FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 219 



manner while they were with us. We frequently hear the charge that 

 horsemen are very irritable and are hard to get along with or please. Our 

 experience has been that this is a mistaken idea and that these horsemen 

 are as human as other people, and, if treated properly, will give you the 

 best they have and do it cheerfully. We have every reason to believe that 

 many of these horsemen, in the past, have not been treated properly by 

 the managers of the various county fairs. It was our effort to make it 

 pleasant for the horsemen and we believe we succeeded. We took particular 

 care to see to it that all mail, telegrams, express and freight packages 

 were promptly delivered to the fair grounds, as it would be very difficult 

 for these horsemen to procure them themselves. One little incident 

 happened which I feel I must relate and trust you will pardon me for doing 

 so. One of the horsemen had sent away for a piece of harness which 

 he was unable to get here in Carroll or any neighboring town. He was 

 very anxious to have this piece of harness as soon as it arrived at the 

 local express office. He had not notified us to have it sent out to him but 

 we took it upon ourselves to do so just the same. After we had delivered 

 to him this piece of harness, which happened to be in time for him to 

 use it on his horse in one of the most important races, he came to me and 

 told me that it was the first time in his experience that he had ever re- 

 ceived that kind of treatment from any county fair. He was overcome 

 with joy and his horse won the race handily. 



Horse racing, instead of being attractive, may be the greatest bore 

 to the people if the races are not pulled off promptly at the time for 

 which they are called. The management of the county fair should 

 make a special effort to have the various races pulled off on the dot. 

 This we tried to do at Carroll last summer and we believe we succeeded. 

 In order to give the people a little relief from horse racing I con- 

 sider it advisable to scatter in a few automobile and motorcycle races. 

 These are always attractive features if properly handled. In the auto 

 races it is wise to mix them with speed races, novelty races, and other 

 forms of entertainment which these motor vehicles are able to supply. 



Another feature of a county fair should not be overlooked, and that 

 is to procure good tent shows. We must not overlook the fact that 

 all people who attend the county fairs are not particularly interested 

 in racing. This is largely true of women and children. The tent 

 shows serve a good purpose in this case. Our experience has taught 

 us, however, that it is somewhat difficult, to procure good and re- 

 spectable shows. I strongly advise against permitting any of these 

 shows at a county fair which border on the suggestive or indecent. 

 Even throwing aside the moral view of this question and I am sure, 

 no one would be willing to do this, even from a business point of 

 view this kind of show is unsuccessful. True it will attract a certain 

 class of people but they are not the people that the fair associations are 

 catering to. The sooner the fair associations awaken to the fact that 

 we no longer have any use for the indecent or suggestive show the 

 better it will be for all of us. 



Another thing, county fairs are usually held in the time when tlie 

 days are the hottest. For this reason a goodly supply of refreshment 

 stands should be provided. The question often arises here whether the 



