TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 135 



Mr. Curtin: There is one of the cases! That is something that 

 sometimes happens — they don't try. 



Mr. White : The association did all they could to stop it, too. 



Mr. Curtin: Those things work an injury, there's no question 

 about that. They are exceptional cases. I have never had a case of 

 that kind yet. Once in a while somebody will get time suppressed 

 or reduced, or something like that. We absolutely give every horse 

 what he gets, and the result is we have had good racing, but it is 

 getting less each year as the profits of racing are getting less, and 

 they are almost always now a loss, and I am fearful it is dying out. 



Mr. White : The state fairs and the larger county and district 

 fairs can afford to give large enough purses to attract the better 

 horses, but the county fair is paying just about all they can for 

 racing, and they have got to pay for their entertainment. If the 

 point system were used I think it would do away with a lot of that 

 kind of racing. 



Mr. Young: I don't want to consume too much time, but there 

 is one thing under this head that I want to suggest, and that is the 

 custom that is being practiced by a lot of secretaries of the various 

 fairs going out over the country offering to pay railroad fares, or 

 offering to give entrance money, to the horsemen if they will leave 

 a certain fair and come to their fair. I think that is a practice that 

 should be sat on. Make your purses big enough so that it will be 

 a good enough entertainment to attract people, and if the other 

 fellow can beat you to it, take off your hat to him ; but if we start a 

 custom of that kind in Iowa and bid against each other, it will hurt 

 our fairs. I had a man come to Oskaloosa with six horses. This 

 fellow came down and said : '*l was offered my entrance money free 

 if I would go to the other fair," but I happened to have his entrance 

 money or I suppose he would have gone. Their purses were just 

 as big as ours, but I think if we indulge in things of that kind there 

 is no knowing where it will stop, and I think it is the worst practice 

 that the secretaries of the fairs of Iowa could ever undertake or 

 ever engage in. I would like to see these men here today take some 

 action on that. I should like to see an agreement or a resolution, or 

 something, and I don't care if you make it a good stiff fine for the 

 man that does it. I think something of that kind ought to be done. 

 This thing of starting out and going from one fair to another and 

 fighting against them is going to demoralize us, and I would like to 

 see some action taken to correct that practice. 



Mr. Bacon : If you will refer to the resolution passed at Fort 

 Dodge last spring, you will find that it covers that point. It provided 



