Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1916 — Remington Press Says Neighboring Towns Are Tired of Chautauquas. [ARTICLE]

Remington Press Says Neighboring Towns Are Tired of Chautauquas.

The following article taken from the current issue of the Remington Press, commenting on the Chautauqua held in Rensselaer this year: “Rensselaer has about decided that they do not want a Chautauqua again next year. At any rate they are through with the Lincoln combination as are nearly every town around who have had them in the past. The fact is that they have lasted a year longer already than we ever supposed they would.

“There is only one real end to that class of entertainment, and that is to freeze out. They were never intended for anything but a money maker for the promotors and all the towns that took them on got out of it was to guaamtee the bureau something like a thousand dollars, and be obliged to listen to a bunch of has-beens that could be engaged cheap. For instance they featured such talent as Hobson, who had been here years ago, and whom no one cares to see or bear. Battis, one of the former talent, and a number of others who were live men once in the work, but are now relagated to the cheaper ranks. “Rensselaer people, we understand, are rather sore on the class of stuff handed them this year and are talking of renting a tent and buying their own talent next year. Brook, Fowler and Oxford and nearly_all surrounding towns, lost money this year on the chautauquas and are not signing new contracts, and the Lincoln people will have to hunt new fields if they want business.”