SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IX. 969 



time it is attended by 125,000 to 200,000 Iowa people. That is equivalent 

 tc the attendance of 1,000 to 2,000 students at a college or universit^y 

 each year for ten years. The college or university is maintained at 

 large expense to educate a favored few young men and young women 

 for their life work. The state fair furnishes an object lesson for a 

 few days once a year for young as well as old. It gives them an oppor- 

 tunity to learn what they can not learn anywhere else, and at the same 

 time a pleasant outing after the season's hard work. The college or 

 university is for the young. The state fair is for these also, but as 

 much or more for those whose toil has made the schools possible. We 

 insist, therefore, that the state legislature can not be too liberal in 

 providing for the fair. Whatever can be done to make it more in- 

 structive, more educational, and more comfortable to attend should be 

 done. Its special needs now are a good hog pavilion, a machinery hall, 

 a large open building to take the place of the eight of ten "shacks" 

 now used for dining halls, and a fire-proof amphitheater or grand stand. 

 These four buildings are badly needed. They should be of permanent 

 character, architecturally attractive, and completed before the fair next 

 year. 



A flre-proof concrete and steel grand stand is urgently needed — how 

 urgently can only be realized by those who were on the grounds 

 W-ednesday, the day on v,-hich all previous attendance records were 

 broken. The grand stand that afternoon was filled to its utmost 

 capacity, a sea of human beings enjoying the races and the entertain- 

 ment program carried out each day. About the middle of the after- 

 noon one of the eating house buildings, several blocks away from the 

 grand stand, caught fire and for a few moments made quite a blaze, 

 although at no time threatening the grand stand in the least. The blaze 

 and smoke, however, caught the eye of some addle pate in the quarter 

 stretch who started the cry of "fire." Only those who were facing the 

 grand stand and sav/ the tremor that swept like a wave over the 

 immense through occupying it can appreciate by what a narrow margin 

 a catastrophe greater than Iowa has ever seen was averted. A panic 

 at that time would have resulted in the death or serious injury of hun- 

 dreds, and perhaps thousands, of people. It was a narrow escape and a 

 horror was averted only by the prompt assurance by level-headed per- 

 sons scattered through the crowd that the alarm was a "fake," and 

 the statement of fair officials that it was simply a practice run of the 

 fire department. The incident taught a lesson which should be heeded. 

 Human lives are too precious to be placed in jeopardy in such a fire 

 trap as the present grand stand. The amusement feature of the fair 

 as now conducted is legitimate, and immense crowds in front of the 

 race track each afternoon must be taken care of. A fire-proof struc- 

 ture should be provided before another fair. Iowa can not afford to 

 risk the lives of six or eight thousand of her citizens when the risk 

 can be eliminated by the expenditure of a few thousands of dollars. 

 This need is imperative. 



For a number of years after the World's Fair at Chicago the Iowa 

 and other state fairs, and hundreds of county fairs as well, were well 

 nigh submerged in the flood of filthy side shows, spawn of the Chicago 



