SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 401 



tiirc. We offer premiums looking toward progress in this direction, and they 

 act well as a stimulus to good work. — C. II'. Garfield, in Country Gcnthman. 



Eemarks. — Secretary Garfield is dissatisfied with the fairs. They amuse 

 more than they instruct. He must recollect that tlie millennium has not yet 

 arrived. The true idea of a fair is in the nature of an exposition, at least of 

 four weeks' duration, something like the centennial, where fruits or anything 

 else can be brought in as they ripen or in their season, and where every 

 exhibitor gets notice and recognition. Such a fair is a true one and gives 

 time for study, comparison, instruction, and friendly interchange of opinions. 

 Our common fairs are faulty, — they are put np one day and torn down like a 

 circus the next day. They are a mass of confusion, without order or recom- 

 pense, and bring men in competition and strife where there should be only 

 good feeling and a desire to learn and improve as well as to impart knowledge. 



We have been much amused by a comparison between two State fairs, no 

 names mentioned, made by one who attended them for the American Agricul- 

 turist. One of them was evidently the New York State fair, managed by far- 

 mers, where the services of the best judges are obtained and paid for, and 

 where everything is managed free of every gambling clap-trap and humbug 

 feature. There are no agricultural horse-trots — no fat hogs or fat women — no 

 monstrosities or six-legged sheep or double-headed calves — no bicycle tourna- 

 ment, but a genuine State fair. It T\-as located in a rich farming and dairy 

 district, and railroads at half fare invited the people to turn out. But they 

 didn't turn out worth a cent. Not more than 10,000 people came one in one 

 day. The society barely paid its expenses. 



The other State fair was run by a trotting park association. It was a great 

 show and a great success. Horse racing every da}', mountebank shows of 

 every kind, side shows, penny traps of all kinds vrere allowed all the time and 

 every day. The attendance was immense — 30,000 on the principal da^', 20,- 

 000 the previous day, 10,000 the day after. They came because they wanted 

 some fun. More than half were farmers and farmers' wives and sons and 

 daughters; but very few studied the implementrs or the cattle, though they 

 saw the big Ingin and the fat woman, and they watched the horse trots and 

 bicycle races and had a good time. The Jersey cows which cost $1,000 to 

 $1,500 were passed by as inferior to their own at home, but the rope dancer 

 drew immensely, so did the balloonist. The one state fair was run to ben- 

 efit and instruct the farmer, and the other was run to make money out of 

 the farmer — and they thronged its gates and crowded its grounds and de- 

 clared when they got home that it was a great success. Kot one in ten 

 visited pomological hall. As Secretary Garfield says, such fairs do not edu- 

 cate. Yes, but they amuse, and the people want amusement, and they must 

 be got out to the fairs in some way. Michigan wants a four weeks' exposi- 

 tion without any humbug, and we believe that it can be made to draw a 

 well as to pay. What say you? — Post and Trilune. 



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