THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XIII 719 



everything in its power to compel a reduction to the former standard, 

 but failing in this gave the proprietors of these two places such unde- 

 sirable publicity that it is doubtful if the raising of rates brought the 

 increased profits that had been expected. 



The fair management is deserving of praise for the better quality of 

 amusements provided the visitors. Three splendid bands were in at- 

 tendance each day, furnishing a quality of music which shows that Iowa 

 people crave the very best. On the Midway, the shows were cleaner 

 than some which have been exhibited in past years and while the value, 

 or necessity, of a Midway is debatable, still the management is to be 

 praised for seeing that so few worthless and vicious shows were permitted 

 this year. The necessity of giving a show, the main and only attraction 

 of which are dancing "girls" of uncertain age and morals, a conspicuous 

 place on the grounds may be questioned by many, but the custom is gen- 

 eral and the Iowa Midway is much cleaner than that of many other state 

 fairs of the grain belt. That the time will come, however, when all danc- 

 ing shows and every manner of fake exhibition, in which the freakish 

 element predominates, will be dispensed with entirely is a consummation 

 devoutly to be wished. By far the most meritorious amusement attrac- 

 tion of the fair was the wild west exhibition given by the cowboys and 

 Indians of Wyoming, brought to Des Moines from Cheyenne, where the 

 Frontier Day celebration is an annual event. Riding bucking bronchos 

 and indulging in the sports and work of cowboys make a spectacle which 

 is highly entertaining, without any of the pernicious features of some of 

 the amusement attractions of past years, in other states. Visitors to the 

 fair must be amused. It is a gratifying sign of the times that the amuse- 

 ments provided for them are cleaner and more worth-while than they 

 were in the past. 



Dorothy Klusmeyer, a two-and-a-half-year-old Des Moines girl, won the 

 prize at the baby health contest as the most perfect baby in the state. 

 Little Miss Klusmeyer weighs thirty-two and one-half pounds, is thirty- 

 six and one-half inches in height, has a chest measurement of twenty-one 

 inches and head circumference of twenty inches. The perfect score gives 

 a child the weight of thirty-one pounds, a height of thirty-five inches, a 

 chest of twenty inches and head circumference of nineteen and one- 

 quarter inches. What the little prize winner lacked in correst physical 

 proportions she more than outbalanced in the psychological contest. The 

 second prize was won by Robert Scott, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, of 

 Mitchellville. 



The baby health contest attracted as much interest as any display on 

 the grounds and bids fair to become one of the most valuable features of 

 the fair. 



Pioneer day attracted more than the usual number of early settlers. 

 Appropriate exercises were held in honor of the hardy men and women 



