The state chronicle., 1883-10-27
THE STATE FAIR.
BADRUT AND TOO HASTY PRE-.
PARATIONS.
A Few Kind and Practical Suggestions
by which it Could be vi ade Better and
the Peoples Interest reused.

4 Few Kind and Practical Suggestions
by which it Could be vi ade Better and
] the Peoples Interest Aroused.
I To THE CHRONICLE Il admire your
! candor in saying that the State Fair is by
/ no means what it ought to be, and | adj
/ mire the temperate tone of your criticism.
/ | am in a position so know something
about the inner workings Ct the manage
ment; and, while the subject is yet fresh
! on everybody's mind, / take the liberty in
all kindness to make few suggestions.
The gentlemen who have the manage
ment of the society in hand are as ener-
getic and true North Carolinians as we
! have. and thev have no other desire than
to have a good fair. Some of them put
| themselves to a great deal of personal
trouble and inconvenience and spend
! great deal Of money in their efforts to
make the agricultural society success.
Yet everybody knows that the Fair is by
no means what it could be made.
In the first place, / desire to say that the
Executive Committee has got into a rut.
They make earnest and active efforts, but
it is the same kind of an effort every year
They look upon the Fair and manage it
very much as a business man manages a
long established and thoroughly running
| business enterprise that is to say, they
supervise it and expect it to run itself,
whereas they ought to push it every year
precisely as ii it were every year an en-
tirely new enterprise. And it is a new en-
terprise every year. Every year it ought
to be different.
Another misfortune is that preparations
for it are postponed entirely too long.
Definite arrangements for exhibits ought
to be made months in advance.
These, [ think, ane the two great mis-
fortunes on the part of the management,
tO-wit % that it has run into a rut, and
(2) that the preparations are made too late.
oth
eral unfortunate facts on the side of the
people. The people willingly come to the
Fairs, but they have reluctance to send
ing exhibits. There is very general i'm
preston among country people that the
awarding of prizes is done with favortism
| myself do not pretend to say whether
this is true or not, for | do not know. But
[ do know that great many people think
SO. | 20 know also that the active men OF
the Agricultural Society have no such in
tentions, and | know that they will dc
anything in their power to prevent any
partialty. [ asked good farmer why he
did not send stock and grain to the Fair
, and he remarked: 81 am nobody. The
Colonels get the prizes.' This man may
have been disappointed at some time, anc
his covert accusation may be untrue bu
the point I wish to made is this the peo
pie have this notion, and the Fair can never
. be success until it is changed.
[ take the liberty, therefore, with nc
other desire than TO do good. and certainl J
: with no desire to put blame on anybody
to make the following suggestions:
That the Executive Committee send ;
: proper person throughout the State, who
shall start early next summer to make al
l effort to accomplish the following results
a. To visit the farmers especially il
every agricultural cOunty--partcularl
7 where there are agricultural clubs-and tt
7 talk with them and induce them 10y show
ing that the Society has personal inter
est i'll their welfare) to make especial eff
e forts to have something at the Fair. l
the money that is spent in premiums, med
ais, diplomas and the like, were spent il
publishing in an attractive book every yea
e the result of the experiments and a brie
s description Of the methods and exhibits o
o the farmers who responded to such an in
0 vitation, they would be much better pleas
s ed, and we should all be instructed. Sure
" ly every fair ought to furnish enough in
teresting material for volume. The di
plomas and medals are worth nothing
Spend the money otherwise.
2.) Let the same agent Of the society
visit the leading manufacturers and induce
u them, if possible, to initiate the eXampl
" of the Blackwell Tobacco Company, tn
Morris Snuff Company, Tyson & Jones
e Wetmore & Co., and the others who cam
81 to this Fair. No one that has not mad
= an especial study of the subject is awar
= features Of the State. Cotton mills, wood
! working machinery of hundreds Of kinds
: shoe factories, mining indust les, tObacc
factories, thousand ana one, hundreds o
s which have never made exhibits, and hun
dreds Of which the people know NOTHING
:, about. These manufacturers do not,
" presume, make exhibits because they Sc
y y no immediate return for their expense an
u u trouble. What if they never get any re
- - turn? They ought not to care about an
= return. They can easily afford the ex
Il pense, and, if l may say so, it is to a eel
~ tain extent their duty TO do all they ca
a to educate the people and to encourag
:, enterprise. What an educational institu
- ton the Fair could be made! And GU
" schools, by the way-all our schools, es
9 low the example of the Bingham Schoo
10 the Charlotte Female Institute and tn
h Greensboro Female College. To have tn
If classes Of the graded schools recite befor
thousands of people-that is an idea.
go Our natural products ought to b
exhibited as they have been exhibited
Boston.
ii a. Our railroads ought to make c,
~ hibits as they made at Atlanta, at Bosto
n and at other large fairs.
I'd All these suggestions, and many NOR
s. and many better ones, could easily /
al carr led out. And it is shame that ono
L a year we cannot see what is going on
Ks n North Carolina.
es am, sincerely yours, CITIZEN.
tn Raleigh, Oct. p.
"a A Supposed Change of Trade.
e. Special Correspondence Of the Chronicle.
Z, q SANFORD, n. c., October 24.-The cor