218 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



lieve that there is any other attraction that you have on your grounds 

 that ever paid you four ways, or even two ways. Conceding the 

 point that you give them added interest. I don't mean free entrance, 

 I am off of that, but added interest and make no deductions and you 

 still have two of the main paying features and will pay more than 

 any other attraction at your fair. 



Now, Mr. Lauer has asked me another question : Whether or 

 not horse races are becoming unproductive? Never in the history 

 of this country was harness racing so productive. Never was there 

 such a demand for it. I will have to admit that there is a seeming 

 scarcity of horses — Mr. Smolinger doesn't agree with me on that 

 subject, but I think he is quite right about the great number of fairs 

 that come together, but there are two reasons for the scarcity of 

 horses. There has been a lack of breeding on the part of the small 

 breeder and then, too, there have been more poeple demanding har- 

 ness racing, more fairs, and there will be more of them. They tell 

 me that Davenport is going to be with you — is going to build a 

 beautiful new plant and that is happening all over the country. Sec- 

 retaries tell me that they aren't able to attract the horses when they 

 have a good program. I believe that secretarfes and superintendents 

 of speed are a good deal to blame. I know they are in our state. I 

 will not judge you by ourselves, but I will tell you what they do in 

 our state. A good many of our tracks in Indiana are not well cared 

 for, some of them aren't much more than a cow-path. That is not 

 general, but a good many of them. Some of them are four or five 

 inches deep in dust. They get out a program with perhaps just the 

 names of the horses on the program and when the races are called 

 the horsemen appear, some of them, in blue jeans. Some of that 

 happens in your state — it is not all in Indiana, but I am using In- 

 diana as an illustration. If you think that the people will come to a 

 fair to see green grass and get covered with dust and see men wear- 

 ing overalls and blue jeans, you have to think again. If you think 

 they are willing to pay 50 cents to see that, you are very much mis- 

 taken. Your men must be in good condition ; your harness must be- 

 in good condition ; your buildings must be in good condition, and you 

 must advertise your speed program. I may be a crank on this sub- 

 ject, but the speed programs I see at the different county fairs, not 

 only in Indiana and Ohio, but I saw some of them in Iowa, too, were 

 a disgrace. You have your entry list and the men are there with 

 their race horses. If you put a proper man in charge he can give the 

 desired information on that card — information that the people want 



