168 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 



The main object of the Fair Association in organizing tliis club was to 

 create a greater interest in pure-bred live stock among the boys and girls 

 as well as among the older breeders and farmers. The interest that the 

 patrons of the fair showed in our exhibit and judging contest proved that 

 we had accomplished our purpose. 



We have been told that you cannot get something for nothing, but this 

 plan seems to come as near it as anything we have heard of. The breeder 

 received advertising, the boy received a sow and litter, and the fair re- 

 ceived two pigs. 



President Hoffman: Next on the program is a paper, "Ladies' 

 and Girls' Department Work at County and District Fairs," by 

 Miss Rttth English, County Home Demonstration Agent, 

 Spencer, Iowa. 



Miss Ruth English: I imagine you men are interested vitally now in 

 the question of pushing your fair for the next year so it is going to be the 

 best, perhaps the most successful fair you have ever had, and I want to 

 try to convince you in a few minutes this afternoon that you must not 

 forget the girls and women. The women are functioning in most every 

 line of work, so they are interested in the fairs, too. I want to say some- 

 thing about girls' club work. The first thing it is necessary to have a 

 good leader, because you men are all busy I imagine, just the same as the 

 women tell me they are, you want to shove the responsibility on to some- 

 body else. The best leaders are the ones that can get suitable leaders into 

 organization work, do these things in detail and take the responsibility 

 from you. So you want to try to find somebody who is very capable and 

 very sensible who can get along with people well, shoulder the responsi- 

 bility of the girls' leader, so really you don't have to make a demonstra- 

 tion. The tendency is to shift this responsibility on to one person in each 

 township if you can get things worked out that way. Of course that is a 

 little ideal, but you can have two or three in your county to take the 

 responsibility from you, and begin early enough so they can have things 

 well rounded up by the time your fair is held. 



You must have an object and all work to the object of the girls' work; 

 we must have interest taken in these things, an interest of the parents. 

 If we can interest these parents in the Girls' Club work it is going to 

 draw a different type of people to your fair. I found out that this year 

 a good many people came for the women's part of the fair that would 

 not otherwise, and you are going to have the same thing. If we can get 

 this club work of the girls started then their parents are going to follow 

 them right in to see how their youngsters are doing, how they compare 

 with the neighbors' children. Then it gives a wonderful opportunity for 

 an inspection of their work that they have carried on through the year. 

 I think any county that has a fair should honor that fair and should really 

 feel as if it was their fair and that it was held for their benefit. The 

 rural people will feel as though they had a chance to enter into competi- 

 tion with the town people as the town people have, therefore you can 

 interest more of the rural people. 



