224 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Report of Committee on Agricui^tural 

 Societies. 



[Adopted at the Annual Meeting, Jan. 13, 1897.] 



Not without a worthy purpose are our several inspectors 

 appointed to attend the fairs held by societies receiving State 

 bounty, while they have varied, perhaps conflicting, ideas of 

 what a good fair should be, yet by a comparison of these 

 reports we think that any society which held a fair not open 

 to the criticisms made by one or another of these reports 

 would be well-nigh perfect. 



The criticisms coming most particularly to the notice of 

 your committee were those on insufficient or uncleanly sani- 

 tary arrangements. These we believe to be worthy of special 

 consideration. The grounds of many societies are used only 

 on the occasion of the fair ; the number of people in attend- 

 ance is large, and the sanitary conveniences are wholly insuf- 

 ficient and unsuitable. 



The next criticisms are on the class of side shows and 

 catchpennies of doubtful or sometimes quite surely of im- 

 moral tendency. These, perhaps without the knowledge of 

 the officers of the society of what the proposed show is to 

 be, obtain admission to the grounds, pay for the space re- 

 quired and hold it till turned off by the police ; or possibly, 

 on failure of the police to find anything w orthy of expulsion, 

 stay through, to the injury of the good name of the society 

 and the great regret of all better minded persons. These 

 can only be shut off by prompt refusal of entrance upon the 

 grounds or of location in the neighborhood to all shows or 

 fakirs against whom there is suspicion, and by prompt re- 

 moval if they happen to gain entrance. Among these your 

 committee would include all shows open to men only or to 

 women only, all distributors of bad literature, and all those 



