PROCEEDINGS STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 37 



Allowing a twenty-five per cent discount on the accounts receivable for 

 bad accounts, and after paying the outstanding bills, there should be a 

 balance for 1922 operations of about $21,000. 



Your attention is also called to a five-year comparative statement cov- 

 ering receipts and disbursements of the fair, type-written copies of which 

 have been furnished each member of the board; also to the tabulated 

 statement showing the amount of premiums offered and paid during the 

 past ten years. By studying these comparative statements, it will be 

 noticed that the expense of the fair commencing with the year 1917 in- 

 creased by leaps and bounds up until the year 1920. Fortunately the 

 receipts of the fair, during this period of four years, more than kept pace 

 with the expense. This is evidenced by a profit of over $111,000 on the 

 1920 fair. At the- same time, it cost more to produce the fair in 1920 

 than in any previous year. 



Your especial attention is called to the comparative statement in the 

 printed report of receipts and disbursements for the year 1921. It will 

 be noticed that the recipts in practically every department of the fair 

 showed a marked decrease over the previous year. The big reduction, 

 of course, shows up in the admission fees at the outside gate and the day 

 and night grandstand. 



By studying the comparative statement of the expense of the fair for 

 1921, it will be noticed that there was very little reduction in any de- 

 partment and no marked increase which cannot readily be explained. By 

 eliminating the one item of $10,682, the decrease in the cost of the forage, 

 the expense of operating the 1921 state fair, other than premiums, was 

 approximately the same as in 1920. On top of this, the premiums paid 

 in 1921 show an increase of $7,807.49 over 1920. 



By studying the receipts of the fair over a longer period, it is appar- 

 ent that if we will eliminate the two abnormal years of 1919 and- 1920, 

 that the receipts have shown a gradual increase each year. 



In analyzing the expense of the fair for the same period, it will be 

 noticed that the expense increased from $189,533.38 in 1917 to $299,287.29 

 in 1920. In 1921 instead of the expense being reduced in comparison 

 with the receipts, it remained about the same as in 1920, after eliminating 

 the difference in the cost of forage. 



I think it is clear to every member of this board that the expense of 

 the 1922 fair must be adjusted to fit the anticipated receipts. I do not 

 believe that the board should anticipate making a profit on the fair the 

 coming year; neither should we figure on as close a margin as we did 

 during the year 1920. I am assuming that the board will reduce the ad- 

 mission fee at the outside gates from 75c to 50c and leave the admission 

 fee at the grandstand the same as last year. Estimating the attendance 

 at 300,000, or about the same as it was in 1921, this would reduce the 

 receipts from ticket sales about $28,000. I think we should also anti- 

 cipate a decrease in the receipts in practically every department, espe- 

 cially the concession and machinery departments. 



In conferring with a number of the fair managers in Chicago during 

 the meeting of the International Association of Fairs, there seemed to be 



