Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1865-09-08
IaaFoULTuRAL.
-annrcnIrnRAL FATRs.

~ AGELGULIUAA4 AA1o
- 49, 5Fhe season Of fairs is at hand. The
work they do and the influence they ex-
ert. is important. Once they were stimu-
lants to enterprise and thrift They be,
gat a progressive spirit among industrial
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And our amazing progress IN production
during the last twenty yearsis largely, It
not altogether, due to the influence OF
these Industrial exhibitions and compete
tions. Now these exhibitions are not
more influential and important as stimu-
aa'aa lants to exertion than they are significant
as illustrations of our industrial and ma
terial condition and wants. They reflect
4mt s both the progress and the wants OF the
people Of the sections in which they are
respectively held. They are no longer
agricultural fairs, abstractly, but reunions
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and hoy he may supply them and profit
by the process.
The farmer exhibits his stock and farm
~ products, and compares them with his
neighbours not simply for the purpose of
getting a premium, but with a view to dis
4f.IIq cover what improvements he can make in
his own processes-what are necessary IN
500 Ii. order that heemay keep pace with 9th
eTs in the extraction of revenues from his
soil. 1t is not simply to learn who has
the best animal, or the best bushel of
aava wheat, corn or potatoes, but tolearn what
is new in practice-what product yields
the greatest profit And he goes to look
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ly seeking some new thing or thought
which shall be of material benefit to him.
aa ~ The mechanic, implement maker and
dealer, not only shows his wares, but from
fa the rough, practical criticism of those who
use them, takes his cue, and goes home to
mould his pillow, conform his cultIVator,
ssh adjust his drill or planter, remodie his
reaper, add to or take from whatever he
manufactures, so that il shall best meet
the popular want. In the same way and
HA3 at the same place, the inventor studies
what is and has been, and searches for an
unOccupied niche wherein he may plant a
product of his own genius and lay the
foundation Of fortune.
$50, and for similar reasons, all the de-
paHtments of business are represented at
the fairs of the country-less for the pur-.
pose of competing for premiums, and'more
as q means of advertising a business and
r o1 gaining knowledge that shall be useful In
the prosecution of it. And it has become
is tae . question in the minds of those who have
thought much on the subject, whether it
st1anh1would not be better if there were no pre-
miums offered by societies-Whether these
1as u fairs might not be made more useful, give
less dissatisfaction, awaken fewer unnee-
essary leaiousles, do less injustice, and
meet the popular want more completely,
If they were made mere market exhibit
tions, and the popular verdict, the only
reward to be sought for. Such voluntary
exhibitions would be qVite as useful to
the people, and the sections IN which they
might be held, though they did net put as
unsrHp much money in the treasury of stock or
ganizations and societies. They would be
saa drT shorn OF a dizziness, Striped of a samenesss
now common to all of them. We think
3a5a 1t would reVitaliRe the country, and re-
waken a popular interest in the industri-
.sH99 Al character of these exhibitions, which
peW centers in the horse ring and the
,sts race e0Hrse.
These suggestions are made because it
is we'll to enter upon the fair season
thoughtfully-to study the philosophy of
these exhibitions. and learn how far the
public may be benefited by attending
them, and exhibiting at them, and by
changes in their character which may be,
or become, the necessary result of growth.
A4A5For these are no mere holiday occasions.
Such is not their purpose nor scope. They
are the gatherings of an earnest, industri-
GUS and thinking people. They are as
surely related to the business of the count
ny and to its future physical character
and material prosperity as are the trade
organizations of our cities. They sho uld
not, therefore, be regarded with indifer-
ence by any ne hicago Republican.