TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 61 



terday and last night you have been more than repaid for the time you 

 have spent in coming. 



A few^ years ago the Iowa State Fair started an innovation by holding 

 the fair for a part of two weeks. Some of the other state fair managers 

 predicted that it would be a failure. On the contrary it has been a won- 

 derful success and now other state fairs are clamoring for a longer time 

 in which to hold their fairs. Iowa at one time held the first fair in the 

 state fair circuit. Others have seen what wonderful success we have 

 had and some have come in and taken part of our first week and now 

 some fairs following us are demanding that we close our fair on Thursday 

 of the second week. It has been my prediction for some time that these 

 conditions would follow. To overcome these objections it will be neces- 

 sary for us to pay more attention to the resources of our own state and 

 there is no state in the Union that has the natural resources to carry 

 on a successful fair as the great state of Iowa. 



We have the agricultural exhibits, as Iowa ranks seven times first 

 in agricultural products. We have the finest horseis, cattle, swine 

 and sheep of any state in the Union. This was demonstrated this year 

 when the live stock record associations passed a resolution that no spe- 

 cial premium money would be paid at any fair which did not accept live 

 stock from another fair up to 9:00 o'clock Monday morning and release 

 same at 4:00 p. m. the following Friday. The result was that live stock 

 showing at another fair could not be in place for judging until Monday 

 of the second week of our fair. Prior to this year our rule has been that 

 all live stock should be in place by Friday morning of the first week of 

 the fair. Hence we were confronte'd with the possibility of having no 

 judging on the first two days of the fair. To overcome this we made 

 classes for Iowa breeders who had never shown stock at the Iowa State 

 Fair. We were more than pleased with the exhibits in these classes and 

 were thus enabled to have a good judging program on Friday and Sat- 

 urday. 



This institution has grown to such proportions that it is impossible 

 to confine it to a one-week fair and if it becomes necessary to utilize only 

 the resources of the state we can still hold the greatest agricultural fair 

 in the Union. Our grounds are becoming more fully equipped with per- 

 manent buildings. With the contract just let for a brick and steel cattle 

 barn with a capacity of 1,500 head of cattle the list of permanent build- 

 ings for stock exhibits is complete. 



Not only has Iowa become a great live stock state, it is becoming a 

 manufacturing state, and there is no place where these products can be 

 better shown than at the Iowa State Fair and Exposition with an attend- 

 ance this year of over 425,000 people. We cannot handle all these people 

 in five days and it is an injustice to the exhibitors who have spent thou- 

 sands of dollars to place these exhibits to give them only a five-day fair. 



My prediction is that in the near future it will be necessary to carry 

 this fair two full weeks. One reason for this prediction is the enormous 

 expense necessary to carry on a fair with the increase in premiums and 

 other expenses that follow and if we should have a rainy week it would 

 almost bankrupt the fair. Another reason why we should have a two 

 weeks' fair — I think I have stated this in some of my former addresses — 



