TENTH AXXIAI. YEAR BOOK-PART V 171 



oiu- tliiiil of the cattle ami two-iitchs of the swine. No other common- 

 wealth can make such a showing of opportunity, and this, coupled with 

 the ability of the class of men handling the Iowa State Fair and Ex- 

 position, easily explains why your annual show is the greatest of any- 

 state in the union. 



Mr, President : We will next listen to an address from Mr. James 

 Atkinson, editor of "The ITomestoad." on "Iowa's Duty to Her 

 State Fair and Exposition.'' 



IOWA'S DUTY TO HER STATE FAIR AND EXPOSITION. 



BY JAMES .\TKIXSO.\, EDITOR liOMESTE.VD, DES MOINES. 



The great success of the Iowa State Fair during recent years as com- 

 pared with its former record is largely due to the fact that it has 

 been appealing more and more to the people of the state in its true 

 light, namely, as an educational institution. It is just as much a part 

 of the state's educational system as the State University, the Teacher's 

 College, or the Iowa College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. The 

 notion that it is a Des Moines entertainment proposition no longer pre- 

 vails among intelligent people and the fact that that conception of the 

 fair has been lived down paves .the way, in my opinion, for a period 

 of signal usefulness during the coming years. 



It is gratifying to know that Iowa has more acres in her fair grounds 

 than any other state in the union; therefore, furnishing ample room for 

 expansion, although we are surpassed by three or four other states in 

 the value of the equipment on the grounds. Iowa people in their private 

 capacity are more liberal than the state legislature in this regard, be- 

 cause the receipts of the state fair that come from admissions to the 

 outside gate, the grandstand, and concessions make a grand total ex- 

 ceeded only by one other state in the union, that of Minnesota. In a 

 single year the people who attend the Iowa State Fair pay into its 

 treasury approximately as much as the fair has cost the state since it 

 was established. So great is the educational influence of the fair that 

 it is my opinion the state could afford to appropriate for permanent 

 improvements dollar for dollar on the basis of the annual receipts. If 

 this policy could be carried out for a few- years it would touch the 

 state's agriculture in its most vital spot, by increasing production and 

 manufacturing and by greatly developing trade in general. Great as the 

 record of the Iowa State Fair is, it is only in its infancy and no man 

 present can realize its future possibilities. 



In the Province of Ontario, where agricultural conditions are not 

 nearly so favorable as in Iowa, the attendance this year at the Provin- 

 cial Fair at Toronto, was between 700,000 and 800,000 people. The peo- 

 ple there are educated fair goers and in the main they attend with a 

 clearly defined purpose in mind. They go to study the standards in the 

 live stock departments, to ascertain what is new concerning the pro- 

 duction of grain and grasses, to witness the actual performance of labor 

 saving devices, and incidentally to be entertained. Fair attendance in 



