heavy-juggling act,” meaning they juggled heavy objects]. She broke a plate in the cook house and with the raw edge of one piece cut a hole in Martinette’s head, cutting a principal artery. He has not been able to work since, as the cut is right where he balances on his forehead. The Roeders should not be reengaged. I assessed a heavy fine against both for fighting, etc. I suppose I should have let them go.49
The Ringlings and the U.S. Army
In 1912 the Ringling Brothers’ incredible efficiency caught the eye of the United States Army. That year two army officers from Washington, D.C., spent two weeks traveling with the World’s Greatest Shows. According to the Baraboo Weekly News, “They will study the methods by which a circus moves so smoothly and rapidly. It has been estimated that taking into consideration the total number of people with the circus, nearly 1,300, and the fact that it carries about 1,000 animals and 650 horses, besides all the necessities of a moving village, the machinery of the thing must be worth observation. No army detachment in action has ever pitched camp and moved each day with such rapidity.”1
NOTES
1. Baraboo (Wisconsin) Weekly News, May 23, 1912.
In 1913 the Ringling Brothers replaced all their gas lighting with electricity. The Brothers had used light plants as early as 1903, but their new General Electric generators were more reliable than anything they had used before.50 Electric lighting also lessened the danger of the Big Top’s gas lamps causing a fire.
Unfortunately, fire remained a fearsome threat to the circus. While the Ringling Brothers circus was playing in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 25, 1914, a fire broke out in a nearby lumberyard. Although the Big Top was five blocks away, embers soon began falling near the circus grounds. Circus officials stopped the performance, and the crowd of thirteen thousand customers left the tent. The tents were spared, but the circus railcars, which were spotted on sidings in the midst of the fire, did not fare as well. Forty-three cars were lost—twenty-three flats, nineteen stockcars, and one baggage car. Al Ringling was the only brother in attendance at the time, but working with his brothers he soon acquired replacement cars so the show could be moved to Marion, Ohio, for its May 27 engagement. The Brothers rented cars from the Frank P. Spellman circus, moved some from the Barnum & Bailey show, which was playing in Buffalo, rented others from the Palace Car Company, and obtained still more from the New York Central Railroad.51
In 1901 a fire in the Kansas City Exposition Building, across the street from the circus grounds, threatened the Ringling tents. Circus tents were treated with waterproofing material that made them highly flammable; even a spark from a nearby fire could set them ablaze. DON S. HOWLAND CIRCUS COLLECTION SCRAPBOOK, CWM
It is unlikely the Brothers had insurance to cover their loss, and the fire had considerable economic impact. They contacted the Barney & Smith Car Company of Dayton, Ohio, to build twenty-eight new railcars (eighteen flatcars and ten stockcars). The stock cars would cost $1,175 each and the stockcars $1,400 each, for a total cost of $35,150 ($614,530 in 2002 dollars).52 They also hired Barney & Smith to repair seven flatcars damaged in the fire, repair costs unknown.53
In the fall of 1914, with the Ringling show safely back in Baraboo and the Barnum & Bailey show at winter quarters in Connecticut, the Brothers looked to the coming season with confidence, despite the horrific fire that had destroyed more than half their namesake show’s railcars. The Wisconsin income tax was no longer a major threat to their continued success.
But little did they know how the events of June 28, 1914, in faraway Sarajevo, Bosnia, would effect them and their circus. They would soon find out.
