312 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



of live stock of all kinds, the annual state fair is visible proof to the out- 

 side world that "in all that is good Iowa affords the best." The 1913 Iowa 

 State Fair, which opened at Des Moines Wednesday of last week and which 

 closes today, is so much bigger and better than any of its predecessors 

 that it testifies to a year of prosperity and progress the like of which has 

 never been seen before. 



With ideal weather, the thousands of visitors to Des Moines this week 

 were enabled to attend the fair with the minimum of discomfort. Iowa 

 has been particularly fortunate in the matter of weather this year. While 

 the states west of it have been visited by hot winds and drouth and the 

 states north of it have known death-dealing winds, Iowa has experienced 

 a season of almost ideal crop-growing weather. The results were visible 

 at the state fair, in splendid exhibits of grain and of live stock and in 

 the prosperous appearance of the people. The fair opened with refresh- 

 ing breezes and continued, with a clear sky and lowered temperature, 

 until its conclusion. Seldom, if ever, has a more nearly ideal brand of 

 weather been furnished for fair visitors than was served up by the weather 

 man to the visitors in Des Moines the past week. 



Added to this splendid weather was the ideal condition in which the 

 state fair grounds were placed and kept. The time was, and not so many 

 years ago, when the eyes of the visitors were outraged by littered grounas, 

 in which waste paper, watermelon rinds and all manner of refuse and 

 riff-raff combined; when the nose was incensed by all sorts and conditions 

 of odors, from unsanitary outhouses and from uncleanly lunch counters and 

 booths; when the ears were pierced by nerve-shattering, sirenic whistles, 

 the raucous shouts of ill-mannered "barkers" and the continuous din of 

 fakers, each endeavoring to make more noise than his competitors. All 

 this was absent this year, and for this relief much thanks. Never did 

 the Iowa fair grounds present a more cleanly appearance. Oiled roads 

 kept down the dust, a plentiful supply of clean and comfortable benches 

 made it possible for all to rest, while the eye was greeted with beds 

 of cannas and other beautiful flowers, in full bloom, that were a constant 

 delight. The number of foul-smelling refreshment stands was far 

 smaller than usual, entirely lacking in the places given over to resting 

 spots, where the people might sit in comfort, enjoy the band concerts, 

 the vista of flowers and waving flags and enjoy themselves as at a high- 

 grade and beautiful park. In no one particular is the state fair manage- 

 ment to be more highly commended this year than in the cleanliness of 

 the grounds and the constant catering to the comfort of the many thou- 

 sands of visitors. 



At this writing (Wednesday evening) the attendance has been main- 

 tained at such a high figure, day by day, as to lead to the opinion that 

 last year's record of 270,000 would be approached and possibly passed. 

 Notwithstanding the refusal of the railroads to grant the reduced fare 

 ordered by the last legislature, every incoming train has been loaded 

 to the guardj, while thousands of farmer-owned and j'armer-driven auto- 



