;340 IlEPOKT OF THE SECEETARY OF THE 



The second use of the entry card was to instruct the View- 

 ing Committees in regard to what they were examining, and to 

 enable them to know whether the article exhibited came under 

 their jurisdiction. It was feared that if the members of the 

 committee should know the names of the exhibitors their 

 minds might be biased and their judgment perrerted, on the 

 principle that men were excluded from juries when they were 

 able or intelligent enough to read. Just so it was thought 

 that if the entry cards gave to the members of committees 

 information which, as a general rule, they already possessed, 

 their minds would be perverted, and their judgments and 

 decisions corruptly rendered. In the experience of the Secre- 

 tary, generally the committees made decisions liable to sharp 

 criticism, more from not having information enough than from 

 having too much. There were at all fairs decisions made that 

 an expert would criticize severely, but in general they are 

 made fairly and honestly and in accord wdth the views of the 

 judges, and with their acquaintance with the subject. 



It was here Avhere the second principle for which fairs were 

 established was to be considered. Fairs or exhibitions were 

 institutions at which producers came forward for competition. 

 The competition was for the purpose of deciding, as far as 

 possible, which article of similar kinds was the best. The 

 concealment effected by the blind entry card did not affect the 

 competition one particle. Each of the competitors knew who 

 was entered against him, and what the merits of the article 

 were. No good, therefore, was gained by this attempted con- 

 cealment, Avhile, so far as the public v/as concerned, who came 

 there to gain practical information, the affected concealment 

 was really a hindrance of one of its most important aims 

 and ends. 



Mr. Johnstone cited several instances, as in the case of man- 

 ufactured articles which were brought to fairs for the purpose 

 of advertisement and publicity, and of making the people 

 fully acquainted with their merits and the places where they 



