y.

"But notwithstanding their limitations in size and number, midgets
have made material contributions in science, art, and invention. Many
of the present day comforts and much of our current beauty in art came
from these Lilliputians. And set this down to the credit of the midget
populace: few midgets, or maybe none at all, are ever convicted of the
major crimes of murder, mayhem, arson, or theft. If the 'big ones'
were as law-abiding as the 'little ones' there would be little need
for criminal courts and jails.

"It was the establishment of democracies that gave midgets a status as
a citizen. In the dark ages of the past, he had been a creature of
derision, a thing to be bandied about in trade or gift. And it was in
our own blessed United States of America that he began taking his
proper place as a communal asset. Our own Tom Thumb and his genial
wife, Lavinna Warren, traveled extensively over the world to prove
that midgets were intelligent and companionable people. Later came
Admiral Dot, Commodore Nutt, and others of the fraternity, to travel
widely over the country, and by contact prove the worth of midgets.

"But it was Baron Leopold von Singer, an Austrian citizen and a man of
great wealth, who lifted midgets out of the mental mire of being
regarded as children and gave them their rightful place. The story is
told that the baron became interested in little people through the
pleadings of an invalid daughter. He invited several midgets to his
home. Finding them agreeable and companionable, he founded a midget
city with all the conveniences and accessories of a municipality to
include a theater where much talent was revealed.

"In the midst of these activities Austria became a center of strife in
the World War. The baron hastily moved his theatrical activities to
London, and later to the United States where he toured all the larger
cities to exhibit his little troupers and their talents.

"Really, the baron never planned this tour of the Singer Midgets as a
money making venture. He had learned to love the little people and
took keen pleasure and joy in the development of their genius to
entertain the public. He paid good salaries with no thought of
commercialism. But the enterprise did make money. It was a major means
of revealing to the public that midgets have talents. And best of all,
it furnished a wide field of employment to little people. The public
wants to see midgets and fully fifty percent of these