126 RACEALONG 



STRIPLIN, THE FAIRMAKER 



Corinth, Mississippi, was R. M. Striplings starting- 

 point in fair work. His first billet was with the Al- 

 corn County Fair, in northern Mississippi. After 

 being responsible for a couple of them he saw, while 

 racing his pacer Jerry H. at other towns, that if he 

 remained in the fair business and put on an exhibi- 

 tion worth while, it would be necessary to locate in 

 a larger town, where the grounds had modern equip- 

 ment. After looking over the field he selected 

 Meridian, and soon convinced the public-spirited 

 citizens that an agricultural and industrial fair would 

 do the farming interests of Mississippi and Alabama 

 a world of good, not only by introducing new ideas, 

 but also by showing the people all of the labor sav- 

 ing devices connected with work on the farm. 



The Meridian fair, or as it was named the Missis- 

 sippi and Alabama Exposition, was a success from 

 the start. Hundreds of its patrons who had been plod- 

 ding along year after year with ''before the war" 

 methods, went home convinced that the time had 

 come for them to adopt modern equipment on the 

 plantation or farm patch. They also saw that their 

 bank balances would be benefited, by improving the 

 quality of their cattle and hogs, and at the same 

 time display the tassels of corn in the cotton coun- 

 try. At this period the Hon. James Wilson, for twen- 

 ty years Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, 

 was pushing the corn club idea in the south. Striplin, 

 taking advantage of this propoganda, made it a 

 point to emphasize the fact that the time had come 



