ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 339 



which were tendered upon the work of the department. I have made a 

 record, as I conceived it, of the relative efficiency of the men who served 

 on the force the past year, which I will be very glad to turn over to 

 my successor with suggestions as occur to me for the betterment of the 

 service in the future. You are familiar with the necessities for better 

 housing of these men, and I feel sure will make such provisions as pos- 

 sible to remedy same at your earliest opportunity. The majority of these 

 men come to us actuated by the same spirit that animates every member 

 of the board to give the best there is in them for the association's advance- 

 ment. They left typical Iowa homes, and in the main accepted the condi- 

 tions as found, but it would add vastly to the esprit de corps of this body 

 were we in position to give them better accommodations. One of the 

 pressing needs for the superintendent of this department is a larger and 

 more convenient office with a telephone for its exclusive use, and a pri- 

 vate line from the superintendent's office to the barracks. The work of 

 the round-up would be greatly simplified if the executive committee would 

 arrange to have streets in the camp ground cleaned up and run east and 

 west instead of north and south as at present. I hope attention will be 

 given to this, as it will be of equal advantage to the admisions depart- 

 ment. In policing and general oversight of the grounds I would suggest 

 that we use a mounted man both day and night. The long beat, and fre- 

 quent trips required to locate tents and see that same are kept in a line 

 for the convenience of the admission department which is very essential, 

 entails a great deal of hard work upon footmen. The most serious com- 

 plaints that were brought to the attention of the police department, and 

 not only caused the most annoyance and made a great deal of unnecessary 

 work, was brought about by misunderstandings of the concessionaires 

 and lunch men. If some system can be arranged which will make plain 

 to the people the exact or correct charges it would remove the most un- 

 pleasant feature and do more to allay criticism than anything that has 

 come to my notice. 



The transportation department was largely in the nature of an expe- 

 riment; and owing to street car troubles there was not put into opera- 

 tion the promised plan for through car service; and owing to breakdowns 

 on the Rock Island we were not able to accomplish as much in the way 

 of getting shipments out on Friday as we desired. I wish to call atten- 

 tion to the fact that a large number of exhibitors made use of this de- 

 partment, placing their order for cars and making arrangements through 

 us for loading and shipping. The writer believes if the fair should close 

 on Friday and allow exhibitors to begin packing up at 10:00 a. m., it 

 would be a great boon for these gentlemen, and redound to the ultimate 

 prosperity of the fair. It might be necessary as well as advisable in 

 case this should be done to move forward the opening date to Friday and 

 require all exhibits to be in place in time for the work of judging on 

 Friday morning. There are many arguments that could be advanced out- 

 side of these presented which are purely in the working out of the trans- 

 portation proposition. I have in mind a number of things which I be- 



