2 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



General grounds policing $3,809.45 



Camp grounds • • 195.00 



Marshals 135.00 



Superintendents, assistant, etc 99.00 



Total $4,238.45 



There was an increase of 307 days work and $669.98 expense. Nothing 

 that I can say better shows the real increase and growth of the Iowa 

 State Fair than the demands made upon this department, and at this 

 time I wish to call attention to the remarkable, as I believe, record made 

 during the 1913 fair. There was not a single case of pocket picking, loss 

 from tent, or other evidence of pilfering of the light-fingered gentry 

 reported to our office. 



In the camp feature we also note a steady increase, over 1,700 tents 

 being pitched and occupied practically throughout the fair, an increase of 

 about 125 over the previous year. During the days the camp grounds 

 were policed by mounted men for the first time, an innovation which met 

 with the approval of all. As their duties were largely those of guides, 

 they were much more readily reached and could be of greater assistance 

 to the visitors at the grounds. 



I again urge the desirability of increasing the wages of both the 

 mounted and the foot men. The cost of living on the grounds has steadily 

 increased; the bills for feed for the mounted men are such that they 

 actually do not break even when shipping expense and feed bills are 

 added to their own board bills. This should not be and I would suggest 

 that we be at least as liberal in this matter as our neighboring state of 

 Minnesota, which pays its mounted men $5 per day and furnishes the 

 feed for the horses. Minnesota also pays her foot men $3 per day and 

 they have in addition to that an average of fifty men in uniform from the 

 Twin Cities, the only expense to the association being the furnishing of 

 the men their meals while on duty. 



I would again call, and urge, attention to better housing conditions for 

 the men, and suggest the desirability of the board purchasing from the 

 county of Polk the building now on the grounds and formerly used as a 

 public comfort station and waiting room for the inhabitants of that county 

 and their friends. At comparatively small expense this could be fitted up 

 into ideal police headquarters and the time has come, in the judgment of 

 your superintendent, when we must pay just regard to the comfort of 

 the men who come here and work an average of sixteen hours out of the 

 twenty-four, giving faithful, efficient service and contributing in a large 

 measure to the success of the fair. 



I wish to thank the members of the board, and the officers and the men 

 in this department for their cheerful co-operation and prompt obedience 

 to all instructions, rules and regulations. 



Respectfully submitted, 



B. M. Wentworth, 



Superintendent. 



