The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1900-01-18
PASSING OF THE EALR

The success of the Farmers In
stitute" recently held in the city
brings forcibly to mind that the day
of the old county fair is well along in
its afternoon and that the County
fair is surely passing away. These
fairs were a great and unqualified
success a few years ago, made SO
largely by the patronage of the
country people. They contributed to
the success of the meeting by their
exhibits of stock, grains and pro-
ducts. 1t was made an annual holi-
day and festival for the country folks
who came to the city and the fair
from the corners of the county to
meet in friendly intercourse and in
neighborly reunion. The fair was
popular and was enjoyed and was
we'll patronized by the people of the
country until there were features in
troduced that were objectional to
the farmers and to others. The fair
grew to be meeting of numerous
features. Added to the exhibition
part there were introduced the rae
ing and special features that called
for a patronage of class of people
not mingling with the farmer and it
was not long before the fair began to
be more OF a race meeting than
otherwise and the farmer was made
secondary In the considerations of
the meeting. The attendance from
the country began to fall off until of
late the patronage from the rural dis
tricts has been at the minimum
mark. The social side of the life of
the country folk sought other outlets
as did also the desire for mutual pro-
fit and protection and the farmers
began to cast about for some means
of gratifying the desires. The "Farm-
ers' Club" organizations sprang up
and in many counties of the states of
the middle west were carried to quite
a successful issue but the competi-
tive and the desire of one to surpass
the other in the productstof the.
farm gave birth to the idea of the
farmers institute and the idea seem
ed to be what was needed to fill the
gap that had been left yawning by
the failure of the county fair.
In the Institute was introduced the
competitive features of the fair in
that there were premiums offered for
the best products of the field, the
orchard, and the dairy. The desire
for the meeting of the county peo-
pie together was gratified and to an
extent that was not dreamed by the
orginators of the movement. A de-
partment for the younger generations
was introduced in the declamatory
and oratorical contests and thus the
Institute is made an organization for
old and young. The children have
their meeting and rivalries and the
elders have their competitions and
discussions and the movement is
prospering in all parts of the states
to the direct and manifest detriment
of the county fairs whore ever they
have been held.
To such a marked degree has this
become manifest that number of
the fairs have failed utterly and have
gone out of business. Within the
past few months in our own state
Knoxville and New Sharon have de-
cided to close the business of the
fair associations and the larger or
ganizations are also going by the
same route as is seen in the closing
the Ottumwa fair and race track. i
The Farmers Institute has come
to stay and the best of the fairs must
look to their laurels on the grounds
of the survival of the fittest.