132 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



places. Nine out of ten of you use the same form of passes all the way 

 through, and if any man wants to beat them in your fair he can beat 

 you at every turn. When a man is busy at the gate he hasn't time to 

 examine to see whether a ticket has the name of your fair stamped on it, 

 or not, and there is the biggest loss — the privilege ticket. As I said 

 before, nine out of ten use the same privilege ticket, and nine out of ten 

 people the country over are looking for something for nothing. At fair 

 time they want to get in for nothing. I don't care how good a friend he 

 is of yours, he is not an extra good friend or he wouldn't ask you Tor a 

 ticket; but they are mooching for those tickets and they are looking for 

 a chance to get in cheap. 



The first day of the fair a concession man from Creston came to me, 

 and I had never seen him before, and he said, "Gatch, I always believe 

 in having a square deal," and I said, "What have I done to you?" He 

 said, "Nothing, but these fellows are raiding you here and stealing you 

 blind, and it's not right, and I am sorry to say it, but some of our boys 

 from Creston are in the game," and I said, "What's the deal?" and he 

 said, "They're taking the privilege tickets and bringing fellows in here 

 at 25 cents apiece." He said, "I'm coming to you as a friend; I know 

 these boys are doing it, and I think you ought to stop it." I went to 

 Mr. Foster, the president, and told him the trouble, and he said, "How 

 are you going to stop it?" I said I didn't know but I would stop it. 

 When I got to the gate I stood there and watched the procession of 

 privilege tickets going in, and the longer I stood there and thought of 

 it the madder I got. If a concessioner said he had four men, there were 

 no questions asked and he got four tickets, and so it went. 



Several days after that, in cleaning up the grounds, I picked up a 

 check which had a stamp on it marked, "Paid." I looked at it and said, 

 "I wonder why a man can't take that stamp and figure the thing out." 

 I went to Guthrie Center a few days after that, and the first thing I said 

 to Mr. Edwards up there was, "Bill, beat the pass, and if you don't they'll 

 clean you out." He said,* "How will you beat it?" and I said, "Go out 

 and get a bank stamp and stamp them on the arm." So we got the 

 First National Bank stamp for one day and when they came up and 

 wanted passes I said, "No passes here; nothing doing," and picked up the 

 bank stamp and told them to hold out their arm so that I could stamp 

 them, and they said, "Nothing doing, we don't want that." The next day 

 I got another stamp and stamped them on the hand. Any fair that is 

 using these tickets and throwing them to the wind, as we did in the 

 past, is bound to get stuck. But with this stamp, whenever a man comes 

 to the gate you stamp him on the arm or stamp him on the hand, and I'll 

 say that no man got by that gate unless he was stamped. There, gentle- 

 men, I consider is one of the best points, because you have got to get the 

 money at the big gate. 



I have been secretary three years and have had only three years' ex- 

 perience, but I am giving you my experience from observation. When I 

 A\'as elected secretary I said, "I would like to be secretary just once, just 

 to show you fellows that a man can get exhibitors there if he will get out 

 and ask them," and, gentlemen, I asked them. Take the Chester-White 

 pen; Mr. Thornburg, professor of animal husbandry at Ames, said that 



