The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-25

tn Stain FAIR,

lSLlS.
THE STATE FAIR.
To the members of the Montana State
Fair association we extend our heartiest
congratulations. At last, everything
promises we'll for the continued success
of the Helena week. The board of di-
%rectors is both able and active, A bet
ter choice for the onerous duties of sec
retaryship than the energetic incumbent
Of the Office could not have been made.
The members who have subordinated
their personal grievances to the general
good OF the meeting are fully entitled
to the thanks of the public, and they
have them. There was not m inhabi-
tant of Helena hat did not regard with
regret the possible discontinuance of
the popular gathering in the month of
August. 1t has become n of the So
cial functions of the year. Old friends
meet and, laying aside their business
cares and worries. grow garrulous over
Montana, as it was in the early sixties.
The "tenderfeet" gather around and
listen with greedy ear to marvellous
tales told of ox-teams, hard winters,
bear fights and big bonanzas. The Hell
ena week is, prominently, the states
annual holiday.
The mayors appeal to the board of
directors hits the right nail on the head.
Under the management of previous
boards the racing parto OF the programme
has steadily improved. With each year
larger purses have been thrown open for
competition, and Helena to-day can at
tract the cream of racing stables. Well and
good. But the racing events, important
and pleasure giving as they are, need
not and do not constitute the n at
traction of the meeting, and this the
mayor is quick to understand. He sees
great possibilities for the advertisement
of the of Helena and Montana in
the exhibition section of the programme.
AS things are at present, that is largely
the ladies' carnival. So far it is all
right. They have been quick to seize
the opportunity for the display of their
housewlfery and art work. There is no
one who does not %sympathize with their
ambitions. Homemade bread is an ex-
man in dreams and at fairs, and he would
like to know how it tastes. It sets the
bachelor thinking of the loneliness of
his solitary kind of life, the impositlons
of his landlady, and the abominable way
she charges him. Even anti-macassars
and dcyleys presumably have their uses,
although the average male man has
hitherto failed to grasp them-the uses,
not the anti-macassars. Truth to tell
they have a painful habit of grasping
his back hair and driving him to silent
profanity at times when he wants to
} look his best, and he may be forgiven if
he regards them with lurking d~istrust.
The ladies' section is in competent
hands; it is all right. But, as we under
stand the mayor, he wants the men to
take hold of this section of the fair work
and make it Representatives Of the state
l and its vast resources. His special plea
is for a mineral department.. He sug-
gests the erection of a separate building
), for mineral exhibits, and that the mines
throughout the state be asked to con
tribute samples and specimens of ore to
remain permanently on exhibition. If
, there is enough money in the treasury,
the scheme deserves the cordial ap-
proval of the directors. And they need
/ not stop at minerals. Magnificent
though Il record is IN that depart
ment, Montana's mineral wealth is onl,
one item in the grand total of the wealth
of her resources. Let us have, in course
of time, an exhibition of them all, tina
+ will impress our visitors with surprise
1 We are no longer a mining camp. Fa-
%cilities of railroad communication, the
erection of the Broadwater hotel anC
natatorium, the states reputation fol
enterprise and solvency, these and /;
dozen other causes are daily increasing
our list OF visitors. Many of them are
, here for the profitable investment O
surplus capital. With such an exhi
bition as We have indicated at the Mon
tGna state fair, these men could get {
better conception of what the state car
do and is doing than from "a bushel Of
: ordinary advertisements. Montana
} would reap a rich harvest of benefits
and the directors large dividends.
The interview with our mineral lam
commissioner, Major Maginnis, on thu
t status Of the controversy with the Nor
lthprn Pacific RaiIwav cop,n,ry ,.l;.t