544 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
two classes each of horses, cattle, hogs and corn, and in addition a first, 
second and third prize was given for the best ear of corn furnished by 
the contestant. With the 15 points given for the best ear of corn a 
total of 815 points was possible. Four prizes were awarded as follows: 
First, $200 in cash; second, $100 in cash; third, $25 in cash; fourth, a 
pure bred Collie pup. 
R. A. Rutledge of Fort Dodge won the first prize with a total of 496 
points, M. O. Cooper was second with 483 points, I. C. Kinzer of Bangor 
third with 474 points and Frank Sanders of Hartley fourth with 472 
points. 
Farmers' Tri'bune, Sioux City, Iowa. 
The 1908 Iowa State Fair and Exposition of live stock and agricultural 
products has passed into history. It was a great show — a magnificent 
exhibition — magnificent in proportions, in quality of exhibits and in the 
manner in which it was managed. It was a show that reflected great 
credit on a great state — a show of which the farmers, breeders and general 
exhibitors were justly proud. Words of praise for the great fair and 
its management floating though the balmy air that prevailed through 
nearly the entire farm holiday period united into music of sweetest 
rythmic harmony and exquisite beauty that spoke of a still greater future 
for the State of Iowa and its great annual fair. 
Only those who had attended shows of a similar nature before could 
fully realize the meaning of the tremendous exhibits and the uniform 
high quality of them all. The effect of the combined exhibts — those of 
the various classes of live stock, of agricultural, horticultural, culinary 
and art products, of useful labor saving machinery and of farm imple- 
ments and vehicles of all descriptions — was such as to leave an indelible 
impression for good upon the minds of the 200,000 people who attended 
the great show. It spoke positively of Iowa's tremenduous agricultural 
resources. It paid a fitting tribute to the leading agricultural state in 
the Union and to the skill and progressive attitude of its farmer citizens. 
Not only could the agricultural resources of the state be seen through 
the great fair as a mirror, but the many manufacturing industries en- 
gaged in lessening the drudgery of the farm were equally in evidence 
with the latest and most efficient farm implements and machinery in the 
world. 
It spoke of the wisdom of the state in treating its fair liberally and 
pointed to the future with a suggestion of the need of still larger appro- 
priations to accommodate more and bigger exhibits and to encourage, if 
possible, still greater excellence. It emphasizes the fact that the modern 
state has spent about $159,0000 on its fair, while during the same period 
the fair itself has put over $161,000 of net receipts into permanent im- 
provements, making a total of over $320,000. This is a large sum of 
money, but it is only a small amount for a state with the resources of 
Iowa. It will pay the state well to be more liberal in the future. The 
building of the Iowa State Fair has just begun; the work of construction 
must go on, and it should continue more rapidly in the future than it 
has in the past. A new grandstand is a necessity for the coming year. 
The old wooden structure is inadequate to take care of the crowds, and 
