738 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Those who "grouch" at the expenditure of tax money on public edu- 

 cational schemes wonder why the state fair never ceases to importune for 

 additional appropriations. They evidently never saw, or else beheld 

 without appreciation, a small boy outgrow his pants. Few fairs have 

 builded beyond their present necessities. Most of them have made the 

 mistake of exercising a small faith. Iowa continues to meet the ex- 

 pansion of its great exhibition as well as finances will allow. No less 

 than $68,000 were expended on material improvements for the show 

 this year. The most noteworthy betterment was the acquisition of ten 

 acres of land in the southwest corner of the grounds, adjoining the 

 railroad tracks, at a cost of $13,000. This opens up the machinery 

 exhibit, which has been sadly congested the past few years, and affords a 

 fine and prominent setting for this material feature of the v*'eek's dis- 

 play. Visitors by trolley and vehicles come first in touch with this 

 department, so there is no longer sequestration of these important ex- 

 hibits. Streets have been laid through the new addition and when 

 final finish is given by their permanent surfacing, the department for 

 outdoor exhibits will leave nothing to be desired. When the other half 

 of the splendid machinery hall is completed — funds for which will be 

 sought from the state — it is believed that most of the exhibits now in 

 special buildings on the east of the track can be consolidated in the 

 machinery hall, so that the department will be no longer divided. 



The importance of sufficient and convenient transportation facilities 

 has always been appreciated at Des Moines. For many years the train 

 service furnished by the Rock Island has been v/ithout a superior in the 

 country, and it is maintained at a high state of efficiency. The trolley 

 is far less comfortable and more time-killing, but the people demand it 

 by reason of its lower fare and greater convenience of access in the 

 city, and every effort has been made to perfect this service so far as its 

 natural limitations permit. The addition to the grounds allowed the 

 building of a new trolley station which when completed will be 260 feet 

 long, 100 feet of that space having been already finished. This not only 

 doubles the length of the unloading track, permitting eight cars to 

 discharge and load passengers simultaneously, all under cover, but it 

 affords track storage room for from 25 to 30 cars. The improvement 

 in this respect is material. With improved facilities for trolley service, 

 the reliable and comfortable trains, and the motorcars, the thousands 

 who crowded the grounds were transported in far better fashion than 

 ever before. 



The most striking improvement in interior equipment was the new 

 horse barns. These were built as a cress section of the fine barns which 

 have given such complete satisfaction, and now two-fifths of the contem- 

 plated ^ructure has been erected. The addition affords stalls for 130 

 draft horses and 132 ponies, together with a carriage section 60 by 132 

 feet, — an equipment wanting on any other fair ground, and greatly ap- 

 preciated by those exhibitors who contribute to the entertaining harness 



