146 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



could be (lone without a cumbersome meeting. I don't believe the state 

 meeting would be the best plan, but I do favor the local meeting as we 

 have practiced it in northern Iowa. 



The Chairman: I would like to hear from Mr. Cameron on that 

 proposition. I wish you would tell us about your meeting in Chicago. 

 We have probably ten days there and we spend three in looking over 

 attractions and don't do much either. 



Mr. Cameron: I want to say, gentlemen, that I don't do anything 

 except for the best interests of the county fairs, because if there is one 

 man in the state of Iowa who loves the county fairs it is myself. I have 

 always worked for the things that were to their best advantage, because 

 they are feeders to the great state fair of Iowa. I think I can talk 

 to you intelligently on what effect that spring meeting would have. 

 While it may be true that meeting would be short, I would suggest, 

 instead of having a spring meeting, that you have a longer session in 

 the fall. You cannot have it on Monday and Tuesday because there 

 are a great many people in the state of Iowa that would be unable to 

 get here on Monday on account of no Sunday trains. They could not get 

 here until Monday night or Tuesday morning and thus would lose a 

 part of the convention. Why not have this meeting following the state 

 meeting, holding it Thursday and Friday? And the reason I say that 

 is this: we have a two-days' meeting in Chicago. We get together and 

 talk about those things that were a success at our last meeting and com- 

 pare notes. And so you come here in December fresh from your suc- 

 cessful meetings and you tell the other members of the things at your 

 fair that were a success, and possibly you can give some one an inspira- 

 tion that will repay him for the time put in down here. The meeting fol- 

 lowing after the state fair meeting, Thursday and Friday, would not 

 interfere with the state fair meeting and would meet your requirements. 



As Mr. Norton says, the question is whether there are many of your 

 fairs that will pay for two trips to the city of Des Moines. There is 

 only one time that they will stand for expense and that is the day before 

 the great exhibit. I wouldn't want to say anything that would tend to 

 dissolve the harmony that exists between these organizations, and I 

 am giving you our experience as we had it in Chicago. 



We meet in Chicago in February. We used to invite a lot of fellows in 

 there but we don't now; we only invite those people in who will make 

 a circuit that will not conflict. We used to try to set dates for all the 

 fairs. I have been on the committee when we would labor until three 

 and four o'clock in the morning and never get together. So we decided to 

 let every fair set its own date. They set the dates and the committee 

 simply represents them, whether they conflict or whether they do not 

 conflict, and we get along harmoniously. 



Mr. Morton has outlined the conditions which exist in these different 

 circuits. Now, you come down here to our meeting in February and the 

 attraction fellows are here. The attractions people want to put every 

 attraction in with the least possible expense, as far as transportation 

 is concerned, and get the show in as often as they possibly can. What is 

 the result? They would take those fairs lying closest together and 



