216 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Then I think it is a mistake for a board of managers to neglect their 

 gounds. There is nothing so enticing to a visitor from a distance as 

 beautiful, well-kept fair grounds. It woiild not hurt the fair managers 

 to go out in the springtime and plant flowers and try to improve the 

 grounds. That will attract people mvich quicker than grounds whei'e there 

 is nothing but mud or dust and no shade. 



Professor Skinner: I think sometimes we forget that there are a 

 great many exhibitors who are not able to compete with the man who is 

 able to go to St. Louis to show his cattle, and many times we cut out the 

 young men who would bring out herds that are of as much importance 

 to that county as the herd that goes to St. Louis. I think anything we 

 can do to encourage our young men to come out and exhibit in competi- 

 tion with their neighbors is a good thing. I remember one place where 1 

 judged eleven herds that were not fit for the higher shows of the State 

 or for the larger exhibitions. The people who exhibited them did not 

 have the time to make them fit for such exhibitions, but they did want 

 to bring them out and exhibit in competition with their neighbors. 



Mr. McDonald: I believe one very important fact has been over- 

 looked in this discussion — the individual Avho goes to the fair. The people 

 who go to the fair form a very important part in fair management. The 

 gates should not be overlooked. As I said this morning, I believe in the 

 educational features of fairs and exhibits. I am a democrat, and I be- 

 lieve in democratic principles; but I should like to amend my ideas about 

 subsidies and get on the republican proposition long enough to advocate 

 subsidies for fairs in order to get them on the high plane suggested by 

 the gentleman who preceded me. I believe the people who sometimes 

 boast of having successful fairs are the ones who gather in the directors' 

 room at the close of the fair and congratulate themselves on the fact that 

 they have had the largest number of entries known in the history of the 

 fair, that the buildings were filled and that, on the whole, it was the 

 greatest exhibition they ever had. About that time the secretary may 

 say, "Gentlemen, how about the premiums? It is true we have had a 

 great fair from an educational and from other points of view, but what is 

 the matter with the gates?" I believe in paying premiums, but it takes 

 money to do it. and that money must come from the gates or it must be 

 raised by the directors. 



I think we should look carefully after the exhibits and see that noth- 

 ing that is degrading to the young of the community is allowed on the 

 grounds. However, amusements must be furnished for all fairs. You 

 must attract people to your gates and impel them to go down into their 

 pockets and dig up the coin of the realm. That will give yoXi something 

 with which to pay your premiums. In common with nearly every man. 

 woman and child that attended the St. liouis Fair. I went down the Pike. 



