FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 97 



W. W. Morrow, in the chair. The meeting was called to order 

 by the president, and on motion of Mr. S. B. Packard the chair 

 appointed the following named delegates as committees on 

 credentials and resolutions : 



Committee on Credentials — S. B. Packard, Marshall County; F. W. 

 Wirick, Woodbury County; C, M.Clark, Henry County. 



Committee on Resolutions — E. M. Wentworth, Marshall County; A. L. 

 Ames, Tama County; H. M. Letts, Louisa County. 



The convention listened to a paper on "Commercial Corn 

 Grading," by Mr. Geo. C. Wells, Secretary of Iowa Grain 

 Dealers' Association. This paper will be found in the Institute 

 department of the Iowa Year Book of Agriculture for 1904, as 

 will also the address of Hon. L. H. Kerrick of Bloomington, 

 Illinois, on "Cattle Feeding." 



Vice President Cameron was called to the chair, and President 

 Morrow addressed the convention as follows ; which was followed 

 by the reports of the secretary and treasurer : 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



The Fiftieth Annual Iowa State Fair was the greatest and best exhibi- 

 tion in the history of the State. 



At the first meeting of the State Board, held December 10th, of last year, 

 the advisability of holding a fair the present year was discussed at length, on 

 account of the Exposition being held at St. Louis. It was finally decided to 

 hold a fair, and a committee was appointed to confer with the business men 

 of Des Moines and endeavor to enlist their aid in making it a success. This 

 committee met with the members of the Commercial Exchange, also with 

 the bankers of the city; all of whom were enthusiastic in their pledges to 

 assist in making the fair a success, and it was through their efforts that 

 ' 'Des Moines Day" was made the greatest in attendance in the history of the 

 fair. As President of this Board, I desire to take this opportunity to publicly 

 thank the citizens of Des Moines for their loyalty to the Iowa State Fair, 

 and trust that ''Des Moines Day" in the future may become one of its 

 greatest features. 



At our last annual meeting we had on hand twenty-nine thousand dollars, 

 fifteen thousand dollars of which was set aside as a reserve fund, to be used 

 in paying premiums in case of bad weather. Eleven thousand dollars has 

 been expended for improvements, including painting of buildings, removing 

 horse barns No's 10, 11 and 12, drainage, brick and cement walks, a woven 

 wire fence on the west and part of the south side of the grounds, and many 

 other improvements, a detailed statement of which will be found in the 

 secretary's report. 



Fifteen hundred dollars was used in remodeling the old horticultural 

 building into a woman's building, which improvement we are pleased to 

 say was highly appreciated by State Fair visitors. 

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