EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART III 127 



those circumstances, who is going to stalce his plant and reputation on 

 running purely an agricultural fair? For that is precisely what you do, 

 because if you don't run a purely agricultural fair you are going to drift 

 to amusement. 



The question then arises' as to how far the fairs of Iowa are willing to 

 go to attract the people, as an advertising proposition, to see their horses 

 and cattle and hogs. I think it is an undeniable fact that we are drift- 

 ing to amusement, but there is no one stronger for amusements than I am. 



Now, of course, I don't want you to understand, or to infer from what 

 I may say, that this meeting couldn't run without me, for I am not like 

 the story that my father told me years ago of a certain private in the 

 ranks during the Civil War, named John O'Flaherty. Private John 

 O'Flaherty was a member of the famous fighting 13th Wisconsin, and he 

 was one of a few Irishmen in a Norwegian regiment. The story goes 

 that before the siege of Vicksburg, the 13th Wisconsin was assigned to 

 assist in the work. The regiment was lined up ready for action, and 

 word was being awaited from the commander to go into action, when 

 General Grant hurried down in front of the regiment and asked, "Is Pri- 

 vate John O'Flaherty in the ranks?" and the captain said, "No, General," 

 and the General walked back and forth a while and then again asked 

 about Private John O'Flaherty, with the same reply from the Captain. 

 The General was becoming impatient and soon again asked: "Is Pri- 

 vate John O'Flaherty in the ranks?" and the Captain shouted, "John 

 O'Flaherty is here, General," and then General Grant said, "Then let the 

 battle proceed at once." So, as I said before, I do not feel that I bear 

 that relation to this meeting. 



Are fairs drifting to amusements? Last fall I- visited a great many 

 fairs in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. I would not call on 

 the secretaries, but just dubbed around seeing what I could. I would go 

 to some fellow and say, "How is this fair?" and in that way got my in- 

 formation from patrons. I went to one fair and when I inquired around 

 I found that the people were not satisfied; they said, "They have a few 

 old horse races here, and that's about all," and then the question came 

 to my mind as to whether it is really worth Vv^hile to run a strictly 

 agricultural fair. The question comes back to this, "Are we fooling our- 

 selves when we run an agricultural fair?" I think the question for us 

 is, "Is the proposition 50-50 or 4-1?" Our agricultural program cost us 

 $1,000 and our amusement program cost $4,000. 



Mj' business is the newspaper business, and I like to come here and 

 mingle with you and get your ideas, but if you want to make a success 

 of the newspaper business or any other kind of business, don't give them 

 what you think they ought to have, but give them what they tvant. As 

 I said before, this is a good time to appeal to the patriotism of our people 

 to limit our amusements. This is war time, and as you know if we ever 

 were a serious-minded people we are now, and yet normally we are not a 

 serious-minded people. 



The question then comes right down to this point, "How much or how 

 little shall we spend for amusements?" I believe that is the topic that 

 should be considered, and that is all I have to say. I thank you. 



