PROCEEDINGS STATE AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION 91 



Men may think that women's interests lie in cooking, hut there was a 

 smaller crowd of women about the pantry stores than about the educa- 

 tional exhibits. It was the work of the boys and girls that drew the at- 

 tention of women to the canning and baking, rather than the efforts of 

 other women. In the boys' and girls' club building, the garment, cake 

 making and poultry demonstrations drew good crowds. 



To us, this state fair held more of educational value than most, and the 

 farm women who went with the purpose of learning all that could be 

 learned in a short time, got much more out of It than they expected. 



FARMER AND BREEDER, SIOUX CITY, IOWA. 



The state fair is one of the most notable institutions in Iowa. It lasts 

 but ten days, but in that short space of time it features the state as no 

 other institution does. It represents in the aggregation of products and 

 processes, the essential "agriculturalness" of this great commonwealth 

 that lies in the center of the corn belt. This rural quality is not seen 

 merely in Iowa's grain, fruits and vegetables, and in its splendid showing 

 of high-class farm animals, but is manifested also in its industries, its 

 public institutions, its educational system, its fine arts, its amusements, 

 its people and its reputation for solidity of substance and sanity of judg- 

 ment. As Iowa stands for the best in American life — with agriculture as 

 the root and sustaining source of the wealth and progress of the nation — 

 so does the Iowa State Fair stand at the head of all such expositions — 

 registering as it does, the present status and yearly progress of its farm- 

 ing people and the towns and cities dependent on the soil. 



The fair itself is at least 67 years old, having been held for a number of 

 years in various cities in the eastern part of the state, but finally settling 

 on its present site in the fall of 1886. There it has grown and prospered 

 year after year. There have been ups and downs of attendance and 

 financial balances, but in the main the tendency has been onward and up- 

 ward. The fair has come to stay for all the time that agriculture itself 

 shall endure, and there is little doubt that it will continue to expand and 

 increase its usefulness and its glory. 



The fair this year was no less interesting and attractive than in former 

 years, but the attendance was not up to the record-breaking years of 1919 

 and 1920. Those were years of spending and of going to and fro, and it 

 was natural for great numbers of people to flock to the centers of amuse- 

 ment and recreation as never before. This year is one of retrenchment — 

 not only industrially but in the observation of those small economies on 

 which are based thrift and saving. Many did not go to the state fair this 

 year because they felt that they could not afford it. The general business 

 depression naturally had its effect in lessening the crowds. Des Moines' 

 transportation troubles kept many away. But in spite of all these nega- 

 tive influences, the management were happily disappointed in the paid at- 

 tendance, which was greater for the ten days' duration of the fair than in 

 other years except those later ones when the war and its after-effects so 

 largely increased the number of visitors. The total attendance was about 

 five-sixths of the record of 1920, which is a very good showing consider- 

 ing all the circumstances. 



