SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 135 



and understands one, so these lovers of the noble breed shake oft' troubles 

 and send cares flying to the winds. Then there is the mingling and 

 associating of farrcer-folk and town-people. I've always maintained that 

 any event where this acquaintance can be broadened cannot but be of 

 value to all. Too many times they meet only in a commercial way; this 

 should not be. They enjoy the same social pleasures and would gain 

 much by co-operation. 



Of our state fair we are justly proud and we believe it to be the last 

 word in excellency of state fairs. But we also think that the counties 

 with the exhibits have assisted in making the state fair the excellent 

 educational factor it now is. Our county work is like the grade school 

 in preparation for the high school. And the benefits attained by the 

 county is progress for the state. 



Too much credit cannot be given the men whose confidence, hard 

 work and management are giving the people these annual fairs in the 

 various counties. I have some knowledge of the obstacles they encounter 

 each year. First there is the skeptic. We suppose the Lord had some- 

 thing in view when he made him., but it seems to us that so far he has 

 not been placed as a benefit. Many of them in a county will, unless the 

 secretary is the embodiment of courage, make a successful fair an im- 

 possibility. Hours and days are put in in doing the hardest work im- 

 aginable and too many times the people who come to enjoy and derive 

 benefits are suspicious of every endeavor and prone to criticize the en- 

 terprise as a whole. Undoubtedly some of them think that the per- 

 formance was thought of one day and staged the following. I have fol- 

 lowed one secretary thru a day when it seemed to me that everyone 

 from the peanut vender to the aviatrix had an unreasonable request or 

 demand to make. 



I think everyone of us have seen many a day when it would have been 

 a lot easier to fail than to succeed. But thru your tireless energy, 

 courage, and right mental attitude you have conquered obstacles and given 

 to the people of your county and state a useful life. What better can 

 you give? 



The Chairman: One organization in the state of Iowa that has a 

 vision of the possibilities of the various county and district and state 

 fairs in the betterment of the state in all conceivable lines is repre- 

 sented here this afternoon by its secretary, and we have with us this 

 afternoon Mr. Ralph Bolton of the Greater Des Moines Committee, whom 

 we w'ill be glad to hear from at this time. I have the pleasure of in- 

 troducing Mr. Ralph Bolton. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: Recently I made 

 a trip around the state with the members of the Greater Iowa Association 

 trying to arouse interest in that Association and I made a point in my 

 talks that while we think we are bright enough in Iowa, as a matter of 

 fact we lack a whole lot of being progressive. 1 called attention to the 

 fact that while it is true we are the greatest agricultural state, that is en- 

 tirely due to Nature's help, because Nature has smiled on Iowa and made 

 every acre fertile, but man hasn't been able to produce as much per acre 

 as they do in the rocky soil of New England, and farm for farm other 



