SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 73 



many cases a very large advantage. If a man establishes that reputa- 

 tion, and then suports it and backs it up by a reputation of absolute 

 honesty and square dealing, he has an essential basis for successful work 

 in the prodution of his product, whatever those maj- be, whether they be 

 agricultural products, implements or machinery. Those things are 

 essential to sucess, and in this connection it is proper to say that I be- 

 lieve it is the general and almost universal verdict that there is no lalr 

 equal to the Iowa State Fair, as a place for advertising and selling goods. 

 Men who make it a business to follow the fair circuits throughout the 

 season, going on rounds of the various state and district fairs, tell me 

 that there is no place that compares with the Iowa State Fair ground as 

 a place for extending their business; that there are more customers that 

 attend the Iowa State Fair than any other fair they attend, and I be- 

 lieve that is in line and conforms with the statement that the fair here 

 is attended more largely by people who are actually engaged in farm- 

 ing and that sort of work, than any other fair we have. They are the 

 customers these men desire to reach, and that is one of the features of 

 the Iowa State Fair. It is a fair which attracts the people in the largest 

 numbers and which attracts exhibitors in the largest numbers because 

 of the fact that they reach a constituency that is worth more to them 

 than the constituency of any other fair. So that these two principals 

 operate together. 



There are a great many other benefits and lessons to be derived from 

 the fair. The fair is a good place to reveal, as well as to develop char- 

 acter. In many instances, it is worth a good deal to the exhibitor to get 

 into competition with his rival; it is worth a good deal to know how his 

 product compares with the other man's product; it is worth a good deal 

 in the way of discipline. There are some men who are good winners and 

 poor losers. Those men as a rule make poor exhibitors. The man who is 

 cool and complacent to take defeat successfully, and take it without com- 

 plaint, is the man who gets there. He may not always get just decisions, 

 sometimes there are conditions which make it difiicult for a judge to 

 determine just what is the proper rating of the products before him. But 

 I believe it is generally conceded that the judgments rendered by the 

 various awarding committees at the fair is greatly improved, and that 

 in the main the awarding is done intelligently and honestly. There will 

 of course be instances where the judgment of even the most competent 

 men will differ, where the judgment of the exhibitor will differ from 

 that of the man who is placing the award. That cannot be avoided. 

 But the man who is broad and liberal in his views, who is willing to ex- 

 tend the broad liberal spirit to the judgment of other men, is the man 

 who gets the best as a fair exhibitor. There are places where the cir- 

 cumstances are trying of course, but this is an important feature of the 

 work. Men who go out as exhibitors, or who go to a single fair as an 

 exhibitor, have a good deal to learn, and the public has a good deal to 

 learn, and the man who passes upon these awards has a good deal to 

 learn. It is all a great educational work. And the benefits to be derived 

 from it, in the way of education of the public, and especially of the 



