164 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



To build the most successful fair for the future, it is necessary to adopt 

 a definite plan worked out along the lines of experience and professional 

 capability, A combination of the two is the only method of getting re- 

 sults from the modern fair. 



When I speak of experience, I mean the concession man is the one who 

 knows best how to handle concessions, the race-horse man knows the 

 requirements of a track, the aviator and fireworks man have definite 

 ideas as to the roof design of the grandstand, the stockman knows how 

 best to have his stock exhibited, and the pure-bred livestock auctioneer 

 is the final authority as to the best design of a sales pavilion. They all 

 know the results they want, and they adm.t they do not have the tech- 

 nical training to produce the required results. It is the harmonious com- 

 bination of all these best ideas, as compiled and used by the landscape 

 architect, architect and engineer, in the design of the general layout of the 

 grounds and individual buildings that bring about the quickest and best 

 results on the modern, up-to-date fair grounds. 



The man most responsible for the carrying out of this program is the 

 secretary or manager of the agricultural fair. In all our agricultural com- 

 munities there has been no one who has contributed more in the way of 

 inspiration, enthusiasm and far-sightedness than the secretary of the 

 agricultural fair. 



Many times working with little or no compensation, he has, through his 

 energy and self-sacrificing devotion to his task, developed :n his commu- 

 nity and surrounding territory a spirit of cooperation and friendly rivalry 

 among the farmers that has been instrumental in the product on of bet- 

 ter livestock, larger yields of grain, more extensive machinery and labor- 

 saving devices, and consequently a more prosperous and more progress- 

 ive citizenship. 



Often it has been a thankless task, but occasionally it has opened up 

 wider opportunities for the secretary himself, if his ambition was so in- 

 clined, and he has gone on to manage larger and more influential dis- 

 trict and state fairs. In this manner his talents have had greater oppor- 

 tunities for development, he has been able to serve a much wider field, 

 eventually becoming one of the important factors in the upbuilding of 

 our national life, 



A good fair secretary, however, is a product of his own industry. It is 

 his loyal ambition to obtain the best assistance and experience from ex- 

 perts along different lines to make his fair the best one possible, A defi- 

 nite program for future development is worked out on a basis of exsting 

 conditions. It is his ambition to work toward a definite plan in all future 

 improvements. Not a building is placed, not an improvement made, or a 

 tree planted, unless it fulfills a part of a definite plan. 



He has placed his profession on a plane with that of the great educators 

 of the day. He climbs up through strife, discord, discouragement, and 

 sometimes actual antagonism, always carrying with him the thought of 

 the welfare of his community. Optimism is his slogan. Through all dis- 

 couragements and disappointments we find him smiling and striving to 

 please. All honor therefore to the secretary of the agricultural fair, — his 

 work is second to none in America's agricultural achievement. 



