244 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



thousand dollars' worth of damage to the grounds, mainly to the tents and 

 minor exhibition structures. Lowering clouds were present throughout 

 much of the week, resulting in a decrease, rather than the anticipated 

 increase, in attendance. President Cameron had predicted that the at- 

 tendance this year would pass the 300,000 mark, but the weather man 

 was obdurate, and so the attendance dwindled somewhat. Monday was 

 expected to be the big day, but the total attendance was only 40,000, 

 falling about 18,000 short of the same day last year. It was regretable 

 that better weather could not have prevailed, as a better show was never 

 held. 



The new Women and Children's building was a center of attraction for 

 thousands. Iowa is the first state in the Union to provide such a building, 

 which is given a commanding position and takes rank as one of the finest 

 structures on the grounds. Thanks to the untiring efforts of a little band 

 of determined women, the last legislature appropriated $80,000 for a build- 

 ing in which the work and welfare of women and children should be ex- 

 hibited and advanced. The money has been well and judiciously expended. 

 The building is sightly from an architectural standpoint, its wide verandas 

 offering rest and comfort and its numerous departments providing enter- 

 tainment and instruction for men, women and children. Chief interest 

 centered in the babies' health contest, which, instead of being held in a 

 small tent, as heretofore, now has several large and admirably arranged 

 rooms, with a large auditorium for the comfort of the spectators. Here 

 some three hundred tots were examined as to physical qualifications in 

 the effort to find the most perfect youngster in the state and to stimulate 

 parents generally to pay more attention to the rearing of their offspring. 

 But the baby show was by no means the only attraction of the building. 

 A large and comfortable auditorium, in which were given daily lectures 

 on hygiene, sanitation, the care and training of children and home 

 economics, drew large and interested crowds. The art exhibit was es- 

 pecially commendable, being so much superior to the so-called exhibits of 

 former years as to be beyond all comparison. A model school was shown 

 and striking exhibits made in the campaign to rid the state of tuberculosis 

 and to advance the health interests of young and old. Rest rooms, chil- 

 dren's playgrounds, nurseries and kindergartens are provided, adding to 

 the comfort of those who come long distances to attend the fair. It is 

 now possible for a mother to leave her baby, for a fee ranging from 5 

 to 15 cents a half hour, in the charge of a competent nurse and see the 

 fair in the knowledge that her little one is being well cared for and 

 vastly better off than if it were being dragged about from one spot and 

 exhibit to another. If the 1914 Iowa State Fair did nothing but demon- 

 strate the place and value of the new Women and Children's building it 

 would be well worth all it cost, both to the state and to every individual 

 in attendance. 



Iowa is the best market in the United States for automobiles. If any 

 one doubted this for a moment the number in evidence at the fair grounds 

 this week would have converted him. Already the license tags have 



