216 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



a member of your board of agriculture, and superintendent of speed 

 — one of the leading fair men of your country, and the best superin- 

 tendent of speed that ever walked onto a track. This is what he 

 said: 



"I think that a large majority of the members of the association 

 present today will agree with me that harness racing is the greatest 

 single attraction that they have had to offer to their patrons. This 

 is the one thing that continues to interest from year to year, 

 and were amusements of different kinds to be dispensed with at 

 fairs, harness racing would be the last to go. I do not believe that 

 this statement warrants any discussion or needs any proof." 



District and county fairs are not wholly supported by the counties. 

 In your state you get an appropriation ; there is a law that gives each 

 one of you an appropriation if you file for it. This is to encourage 

 the exhibits of agriculture and livestock for educational purpvoses. 

 To me that means that those exhibits, exhibited at a fair, with a 

 paid gate, without other attractions, would not be a paying propo- 

 sition. Several years ago in your own state you had one of the best 

 early racing circuits that I have ever known of, the Cedar Valley 

 Circuit — it wasn't dependent upon any other amusement for sup- 

 port, and I was asking a man about it today ; I asked him why it 

 wasn't continued, and he said he guessed that the boys thought it 

 was too much trouble to get together — he didn't know of any other 

 reason. Now, down in Indiana we have the Southern Indiana Cir- 

 cuit. There were ten towns in that circuit this year. Purely a 

 racing circuit. Probably a few peanut stands and a few concessions 

 or so, but no other attractions connected with it. It holds year after 

 year successful meetings, and I was talking the other day with four 

 of its members and those four members each had a profit this year of 

 from $2,600 to $7,000 each. That goes to show that the horse racing 

 game is self supporting and that you can combine the two or make 

 a successful fair. It is one of the attractions that the j>eople go to 

 the fair to see, is the horse racing, and is the leading attraction. 



Now, a few nights ago — I don't very often go to church, but my 

 folks do, but I went down to a sociable at the Unitarian church. 

 Some folks don't call that a church, but I think they do a lot of good. 

 Mrs. Terry asked me to go down to a little sociable and when I was 

 ready to go home I was over in the smoking room and in a little 

 group of ten or twelve ladies was sitting Mrs. Terry. The ladies 

 asked me to sit down, and of course they thought I didn't know 

 anything else and they started to talk horse to me. They were talk- 



