Our chapter has already grown beyond bounds. We would like to tell the stories of Monteagle, Tennessee, of Mount Dora, Florida, of De Funiak Springs, also in Florida, of the Arkansas and Dakota and Southern California Assemblies. In fifteen years after Chautauqua began there were nearly a hundred Assemblies, each independent of all the others, yet all in friendly relation to the oldest and greatest of them all, the mother—Chautauqua by the Lake.
CHAPTER XXV
YOUNGER DAUGHTERS OF CHAUTAUQUA
We have seen how Chautauquas sprung up throughout the land, inspired by the example of the original Assembly beside the lake. All these were independent, arranging their own programs and securing their own speakers. Chautauqua never took a copyright upon the name or a patent for the idea. It was natural, however, for many of these Assemblies to combine their interests, for it soon found that half a dozen Chautauquas in the same section could save expenses by employing the same group of speakers and passing them on from one gathering to another. There were already lyceum bureaus offering lecturers and entertainers. At first the Assemblies secured a few of their speakers from these offices, and after a few years their entire programs were arranged in conjunction with the bureaus. Finally the lyceum agencies began to organize and conduct assemblies directly, and thus the Chautauqua circuit or the system of a Chautauqua chain was developed. One office in Chicago, the Redpath Bureau, is said to conduct three thousand Chautauqua assemblies every year, others have charge of a thousand apiece, while there are lesser chains of fifty, twenty-five or a dozen assemblies. I have been officially informed that in the year 1919, ten thousand chain Chautauquas were held in the United States and Canada. They are to be found everywhere, but their most popular field is in the Middle West, where "the Chautauqua" is expected every year by the farming communities. These bureaus and the "talent" which they employ have been combined in an organization for mutual interest, to avoid reduplication in the same locality, to secure their workers and arrange their programs. This is named the International Lyceum and Chautauqua Association, holding an annual convention at which the organizers and the participants upon the programs come face to face and form their engagements. The circuit system has arisen largely through economic causes; the saving of expense by efficient organization, the elimination of long railroad jumps from Assembly to Assembly, guarantee of continuous engagement to attractive speakers, better publicity, and the concentration of responsibility. It is found that the most successful Chautauquas are held, not in cities, nor even in large towns, but in the smaller places. The town of a thousand, or even one as small as five hundred inhabitants, during its annual Chautauqua week will rally from the farms and hamlets two thousand people to hear a popular lecture, five or seven thousand during the week. In each place an advance agent appears, interviews the business men, the ministers, and the heads of any clubs or improvement societies, and obtains pledges of support by the sale of a definite number of tickets. College boys make up the tent crews; a Scout Master organizes the Boy Scouts; and trained experts arrange for the advertising. The "morning-hour men" give lectures in courses of uplifting nature on civic and national questions; the popular features of the program are supplied by entertainers, musical troupes, bands, artists, and dramatic companies. It is a fact of deeper significance than many recognize that political leaders find here the greatest forum for their messages. Many of these orators receive more than fees for their speeches; they come near the heart of the people, they reach their constituencies and disseminate their views more widely than through any other agency. Some political reformers have won not only prominence, but power through these chain Chautauquas.
It may be remembered that while the Hon. William Jennings Bryan was Secretary of State he received some criticism and even ridicule for "hitting the Chautauqua trail" and "going off with the yodelers." On that subject the Baltimore Sun said in an editorial:
If it could be demonstrated, we would be willing to wager that the average Chautauqua student has a far better knowledge of public questions than the average of those who sneer. And whether he likes it or not, no public official of to-day can afford to disregard the Chautauqua movement.
Mr. Bryan himself gave this testimony in the Review of Reviews:
The Chautauqua affords one of the best opportunities now presented a public speaker for the discussion of questions of interest to the people. The audience is a select one, always composed of the thoughtful element in the community, and as they pay admission, they stay to hear. I believe that a considerable part of the progress that is now being made along the line of moral and political reform is traceable to the influence of the Chautauqua.