Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-02-28

Our Fair Again.
Before proceeding ! ask every citizen of
Knoxville to read this communication.
/ fear may be considered over-Zealous in
behalf of our Fair. But let me remark,
that the Fair, Of itself, is nothing. 1t is
only as q means TO an end, that it becomes
of first importance to every citizen.
Fairs are the means, in all civilized coun-
tries, of bringing the people together for
the comparing of ideas and for the dis
seminatIon of useful knowledge. By
them, new and improved modes of Guilt.
walton, new processes of manufacture and
new machinery are introduced. And by
them, new and improved varieties of stock
are brought together criticised and adopt
ed, and then scattered far and wide over
the country. Here is the high point of
their excellence. In no other mode, by no
other human agency, can the knowledge,
acquired by seeing, be so cheaply obtained
as by Fairs. In no other mode, scarcely
by all others combined, could stock raising
in the United States have been brought up
to its present splendid position. Fairs, in
the past, have tended, and they are now,
more than ever, tending to the develop
ment of the wealth of the country, to the
advancement of agricultural knowledge,
and to the awakening among the farmers
of a consciousness of the dignity and inn
portance of their calling.
But aside from these more general and
elevated views, our Fair is of vast impor-
lance to Knoxville. II a0W give reputation
and celebrity to our tom. 1t brings
strangers here, who thus see its advantages.
A successful Fair would bring here from
five to ten thousand strangers, each of
whom would leave, on an average, not less
than ten dollars, making an aggregate of
more than fifty thousand dollars. Again,
if we can build up the country, or help to
do it, by Fairs and increase the production
of butter, cheese, beef, pork, mutton, wool
and flour, and induce the raising of finer
and more valuable stock, and stimulate
the development of manufactures and the
opening of our hidden mines, and in these
ways double the wealth of the country, all
this prosperity would react on our town,
and send it forward on the road TO wealth.
These, then, are the motives which induce
me to so earnestly plead for our Fair.
wish to see our noble section Of the State,
and our beautiful town, assume an adj
vanced and most commanding position on
this subject. Here is our Agricultural Col
lege and much will be expected Of us by
the other sections of the State.
In making this further appeal to our
people, permit me to say we are in debt,
deeply in debt, and we must have money.
We want $40 900 more capital stock $4,000
to pay our debt, and s., 900 for necessary
improvements and the balance for the
Fair in the fall. With this sum we can
offer premium list of at least $4,000 and
insure a magnificent success. Ii every
citizen of Knoxville, to say nothing of the
farmers of the county, will take stock, say
from S25 to $500, the amount we need can
be easily raised. If our people want our
Fair to be a success, they 1OW unite as one
man and take this stock. We want no
lodging. The money to save our property
and to be used in the fall must be raised.
1t will be Wasting shame for us to fail. With
a proper premium list, we can gather here
in the fall, day after day, from five to tif-
teen thousand people.
/ see by late paper that the directors of
the stock fair at Tiffin, Ohio, chow many
of our readers ever heard of that place p
to be held there in June next, have deter
mined to offer 10000 in premiums. There
MUM list will bring to that town on that
occasion, the leading stock men and the
best stock in the United States.
The truth is, Fairs are hunlJitgs and i'm
positions unless the premiums are large
enough to bring out the products, the
stocks and the people of the surrounding
country, fat and wide. People will not
attend them upless they can learn some
thing or D,dlS-something. They will not
submit to be trified with. With from
$4,000 to $4,000 given in premiums at
Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis, our
nearest neighbors, We should be ashamed
to offer less than So 900 here.
The Directors of our Fair desire to make
it a success. They believe ii will be sue
cess. The stock can be made TO pay. But
only by the generous aid of our whole peo-
pie. If they withhold their money, it
must be a miserable failure. am, how
ever, sure our citizens will do their whole
duty. Several noble, generous business
men of our town have already voluntarily
agreed to subscribe literally, from a sense
of duty. / must believe all WILL when
called on. o. =. TEMPLE.
VIII not the officers of the Board of
Trade call meeting of the Board, say for
Friday night next, to take this matter into
consideration? In Nashville and other
cities these Fairs engage the attention of
the whole city, and especially Of business
men. Certainly we are not so large as to
disdain such small things. o. =. II.