132 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



1918. I call your attention to it. It is a matter to take into consideration 

 before we enter this discussion. As a matter of fact, the racing game is 

 In a serious predicament. We find from this report that seventy-eight of. 

 the county fairs held races and paid out $144,996 in speed premiums. The 

 entry fees collected amounted to $42,715, leaving the net cost of the 

 racing programs at the seventy-eight meetings $102,281, or an average 

 cost of $1,311 each. 



Now, estimating an average of thirty or thirty-five horses at each 

 meeting, the horseman would receive (provided the money was equally 

 divided) about $40 for each horse in their stables. Information secured 

 from the horsemen shows that it cost on an average of $60 a week to 

 campaign a horse at the county fairs. From these deductions, which are 

 based on averages, it is readily seen that racing horses is not a very 

 profitable business; in fact, the owners are putting up about half as much 

 as the fairs for the privilege of racing their horses. 



I want to bring this out before we enter this discussion as a matter of 

 record, and as a matter of statistics. As it is at present, it is a serious 

 problem for the fairs as well as the horsemen. I understand that the 

 South Dakota State Fair this past year tried out a proposition in which 

 they added their entry fee to the purse. I wonder if there is any one in 

 the room familiar with that proposition and knows how South Dakota 

 came out? 



C. E. Cameron (Buena Vista) : I have had several conversations with 

 Mr. Mcllvaine with regard to that, and he said that they had more horses 

 this year than they have had for a long time. They put that arrangement 

 in force because they were at the end of the circuit and for that reason 

 were always unfortunate in getting the horses there for the races. Natur- 

 ally, a state fair can better afford to pay these amusement features 

 than a county fair, and Mr. Mcllvaine said his purses averaged between 

 seven and eight hundred dollars, with the entrance fees added to that. 

 Mr. Mcllvaine also told me that instead of giving as large purses this 

 year as in former years, they were going to make the purses all straight 

 $500, with the entrance money added. That is the arrangement Mr. Mcll- 

 vaine has come to with regard to the speed department for the 1919 fair, 

 and he was very much pleased with the project that he had in force last 

 year at the state fair in South Dakota. 



Mr. Chairman: Well, gentlemen, this subject is open for discussion. 

 Do I see any horsemen here? Are there any horsemen in the room? \ 

 would like to hear from George White of Malvern. 



George White (Mills) : Gentlemen, I haven't really given much thought 

 to this business. I am a horseman and still interested in the fairs. I am 

 really on the fence and not in position to say much about it today — what 

 would be best. While I really think that the smaller county fairs giving, 

 say, a couple of hundred dollars with the entrance maney added, might 

 be a better proposition, I am up in the air at the present time and don't 

 know which is best. 



The Secretary: I am always in a quandary why they offer a $400 purse 

 and then pay only half. There are only a few points about the horse 

 question — give them all the money you can afford, but make a penalty 



