14 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Mr. Olson moved that T. J. Hudson, Charles Akes and Carl 

 Shields be elected marshals for the 1914 fair at a salary of $45.00 

 each; they to furnish their own horses and feed for same. Motion 

 seconded and carried. 



Mr, Legoe read the following report of the fine arts depart- 

 ment : 



REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT. 



The Exposition Building being a frame building and rather old, should, 

 before another fair, be inspected and necessary repairs should be made 

 before the fair begins; such as fixing up booths and stopping leaks in the 

 roof, and generally going over the building. I wish also to call attention 

 to the fact that said building is wired for electric lights and is also wired 

 to furnish power and day current, and these wires are not put up in good 

 shape and are not safe. There are two different companies who have been 

 putting wires in the building, as I understand it, the state fair manage- 

 ment has the building wired for lights and an outside company furnishes 

 the current for power, and these wires cross each other in such a way 

 that they make it extremely dangerous and I believe that the superinten- 

 dent of grounds should have this matter attended to and these wires all 

 taken down and put up in proper shape before another fair. 



As to the matter of concessions, I wish to say that there should be 

 some system established so that people looking for concessions in the 

 buildings at the Iowa State Fair should not be in a position to bargain 

 with superintendents of the dilTerent departments, which is now the case 

 to a certain extent. I wish to state farther in regard to concessions, we 

 cannot, in the future, sell as much space to persons who use it for sell- 

 ing purposes, as we have in the past, on account of the fact that a great 

 many more concessions of this kind are being sold in the other building. 



I wish to say in regard to exhibits made in the exposition building by 

 merchants and manufacturers, that the past year we have had the best 

 exhibits of this kind that have ever been made in the exposition build- 

 ing, and have had more of them, and one reason why we did not get as 

 much money for concessions this year as we have had in former years 

 was because we sold so much space for exhibits, and, of course, we do not 

 charge as much for exhibit space as for space sold to persons who use the 

 same for selling purposes. 



I believe it would be a good plan, and would prevent congestion in the 

 east part of the building, if that center space where we have placed sell- 

 ing concessions (there in the east wing) was torn out and three attrac- 

 tive booths built up, leaving spaces between them so that the people 

 would not have to walk clear around the aisle to get out of the building 

 unless they so desired. 



In regard to the exhibits in the fancywork department, will say that 

 they are in good shape and we are getting new and more attractive ex- 

 hibits each year. However, as far as I am able to learn, the amount of 

 premiums is not always properly adjusted according to the value of the 



