SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 137 



SPKIXG MEETI>-G. 



Discussion led by J. P. Mullen, Fonda. 



The Chairman: We will now take up the program where we left off 

 this morning. On the topic of "Spring Meeting" are the heads of 

 "Standpoint of mutual benefit", "Advantage of forming circuits", "Ad- 

 vantage of securing free acts", and "Why not both?" This discussion 

 will be led by Mr. .J. P. Mullen of Fonda, Iowa. 



Mr. J. P. Mullen: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I am very glad to 

 have an opportunity to appear before the executive officers of county 

 and district fairs of Iowa. You are aware that I took some interest in 

 this organization from the start and I am glad to see the wonderful 

 development and intense interest taken in the later years in comparison 

 with the former attitude of those skeptical about its success. 



I had hopes that probably this discussion would be completed before 

 my arrival but at the same time there are some points I would like to 

 have brought out. And while I may only touch the high places, I will 

 look to the able assistants who will follow me for further developments 

 on these propositions. 



In regard to a spring meeting, from the standpoint of the horsemen, 

 it is a topic worthy of discussion. So far as his interests are concerned, 

 it is in the development and training of his horses; it touches the secre- 

 taries and the officers of the county fairs, it arouses their interest in the 

 performance of horses later at the summer field meets. 



Now I haven't given much study to the proposition of a spring meet- 

 ing. I can conceive of a spring m,eeting being a success, so I think some 

 other meeting would be the thing to be discussed. The horseman, of 

 course, is decidedly interested in what position he is going to occupy at 

 the later meetings — as to whether he is a winner, whether the dreams 

 that he has dreamed and thought over all winter long, the races that 

 he has won around the furnace and the hot stove, will come true in the 

 summer. I have had most of the horsemen say they never lost a race 

 in the winter time and I believe that is true, but the idea now is to 

 have a race meeting in the spring to give an opportunity to the horse 

 owner to bring out the possibilities of his horses and at the same time 

 make it a paying proposition to the local institutions that put on the 

 meetings. That is the problem. 



From my point of view, I have always looked to the interest of the 

 local association and those in charge to make it a paying proposition, 

 and at the same time I have the best of good feeling for the horseman 

 and desire that they make their calling a success also, but I can readily 

 see that an early summer or spring meeting would be a direct benefit 

 in two directions; first, if he has not got a winner, the sooner he dis- 

 covers it the better it will be for his pocket book; if he has a winner, 

 it is great advertising for the fairs of different sections of the state to 

 secure that horse; he makes good time and the people will come to the 

 fair and talk about it. If you will have this horse or that horse com- 

 pete at Marshalltown or Waverly at an early spring meeting, the winner 



