TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 147 



US on the proposition and we had the bill introduced. With the 

 hearty co-operation of the women of the state of Iowa the legisla- 

 ture made an appropriation of $75,000 to build this building, a 

 building which cost us when completed something, like $85,000. We 

 have the distinction of having the largest Women's and Children's 

 Building on any fair ground in the United States. Two years ago a 

 delegation from the Canadian fairs visited all of the fairs in the 

 United States. I met a number of that delegation last week, the 

 first time I had met any of the gentlemen since they visited our fair, 

 and he told me that of all the fairs they visited and inspected, not 

 only had Iowa the finest building, but it had the best program and 

 that one of the most interesting departments of any fair they visited 

 was the Women's and Children's Building at the Iowa State Fair. 



We have with us this morning one whom I take great pleasure in 

 presenting to you, a lady w^ho, since this building has been thrown 

 open to the public, has been an untiring worker in providing the 

 program and through her efforts and the efforts of her associates 

 we have been able to present the results that these Canadian gentle- 

 men have referred to. I now take great pleasure in introducing to 

 you Mrs. W. H. Snider, of Des Moines. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: 



The women of Iowa are very proud of that Women's and Children's 

 Building. They were interested in getting it, and they are interested 

 now in having it used in the best possible way so that it will really bring 

 results. It seems to me that the state fairs and the county fairs offer 

 the very best possible opportunity for educational work, and I am sure 

 we are all agreed that this is the object of having these fairs. We don't 

 have them just for our program, but something that will reach the people 

 that will really do some good. The women of Iowa as a whole are in- 

 terested in certain things. The rural women may have some special 

 interest, and the city women may have some special interest, but there 

 are certain interests in which all the women are interested. While you 

 men are giving your time and your thought and your very best brains to 

 the matter of production and to business and to making things go in the 

 country, the women of the country must think of the standards we are 

 setting up in the home and the community, and they are really giving 

 the best of thought to those things, but the very nature of their position 

 leaves them but little time for the study of these problems. The women 

 whom you sometimes call the leisure class have the time for this, and 

 so among the women of the city we have a great body of women we call 

 club women. Some years ago men did not understand just what club 

 women were. They thought they were just groups of women each trying 

 to put over their own program; but let me tell you that the club women 

 of the United States are a tremendous force. The club women are think- 

 ing not of themselves, but of the community, just like your commercial 



