ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART V 21\ 



ADDRESS. 



.1. 1'. MULLEN, FONDA, IOWA. 



Gentlemen: I surely must thank Mr. Cameron for these kind words. 

 But it is not because of any merit or ability of mine. I think it is be- 

 cause that at odd times some people told him that I said some kind things 

 of him as a successful state and national fair manager himself. When 

 I came down here yesterday I had an idea that I knew something about 

 the practical conduct of a county fair, but in listening to the men from 

 Kansas and Illinois, and the gentleman that has just preceded me, and 

 more especially to the Hon. Henry Wallace last evening, who in a way 

 had stolen my thunder in regard to the local fairs, I believe I will not 

 be able to add anything original, because they have told the story that 

 I intended to tell, and consequently I cannot be anything much but a 

 plagiarist at this time, because to add something new a man must be 

 somewhat of a genius, and I have no elements of that kind. 



Inasmuch as they have talked mostly of the larger expositions, I pur- 

 pose to confine my discussion in a haphazard way on the practical phases 

 of a county and district fair. Now the larger expositions are supported 

 and boosted usually by national or state government, and in some places 

 like the Inter-State fair by the commercial enterprises, which is consider- 

 able, my friends, in those large cities, but I think what adds more to 

 their greatness is the opportunity they have in advertising their shows 

 in the daily press of those cities. We are handicapped to a certain 

 extent in the management of local fairs because we must confine our 

 advertising to the local press and the energy and activity of the official. 

 Now all of these gentlemen have dwelt especially on the educational 

 features of fairs, and let me say that is the most important and most 

 lasting, but the wise secretary, the wise officials of the fair, will not 

 overlook the entertainment part of the fair, and for that reason there 

 has been a great evolution in some of the features that compose the 

 county and district fairs of today from those of ten or fifteen years ago. 

 That change, in my judgment, has been for the better, and if these 

 fairs have value, have merit, they must be permanent institutions, and 

 if this change has been for the better in my judgment they will become 

 permanent institutions in our midst, and therefore of great value to 

 the people and to the community in which they are held. I would not 

 make any comparisons that would reflect on any other feature of enter- 

 tainment aside from county and district fair, "but I believe that for the 

 returns and for the money invested you cannot receive better entertain- 

 ment or more of it than you can at the county fair. To illustrate, you 

 attend a lecture, it will cost you probably a half a dollar and there is 

 no doubt but you will get your money's worth. You attend a base 

 ball game and it will cost you twenty-five or fifty cents and you will enjoy 

 it. You attend a theatrical entertainment at a cost of $1.00 or $1.50 

 and you will enjoy it. But at a county fair you can visit with your neigh- 

 bors socially, you can walk along the pens where the live stock is ex- 

 hibited, you can inspect the best samples of animal husbandry in the com- 



