86 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



appreciated by 436,000 people during the nine auspicious days of its dura- 

 tion. Total receipts were $310,000, and net profits $70,000, as estimated on 

 Saturday last by Secretary A. R. Corey. 



These sentences are attempts at reducing a maze of impressions of a 

 prodigy of wonder, fascination, interest, amusement and buzzing action to a 

 statement of fact. But the stupendous fact of the fair itself cannot be 

 translated into language. Happily it was registered in the minds of the 

 multitudes that saw it, and the extent to which this is true measures the 

 degree in which the instructive and inspiring lessons of the magnificent 

 festival and gigantic exhibition will contribute values to the future eco- 

 nomic and social structure of the state. 



It has been a year of plenty in Iowa. A billion dollars' worth of wealth 

 in the form of crops will be the state's contribution to the world's larder 

 this year. A big corn yield of high average quality is in prospect. The 

 bulk of It is reasonably secure from damage by frost. An immense ton- 

 nage of hay has been saved. Small grain harvests were uncommonly 

 large. Meadows and pastures are in first-class condition, ensuring an 

 abundance of fall grazing. Thousands of western sheep and lambs are 

 thriving on this herbage and in stubblefields. The rainfall in recent 

 weeks has been highly favorable to the maturing of corn, and the con- 

 tinued vigorous growth of forage. Fall plowing is under way. Land values 

 have increased, running up in some sections to $400 to $500 or more per 

 acre. A considerable acreage has changed hands. It is obvious that the 

 generality of Iowa farmers possess more money and property, owe fewer 

 debts and are living better than ever before. It is no wonder that their 

 fair "looked like a billion dollars." The farmer who has not prospered in 

 Iowa the past few years is a prevaricator or a failure. If he is either he 

 is probably both. 



Iowa has the nearest to a single-purpose agricultural show in America. 

 Apart from a few scattered vaudeville acts and a minutely compressed 

 midway, there is not one feature at this fair that does not definitely relate 

 to the work and welfare of Iowa farm people. Iowa's boys and girls 

 proudly presented their prowess in baby beeves and personally-raised 

 pigs, and in canned fruits and vegetables, and innumerable varieties of 

 stitch-craft — all earnests of an interested rural manhood and womanhood 

 for Iowa's future. One hundred fifty-six boys and girls showed baby 

 beeves, seventy showed pigs and 235 participated in the stock and grain 

 judging contests. A forward step in the direction of the farm boy was 

 found in the boys' camp. Two hundred lads from many parts of the state 

 w'ere given a few duties in partial preparation for the privileges the fair 

 accorded them, and were treated to the best of educational exhibits and 

 amusements. Camp discipline and routine were established, based on 

 military and Boy Scout precedents. Each day from 4:30 to 5:30 the 

 recreation hour, the Y. M. C. A. assistant physical director in Des Moines 

 initiated the boys into the Intricacies and joys of the supervised com- 

 munity games of the city: volley ball, indoor baseball, and numerous other 

 forms of amusement that could gain a healthy footing at the little white 

 school house or other community center. 



The boys' stock and grain judging contest in many ways outdid itself. 

 For the first time girls were admitted, and two lined up with the 233 boys. 



