lU IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



year, or one week in the year, but every time he issues his newspaper. 

 I think it is a 50-50 proposition, that is, on that point, but not just like 

 the 50-50 proposition that you have heard of the Jew having invented. 

 The Jew had invented a certain method of making rabbit sausage, and 

 in making this rabbit sausage he created such a demand that there 

 wasn't enough material with which to fill all of the orders he had. The 

 people began to find after a while there was something else in that 

 sausage besides rabbit, in their estimation, and finally the Jew was 

 haled before the court and asked if he was putting anything into the 

 sausage besides rabbit, and the Jew said yes, and he was asked "What 

 is it?" and he said "Horse meat." The judge said "How much horse meat 

 did you put into the sausage with the rabbit meat?" and the Jew replied 

 "About 50-50." The judge asked "Fifty-fifty? What does this slang 

 expression 50-50 mean?" and the reply came back "One rabbit and one 

 horse." (Laughter.) But it is not on that basis that you fellows who are 

 working for the public interest, along with the newspaper men, are 

 dividing the honors or the complaints of the public. 



Mr. Stanberry has presented in every manner that I can present to 

 you the reasons why a fair premium award list should be published. Let 

 me tell you first, however, on behalf of the newspapers, that this law was 

 not helped or advocated or asked by any newspaper man in the state 

 of Iowa. It was sought, possibly, by the fair managers 'themselves, who 

 realized that there must be some check upon the public expenditure of 

 money in the state. I don't wish to insinuate that anybody in the state 

 thought that any county or district fair was presenting a bill for state aid 

 to equal the amount of premiums at the fair was which in excess of 

 the real amount of premiums paid, which might be the case, but 

 possibly that was the incentive for the law. A good many fairs adver- 

 tise hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of premiums which are not 

 competed for, and if they are not competed for and the premiums not 

 paid out, that money is left in the treasury, and I presume that is the 

 reason why the state wants to know. But if you publish a man's name 

 as having been paid so much on a cow or a bull, or some other animal, 

 that amount is accepted as having been spent. 



I am going to read a paragraph or two from a lot of letters I have 

 gotten from different newspaper men throughout the state. This is from 

 the Spencer News-Herald: 



"We charge our local association 25c an inch, which is less 

 than the regular rate, for we believe it does have some news 

 value; also it was published in both papers here at that price. 

 Our fair association here is not a kicker; in fact, they think 

 lots of the newspapers here, for we give them scads of stuff 

 free. Just before the fair we printed a 48-page fair edition, and 

 have done that every year of the fair. Starting several weeks, 

 or months, ahead of fair time we run stories about the forth- 

 coming fair. I presume it is safe to say that we give our fair 

 twenty or thirty pages of free advertising every year." 



