St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-09-22
The United States Fair.
Editorial Correspondence Of the lnte.!iseh'ef'
-. c L LIZ c, RnI, ND.

This is the first day OF the oeVenth
Annual Exhibition of the United States
Agricultural Society. All is hustle
aud confusion. Not more than five
hundred visitors are in attendance to-
dav, but large numbers of exhibitors
are busily engaged in arranging Their
various articles for exhibition. All
entries must cease by tomorrow noon,
and then the Exhibition will be for
mally opened by the President OF the
Society, Hon Tench Tilghman, oil
Maryland, by an inaugural address.
The location for the Fair is one of the
most desirable spots that could have
been chosen. 1t is within a few rods
of the shore of Lake Michigan, and
adjoining the beautiful grounds OF
Judge Douglas residence. The Fair
Grounds comprise over forty acres.
The arrangements are upon gigan-
tic scale, and the Exhibition will be
BY far the largest and grandest ever
known of the kind in the United States.
/ notice nearly one thousand stalls
mostly occupied by horses and cattle,
besides nearly as many more pens for
the accommodation of sheep and swine.
The display of machinery and aSri-
cultural implements embraces almost
everything in those departments, and
the articles are so numerous as to rem
der an examination of them quite te-
dous. OF Farm products, fancy arti-
cles, fruits, flowers, &C., there is al
most an endless variety. OF course,
cannot particularize at this time.
The exhibition must be seen to be APP
preciated.
THE ILLINOIS STATE FAIR at Freeport,
though pecuniarily profitable to the
Society, was next thing to failure as
an Agricultural Exhibition. The dis
play of Farm Produce was deficient.
The Cattle part of the Show, however,
was in the highest degree creditable,
as also were the departments of Agri-
cultural Implements and Machinery.
The Horses were few in number, and
nothing extra in quality. 1t was in
tolerably dusty at the Fair grounds
during the whole week, which, to-
gether with the overshadowing inter-
est felt in the National Fair at Chicago
on the succeeding week, as is sup
posed had a discouraging effect on
this years Illinois Fair.
We trust the farmers, inventors, ar
lists, fruit-growers and mechanics OF
Illinois this great Western State, SC
rich in resources and so full of indus
trial activity will give their State Ag.
ricultural Society a more generous
support, and its Annual Exhibitions a
more liberal patronage. For the sake
of maintaining the character and po-
.sition Of the State, this should be
done. --. " gel. .
l am pleased to know that Iowa is
closely treading upon the heels Of Hi
nois in her agricultural pursuits and
exhibitions, and will ere long become
her strongest rival. The wealth and
greatness of our country are based
upon her agriculture, and already we
find that Agricultural Fairs have
grown to be annual occurrences in
nearly all the States of the Union.
Their value in stimulating farmers to
avail themselves of the teachings of
science, is inestimable, and their pop
nlarity grows greater every year.
With this stimulus and the natural
taste and enlightenment Of our peo-
pie, we will soon have the best farms,
the best cattle and the best horses to
be met with anywhere.
It would be utterly impossible to
estimate the benefit and utility of
these festive occasions which have of
late years very properly become SO
popular and SO common in this coun-
try, called Fairs" Industrial Exhi-
bitions," and "Art Expostions." At
these displays, premiums and prizes,
in money and medals are offered, and
mechanics. artists, agriculturists, ar
tizans, fruit-Growers, and other produ-
GERS, are induced to bring in the best
of their products for competition with
others, superiority being the standard
by which the prizes are awarded.
Here, when we find that we have been
outdone, we become stimulated to
more earnest effort in future or, if
we find that we have outdone others,
become inspired by a very natural
and commendable pride to maintain
our superiority against all rivals. The
effect Of such competition, is to estab-
lish high standard of art, perfect
system of agriculture, fruit-growing
and stock,raising, high order of me-
chanical science, and diligent exer-
else of the inventive and constructive
genius of the country.
By bringing together ingeniously
built machinery, opportunity is af-
forded to the artizan for profitable
study of principles that are to him OF
the utmost practical Importance, and
to people generally, to witness the
wonderful powers of human ingenui-
ty. And to the artist, in his line, and
to all classes of producers, do these
public exhibitions of the best in each
department, afford school in which
they can spend day, or a number of