THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART II. 105 



and a place where the public can be comfortable while watching the judge 

 tying the ribbons. A smaller building would answer the purpose in this 

 department. 



COUNTY AND DISTEICT FAIKS. 



This has been a remarkable year for the county and district fairs 

 of the state. I believe that I am safe in stating that at least half of the 

 fairs had to postpone their opening day on account of rain, or were 

 brought to a sudden close for the same reason. Strange to say, notwith- 

 standing the wet weather, the receipts from the seventy-nine fairs report- 

 ing this year were larger than from the eighty-two reporting in 1901. The 

 total amount of the premiums paid were about $5,000 less. We attribute 

 this to the rainy weather which prevented people from bringing in their 

 exhibits. Columbus Junction district fair of Louisa county still leads 

 in the largest amount paid in premiums, paying this year about $2,000 

 aside from speed. By studying the financial statement of the county and 

 district fairs published in the "Year Book," you will find invariably that 

 the fair having a good speed program pays more premiums in the other 

 departments. 



LOUISIANA PUBCHASE EXPOSITION. 



Preparations should be commenced at once for an exhibit at the 

 Louisiana Purchase Exposition to be held in St. Louis in 1904. Iowa is a 

 part of the territory purchased just one hundred years ago from France 

 and will be prominently identified in every way with this greatest of all 

 expositions. The general assembly has wisely appropriated $125,000 that 

 the state may be properly represented, and a commission of thirteen 

 members consisting of men prominent in state affairs have been appointed 

 by the governor. It is the intention of this commission to erect on the 

 ground at St. Louis in the location set apart and said by those who have 

 seen it to be most desirable of any assigned to states, a building to cost 

 about $50,000. This is to be the home of the Iowa people, and as Gov- 

 ernor Larrabee, president of the commission, says: the latch string will 

 always be out not only for Iowa people, but for the friends of Iowa as 

 well. The commission intends to make an exhibit in every line of the 

 state's industries and asks the State Department of Agriculture to take 

 preliminary steps toward aiding in this work. Agriculture has always 

 been a prominent feature in Iowa exhibits at the various expositions held 

 and the state department should excel herself in this coming meeting 

 at St. Louis. Few Iowa people have anything of an idea of the magni- 

 tude of the exposition to be held in St. Louis in 1904. St. Louis's world's 

 fair will be approximately twice as large as any former international 

 exposition. The Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia covered 236 acres, 

 the Paris Exposition of 1899-1900 336 acres, the Columbian Exposition 

 at Chicago, 633 acres, the Pan-American at Buffalo 350 acres. 



THE ST. LOUIS WORLD'S FAIR WILL COVER 1,200 ACRES. 



The construction cost of the Paris Exposition was $9,000,000; that 

 of the Columbian Exposition $18,322,000 and the total cost of the Pan- 

 American Exposition was $10,000,000. 



