344 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Mr. H. H. Rosebrook: Gentlemen of the Convention: I thought I was 

 going to get out of the fair game this year and I guess Mr. Lauer thought 

 the same thing, so he Avanted me to bid you farewell and the best way 

 to do it was co make a speech. But I haven't had time to give it much 

 thought, having been engrossed with other things. In fact, I had for- 

 gotten about it, and when I was going by the Savery hotel I saw some 

 members of the association and was reminded that I was to make a 

 speech. 



I don't take the position that I am able to dictate to the worthy secre- 

 taries of the different fairs of Iowa, because I am getting out of the 

 game, and there is no reason why I should tell you how to run your fairs. 

 But if you will take what I have to say with a grain of salt, and not 

 swallow it in a lump, perhaps there will be no hard feelings. 



If you get into a rut you will always be there until you get out, and 

 you cannot get out unless you improve, and that is the way with 

 fairs. Unless you improve your fair from year to year you will not grow; 

 it will be the same old fair, you will lose in attendance and everything else. 



The first thing to make your fairs better is satisfaction. The Ameri- 

 can people have to be satisfied, and of all things the fair is one of the 

 greatest places for people to .find fault that I know of, and the poor secre- 

 tary has to take the blame. There are several ways in which you can give 

 satisfaction. The first thing is as a patron approaches the gate, he 

 should be well received by the gateman. If there is a gruff, short-speak- 

 ing gate keeper, it puts a dark brown taste in the patron's mouth and he 

 is not able to spit out all day. It takes all the joy out of life so far as the 

 patron is concerned. 



Second, your exhibits and your exhibitors. If there is any part of 

 your exhibits, or any department that you can see was weak last year, 

 put a special effort on that one exhibit or that one department. Keep a 

 little closer touch or tab on the superintendent of that department and 

 see that he brings that exhibit up to standard, because every exhibit 

 brings in a proportion of the admissions at the gate. That is one of the 

 principal things looked after at our fairs, is the exhibitor. 



Third, the so-called "holdup". This has been a year of holdups. No 

 doubt some of the fairs have taken advantage, like lots of other people, 

 of the war and have charged exorbitant prices for everything. I noticed 

 one of the things that was resented quickest and hurt our fair more than 

 anything else that happened during our fair was one afternoon in our 

 grand stand the report came to me that the peanut butchers were selling 

 peanuts and ice cream cones and pop at ten cents. They had only been 

 doinng it for an hour or so, but it created a regular storm and you could 

 hear all over the grounds that it was being called a "holdup." I stopped 

 it immediately and had it announced from the judge's stand that it was 

 a misunderstanding and that we would not let it occur again. It had its 

 effect. The same way with our lunch counters and with our dining hall. 

 We saw to it that they furnished a meal that was satisfactory at a rea- 

 sonable price. People went away feeling that they had got their money's 

 worth; that they weren't held up, and Lhave yet to hear of the first dis- 

 gruntled person being overcharged. 



