214 BOARD OF AGKICULTUKE. 



j-ou are loolvin.t( solely to the educational benefits you will have another 

 view. One man will say, "We want a wide-open fair, and do not want 

 any Sunday-school methods." On the other hand, there are men connected 

 witli fairs who do not like to see the young folks too chummy. They 

 object to the boys and girls eating- from the same stick of candy, or eating 

 ice cream with the same spoon, or going about the grounds hand in hand. 

 We must not be too puritanical. There is a happy medium we can ob- 

 serve. It is well enough to have rules to run your fair by, rules you can 

 use in case of an emergency; but it is not a good idea to have iron-clad 

 rules that can not be changed. I remember one fair I liad sometliing to 

 do with where they did not allow any vehicles on certain parts of the 

 ground. Tlie superintendent was a stickler for rules. An old lady avIio 

 could not walk attended the fair, and was hauled into that part of the 

 ground. The superintendent, to be like other mules, took the buggy and 

 liauled it out. 



Tlie first essential of a successful fair is to liave good business sense 

 and use it. It will not do to have a rule for one class of men and another 

 rule for another class, and it will not do to continually change the men 

 who are connected with the fairs. Tlie first thing I would suggest for 

 a successful fair would be for the management to have absolute fairness 

 in making the awards. They should not tolerate anj' unfairness. When 

 men go to a county fair to exhibit their stock they make a sacrifice to do it, 

 and it is an accommodation to the management for them to come. I should 

 suggest that whenever you liave even a single judge to pass upon a 

 matter, let the committee of that department be close by to see that any 

 unfairness on the part of the judge shall be at once corrected. 



Another thing necessary to success is for the fair management to 

 pay Avhat they offer and pay it promptly. A man who earns a premium 

 has been to great expense to do so, and it is of importance to him to get 

 his money and get it promptly. There is nothing that inspires the exhib- 

 iting public with a greater degree of confidence in the fair than to knov 

 that it promptly pays its debts. I have no sympathy with the idea of 

 scaling the premiums. It might do to scale the managers' fees or per 

 diem, but not the premiums. ' 



I would suggest that courtesy be exhibited on every hand. Every 

 mail connected with the management of a fair should be a gentleman, 

 and he should by all means show courtesy in connection witli the county 

 fair. And not only should the management be courteous, but tliey slmuul 

 exact the utmost courtesy from every employe. Sometimes when a man is 

 plac(>d at the gate he feels as fmportant as he would if he were in com- 

 mand of the Japanese army about this tinu'. People are often inade angry 

 bj'^ these employes and will not return the following year. 



Of course we all know that mistakes are made in connection with the 

 management; but the mistakes of managers often ante-date the fair. 

 The dir(!ctors sometimes meet and elect managers that are not at all com 



