SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 51 



and stacking well out of the way and were in a good position to 

 attend the fair, and the attendance record would indicate they 

 turned out in good numbers. 



The total attendance for the week was 291,972, surpassing all 

 previous records by 11,500 and the 1915 attendance by about 

 47,000. Had it not rained the last two days I fear this j^ear's at- 

 tendance record would have been so large it would have been diffi- 

 cult to equal another year. 



An attempt was made to determine what per cent of the attend- 

 ance came to the fair by automobile. This, however, is a difficult 

 matter because so many people coming from the smaller towns and 

 country districts by auto secure a room and a garage for their auto 

 down town and do not use it for conveyance between the city and 

 fair grounds on account of the congestion of autos on the streets 

 leading to the grounds. There were also hundreds of cars parked 

 on vacant lots just outside the Grand Avenue entrance. The admis- 

 sion department kept a record of all autos passing through the gates 

 and also made a careful estimate of those that remained in the 

 camp grounds overnight. These figures show there were 25,307 

 autos that either came through the gate or remained in the camp 

 grounds. Taking these figures and an estimate of the cars that were 

 kept down town and parked outside the entrance, it is safe to say 

 one-half the attendance reached the fair by automobile. 



Going a little farther I secured figures from one of the leading 

 railroads showing the territory from which their business orig- 

 inated. We found only 2 per cent of their business originated 

 Avithin a radius of 20 miles of Des Moines; 23 per cent within 40 

 miles; 53 per cent within 60 miles and 47 per cent of all their 

 business originated from outside a radius of 60 miles. In other 

 words the railroads secured 2 per cent of their business within a 

 radius of 20 miles of Des Moines; 21 per cent between 20 and 40 

 miles, 30 per cent between 40 and 60 miles and 47 per cent from 

 outside a radius of 60 miles. An analysis of these figures would 

 indicate the auto is the favorite conveyance up to about 40 or 

 50 miles but outside of that radius the railroads are on equal 

 footing with the autos. I also found by personal investigation that 

 people do not enjoy the long auto rides, but where they can go and 

 come the same day the auto is preferable. 



Referring to the exhibits the Breeders' Gazette hit the nail on 

 the head when it said, "It was overflow week at the Iowa State 



