No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 61 



COUNTY FAIR ASSOCIATIONS. 



' Atteutiuu is especially called to the field of usefulness opeu to 

 the fair associations in the several counties of the State. There 

 are seventy-eight of these societies, with over 9,000 members; all 

 public spirited, active, intelligent men, and they reported last year 

 an attewdance of over one million of people. It is certainly of ex- 

 treme importance that these organizations shall use their efforts 

 and their influence so as to be of the greatest possible usefulness to 

 the agriculture of the Commonwealth. It is unfortunately true, that 

 very many of them fall far short of what they should be, as promO' 

 ters of agricultural education, or as setting a high moral standard 

 to the visitors whom they invite to attend their fairs. 



THE MIDWAY EXHIBITS. 



This Department sent out a letter of inquiry two years ago, ask- 

 ing, among other things, what the Department could do to aid their 

 society in the prosecution of this work. The almost uniform reply 

 was ''help us to pay our premiums." The necessity for securing 

 money to pay the premiums offered, drives these organizations to 

 grant concessions to disreputable shows and gambling devices, which 

 are a disgrace to any society, which pretends to be at all concerned 

 for purity of thought among our people, or good morals in society. 

 Obscene dances by half dressed actors, open gambling, loud, coarse 

 speeches by fakirs who have monstrosities on exhibition, are some 

 of the sights and sounds that greet refined and modest women and 

 children, who come to be instructed aud entertained. All of this 

 under the guise of an agricultural exhibition for the improvement of 

 this industry. 



Trials of speed, acrobatic and sleight of hand performances, exhibi- 

 tions of trained animals, or the admission of the merry-go-round, or 

 of games of ball, foot races and athletic sports, and similar amuse 

 ments, are all unobjectionable when properly controlled, and will 

 provide entertainment to those who come to spend an idle hour. The 

 I. thers are most immoral and corrupting, and ought to be excluded 

 from every fair. 



The original purpose of the county agricultural fair was to place 

 on exhibition samples of products of the country, mainly of its 

 farms, which were unusually perfect of their kind, bringing them 

 into competition with each other, with the view of improving agricul- 

 ture in all of its diversified interests. The offering of premiums, was 

 intended to act as an incentive to producers, to bring out their pro- 

 ducts, with the assurance that if they had the best, they should be 

 rewarded to the extent set down in the premium list for that class 

 of exhibits. 



