ASSOCIATION OF FAIR MANAGERS. 219 



scheme for advertising each meeting must be adapted accordingly. For 

 instance, the late International Live Stock Exhibition at Chicago had 

 nothing whatever by M^ay of amusements. No diversion of any kind was 

 observed in the big show except the music of a single brass band. Nothing 

 else was fieeded. The people went to see the exhibits only — anything else 

 of a diverting nature at that time and place would have been a seeming 

 impertinence. Yet at a county fair in the midst of a rural population, far 

 away rrom the large cities, the amusement idea is highly proper. It is 

 just what the people need. Their fair should be a great annual hand- 

 shaking picnic, a general holiday event. Furtli,ermore, the interchange of 

 business experiences in conversations about crops or live stock along the 

 lines of the limited exhibits Avhich the neighborhood may afford at such 

 fairs are alwaj's profitable and mutually educational. Each meeting must 

 fit its environment and be so advertised. 



Aside from a thoroughly revised premium list, the best means of 

 reaching tne masses is through the daily papers. A few selected litho- 

 graphs to catch the eyes of the passing travelers are necessary, yet the 

 majority of persons are more influenced by what they read than by im- 

 pressions from flaming posters. This is an age of newspapers, and under 

 our rural delivery system daily newspapers are read in nearly every home 

 in Indiana. This means of publication is a gi'and opportunity for the 

 managers to take the masses into their confidence. In carefully selected 

 items, and edited articles bearing upon this question, everything con- 

 nected therewith can be explained in an interesting manner, so as to 

 arouse a patriotic spirit in favor of these time-houored institutions. The 

 people should be so educated that they will feel a persona? pride in the 

 maintenance of their county and State fairs. Henceforth the power of 

 the press can be made a valuable promoter of fair work, for the influence 

 of a high-class, widely circulated newspaper is incalculable. Public 

 opinion is largelj^ made up of Avhat the people read in papers and period- 

 icals. 



Only a small percentage of the people of Indiana really appreciate 

 the full importance of these exhibitions. They do not know that indus- 

 trial fairs are recognized all over the civilized world by the highest au- 

 thorities of those countries, and for hundreds of years, as the gi'eatest of 

 all agencies for the development of domestic industry. 



As an educator and an inspiration, there is nothing equal to the com- 

 petitive exhibitions of well classified, well conducted show rings. This 

 fact is recognized by all the agricultural colleges of this country. The 

 scientific principles involved in scoring and judging exhibits is a matter 

 of expert class study in the schools, and the people of this country, in- 

 cluding some fair managers, need to be awakened to a higher apprecia- 

 tion of this good work. 



All advertisements should be trutliful. Fake notices are damaging to 

 their publishers. There is a mistaken idea in the minds of some people 



