Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-21
STATE FAIR MANAGEMENT.
Reflections anG Facts Concerning com
plants about the Directors.

In another column Is q iSttSi 'H~
President of the State Agricultural Society
protesting against some local CRITICISMS OF
the management of the State Fair. The
reference by Mr.. Carr TO the Sacramento
press cannot apply to this journal. We are
well aware that there was considerable dis
satisfaction among this people about the
new ticket system, and it appears to be the
beginning and the area of the whole mat
ter. so far as the public is concerned. The
trouble is. that our people have uncon-
s%ciouslv fallen into the error Of treating the
State Fair too much as a matter OF local
concern. Wherever held, it could not be
wholly delocaliZed. But il it is TO be kept
here, this people must do all they
can to prevent mere localism attach
ing to it. Nothing will more conserve
its State character, enhance its Importance,
secure the permanency OF It's location, or
more broadly, make it beneficial to its To-
cality, than such a policy. 1t IS worthy OF
note that the major portion OF the COM
plant about the new ticket system comes
from Sacramentans, and very little from
the outside. Indeed, the press of San
Francisco and the State, notably encour-
aged the fair. commended it, and was free
from the fault-finding that in former years
has distinguished the Bay press especially.
A much broader and more public spirited
policy appears TO 10Y prevail with the San
Francisco and State press regarding the
State Fair. Sacramento should be the last
to chill this spirit.
The new ticket system is the root of all
the local complaint, and because OF this
the State Board has been assailed in print,
and in a manner that must be gratifying to
| tho aDap,iac of Sacramento and Will have
precisely the effect those desire who seek
the removal of the fair-indeed has OPP
Grated in that direction already. Sacra-
mento has done a great deal for the fair,
| and been more than liberal toitin the past,
but it is a bad policy to be ~eternally 1aunt-
ing this fact in the faces of the people of
the whole State. Such a policy Localities
| the fair, offends the people and withdraws
their sympathy from the Society. If any
doubt this they can easily find conviction
in calm and discreet inquiry.
The Board OF Management has been
ruthlessly assailed in print and its mem
bers stigmatized as imbecile, incompetent,
| fossilized and even dishonest. Yet it is a
remarkable fact that the eminent successes
of 1884 and 1885, which were universally
commended, were achieved by this Board,
which has not Il particle changed its
methods or its policy of management, ex-
cept as to season tickets. Certainly the
| Board cannot have so suddenly suffered
decadence Of ability.
We are not the advocates or champions
OF the Board are not priYy to its councils.
have neither been solicited to speak for it
nor have we any authority to do so. But
a public journal has the right to treat of
public facts as they exist. 1t is q fact that
| the present composition of the Board, with
but two exceptions, is the same as it was
during the years when it grew out of the
swaddling clothes of the old pavilion into
the vIgor and importance that characterize
it in the new structure 1t is a matter of
public record that its members pledged
their personal credit to the extent OF $4,000
for permanent improvements at park
and pavilion in order the more
to advance the interests of the fair, and
that, despite all the growing and grumbling
about tickets and decreased attendance, the
fair Just closed was a financial success, and
will enable the Board this year to discharge
quite $40, 900 of its Indebtedness, for which
its members, serving without fee or reward,
have given to bank their notes of hand.
The new ticket system We do not look
upon as entirely successful it was defec-
tive, and will probably be reformed. But
let US all be perfectly honest in this matter.
I II checked imposition-and that the Society
has been grossly imposed upon and de-
frauded in the past is undeniable. There is
no reasonable man conversant with the
facts who does not know thisto be so. If
Mr.. LaRue did not say that the Society has
been grossly delrauded by the season tickets
of the past, he might have said so truth
fully. A number of devices have been
tried to defeat these outrages, even to the
marking of the description of the personal
appearance upon the bit of cardboard, still
the family ticket was used in many i'll
stances to defraud the Society.
1t is an interesting moral question, why
it is that many good people, who would re-
| sent the iInputation of dishonesty with a
blow, nevertheless fail to rise TO the level
of the truth about the use of q ticket, and
deem it fair game to get the best Of a
" show and especially OF a fair. Whoever
reflects upon this singular fact viii recall
many instances of its truth.
1t is folly to be mealy-mouthed about
| this matter, or to indulge in platitudes
about assailing the honesty of the people.
Every citizen knows that the old season
ticket privilege was abused by many, just
as it has been in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio
and other States having Stale cXpositions.
The proof Of the pudding is in its eat
ing; the State Fair was a success, a
most gratifying success; indeed, with
all the seasons drawbacks considered,
the exhaustion of holiday effort i'll receiy-
ing the Grand Army in August, general
commercial dizziness, stringency of money
with fruit and grain farmers because of
shortage of crops aaa income, and the-vig-
orous opposition of a coatemp0raneous
fair at San Francisco-a remarkable sue
cess.
With decreased attendance, the financial
outcome was up to the standard, thus DIS
proving the auguries of i'll by those who
complain. If we had never been given the
privilege of tickets in the past that were
so broadly liberal when limited to one
week of entertainment. we would not
probably hear complaints of present ticket
privileges, which extend over twice
that period at the same price. We are
confident, that despite the defects in the
new system, and the hardships it worked
in numerous cases, the people, on cool re-
Election, will realize that the management
was honestly aiming to conserve the gen
eral public interest.
We had conceived that newspaper de-
bate of the complaints referred to would be
i'll advised and not for the best interests Of
the general or the local public, and still so
think. We have been led to make these
expressions, however, by the receipt of the
letter of President Carr, with a request that
it be published.