FIFTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 135 



conclusion shortly after the close of the 1913 fair season that they must 

 retrench and cut their expense accounts in some manner. To this end 

 about a dozen or more firms agreed to not exhibit at any of the state 

 fairs in 1914. Whether this policy proves profitable to them or not we 

 will have to wait and see. To substantiate the statements that there is 

 no trouble between the fair management and these large concerns I wish 

 to quote an article which appeared in the 1914 October issue of the 

 St. Louis Farm Machinery. 



"The Iowa State Fair should not come under the general charge of 

 excessive exhibition rates that is being made against various state fairs, 

 according to W. H. Town, general manager of the International Harvester 

 Company, located in Des Moines, Iowa, which firm did not exhibit at the 

 Iowa State Fair this year. 'There is no complaint to be made,' says Mr. 

 Town. 'The fair management always has been liberal in the issuance 

 of passes to employes of exhibitors and the display rate of five cents per 

 square foot is most reasonable when one considers that the space is 

 located in Machinery Hall, which is one of the finest buildings of the 

 kind in the nation. Moreover, the fair management always has given 

 free use of outside space. Machinery Hall is a fireproof building of steel 

 and concrete and there is no objection to the rate charged for display 

 space in this structure. The fair management is in no way to blame 

 on account of the loss of some of the big exhibitors this year. It is an 

 injustice to the management of the Iowa Fair to have such an impression 

 abroad in the land and I would like to help correct this injustice.' " 



The Iowa State College at Ames staged a very interesting and educa- 

 tional exhibit again this year. In addition to the exhibit, programs were 

 provided in the College Building auditorium for each forenoon and after- 

 noon of the fair. These programs consisted of lectures, demonstrations, 

 and in a number of cases, motion pictures were used to illustrate the 

 lectures which were given at stated hours twice each day. 



Special motion pictures were run of the Iowa State College of Agri- 

 culture and Mechanic Arts, showing the 120-acre campus at Ames; the 

 forty or more buildings, experiment stations and student life at the 

 college. 



WOMEN AND CHILDEEN'S BUILDING. 



Tlie Women and Children's Building, which was completed this year, 

 proved to be one of the most attractive places on the grounds. With its 

 wide porches, well arranged and well ventilated rest rooms this building 

 made an ideal resting place for women and small children. 



A most comprehensive program in which all the important phases of 

 child life, as well as the most vital questions of interest to women, were 

 brought out in the exhibits in the various departments and by lectures 

 in the large auditorium. 



The babies' health contest proved a most interesting feature again this 

 year. The quarters provided for this contest in the Women and Chil- 

 dren's Building were found to be most admirably arranged; not only 

 from the fact that the contest was so staged that the public could witness 

 the tests and examinations to advantage and at the same time be com- 

 fortably seated, but the reception room, dressing room, and judging rooms 



