TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 185 



The Chairman : I want to state this about this matter of hazard. 

 That is largely prejudice ! Two years ago the fellows used that 

 argument and we made them lay down their cards. We said : 

 "Now, you say this is a hazardous risk — prove it." They were un- 

 able to prove it, so we went back over a period in order to make our 

 statement clear and absolutely binding — we went over a period of 

 ten years with reference to fair grounds and found the loss to have 

 been less than $20,000, and we said : "If you will show us a farm 

 risk with an equal amount of liability that has a less loss than that, 

 we'll give up," and they were unable to do it, absolutely. So you 

 can see it is largely imagination of it being a hazardous risk. You 

 don't very often hear of fair ground losses in the state of Iowa. 

 When you stop to consider the amount of money that is carried — 

 insurance carried by the fair associations, you may know that the 

 risk is very nominal as compared with other risks. 



Mr. Hathaway : How many fairs here are insured by mutual as- 

 sociations ? 



The Chairman : We haven't taken that up yet. 



Mr. Beckner: Have you any valuation of the fair property in 

 the state of Iowa ? 



The Chairman : It is contained in the year-book. It is in this 

 report here, I think. If it is not, it will be in the year book, at 

 least. All that information is given. 



Mr. Bacon : With reference to the county aid, where the super- 

 visors give the county fair $1,000 each year. In Clay county, for 

 instance, where the supervisors have purchased the ground and given 

 it to the fair association and the county for the purpose of conduct- 

 ing the county fair, I was wondering whether we would be entitled 

 to the $1,000 in addition. 



The Chairman: Absolutely, you are entitled to it. Any county 

 fair that is conducted annually is entitled to the $1,000. 



J. I. Overholt (Spirit Lake) : Is there not a limit placed on 

 that for counties of a lower population? 



The Chairman : No sir, it says that any county fair can procure 

 from the board of supervisors $1,000 annually, 



Mr. Overholt: We asked for an appropriation this year, but 

 they cut us down to $900. 



The Chairman: They did that of their own volition and accord. 

 Mr. Mullen : Does this money have to be used for buildings ? 



