452 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



STATE AND COUNTY AID. 



An assured income is a necessity if the fair is to do its work efficiently 

 and expand as the needs of the country develop. State or county aid, 

 or both, is essential in any system of fair organization that is to serve 

 the people and improve their methods. The lack of such an income is 

 responsible for the presence of most of the objectionable features admitted 

 to fairs at present, and for the consequent loss by the fair both of prestige 

 and support by farming people. The management must be independent 

 of need of the money that fakirs and gamblers offer for the privilege 

 of swindling visitors. 



Grants of money to the fair association by the county or the State are 

 therefore a necessity without which the best and most useful type of the 

 fair can not exist. These grants should be carefully guarded so as to 

 stimulate and not enfeeble effort on the part of'local people, and to in- 

 sure that the funds are flot used in promoting worthless projects or vision- 

 ary schemes. The representatives of the State boards of agriculture ap- 

 pointed to see to the proper conduct of the county fair should also be 

 charged with making inquiry into its use of the public funds, and if these 

 are squandered or used in violation of law, subsequent appropriations 

 should be withheld until the portions so misused shall have been refunded 

 to the State or county and satisfactory assurance given that future grants 

 will be properly expended. 



EXPENDITURES. 



Expenditures by the association are for premiums, salaries of officers, 

 of lecturers and expert judges, rent, permanent improvements, interest on 

 indebtedness, and other miscellaneous minor items. 



When the fairs are conducted for the public advantage and not for 

 private gain, there is no reason why these expenses should not be met out 

 of the public funds. The State, on the other hand, should be secured in 

 such of its appropriations as are expended in the purchase of property 

 or for permanent improvements, by liens that will protect its interest 

 in case of loss by fire or by sale of the property. The balance of the funds 

 in such case after reimbursing the stockholders, if any, should be paid 

 over to the county treasurer to be invested and held for such future use 

 in aid of agriculture as the court of that county may direct. 



Reports of the executive committee of the association showing the re- 

 ceipts and expenditures of the fair association at its exhibitions should 

 be made as promptly as possible after the exhibition has been held, and 

 copies of these reports should be transmitted to the secretary of the 

 State board of agriculture, the county treasurers of the counties in which 

 the fairs are located, and to the State auditor for approval and record. 



PREMIUMS. 



The character of the premiums awarded may vary Indefinitely, and be 

 in the form of cash, medals, certificates, or other recognition of merit 

 according to the importance of the display and its place in rural industry. 



