Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-12-02
early S|A|E FAIR DAI[
Reasons Why it is Preferred by
Officials OF Iowa Depart-
ment of Agriculture.
ENCOURAGEMENT to Be Given
Those Who Camp Ou! and Go
Long Distances.
---------------
Iowa at the Stock Show in Chi.
caso.-Adjutant Generals Re-
port.-Appointments.
Special to Times Republican.

Special to Times-R Republican.
Des Moines, Dec. 2.-Iowa will ask
again for an early date for the state fair
next year This Is a matter that Will
be decided this week at the meeting of
the International Association of State
Fairs to be held In Chicago. These
meetings are held annually and officials
of state fairs are eligible. They get to-
gether and discuss matters of mutual
interest and try to fix upon dates that
will conflict as little as possible. BY
taking a very early date Iowa can get
a fair which does not conflict With any
of the state fairs in the midland region.
The date may be the same as fair in
New York or MaSSachu5etts-Dut THIS IS
of no consequence whatever to the Iowa
people. Then it ia seldom that any OF
the county or district fairs are held be-
fore the second week In September. BY
taking the last week of August for the
state fair there Is no interference with
the local fairs. This is regarded by the
| officials, of the Iowa state fair as of
some Importance, as there are a great
many good local fairs in Iowa. ard
breeders and exhibitors desire to attend
them with their stock or implements
Secretary Van Houten and President
johnson will attend the meeting in Chi
cago and probably several of the direc-
tors OF the state agricultural depart
ment. It is to be held at the same time
as the stock show and other big features
and there will be general gathering OF
fair men and stock men in Chicago at
that time. After the international as
sociation has fixed dates for the fairs
these dates must be approved by the re-
spective boards of the various associa-
tions. The international has no author
ity in the matter.
"If am connected with the state fair
management next year and have some-
thing to say about the features, said
Secretary Van Houten. II shall favor q
new departure In the giving of prizes
for the best campers outfits on the
grounds Here is matter in which the
iowa state fair excels all others, and
we ought to encourage 1t even more
than in the past. We have the finest
camping grounds of any fair In the
country, We have more room than any
of the fair associations in neighboring
states. In the past we have made
feature of encouraging parties to come
here and camp on the fair grounds dur
ing fair week. This has proved valuable
to US. 1 was over at the Illinois fair
and found they had no provision for
camping out. There was perhaps twen-
ty farmers teams hitched near the fair
ground, and that wac all. But this year
the number of persons who actually
camped on the ground Of the Iowa state
fair all or part of the time of the fair
reached nearly 4,O00 There were hun
dreds Of tents, and many wagons, and
some men came long distances with
teams to attend the fair know Of one
outfit that came from Fremont county.
and others from fifty to seventy-five
miles. 1t is now becoming generally
known that persons can camp out on
the ground without renting a tent.
They can camp in their wagons. or
sleep out under the trees or bring their
OWL tents-any way suits us. And I
would encourage this by offering prizes
for the best camping outfits, and make
cheapness and economy points in the
competition This camping out idea is
one thing in favor of an early fair for
Iowa. BY holding our fair at a. time
wher we are sure to have pleasant
weather for outdoor life we get larger
number of campers. And we can not
afford to underestimate the value of
these campers who come from many I
counties of the state and bring their
friends and neighbors, making our fairs
what they are
Il He-
gins today in Chicago and a great many
Iowa exhibitors have taken their fine
stock there to compete for prizes. The
Iowa entries number 10S in cattle, forty
in fat cattle, thirty-three in horses,
twenty-three in swine and seventeen in
sheep Among the well known breeders
whose names are on the entry blanks
are George Redhead, Des Moines: NJ. F.
Bunker. Upton: A. C. Binnie, Alta; b.
C. Holland. Milton; w. B. Seeley, Mt
Pleasant: j. N. Richey, Lone Tree; e.
F. Kleinmeyer, Wilton Peter Mouw.
Orange City; and C. L. Loomis, Chester.
The Iowa experiment station at Ames
will be we'll represented.
The report of Adj Gen. Byers on his
work as chief of the Iowa National
Guard for the past two years. indicates
something OF the great amount of work
which has been done in handling the
guard. The work of reorganization af
ter the end of the war for the freedom
of Cuba from foreign domination had
not been completed two years ago. but
within the biennial period all the COM
panies have been reorganized. The last
vacancy in the guard will be filled by
the muster-in of new company in Des
Moines. 1t had been the hope of the
adjutant general to have this new COM
pany mustered in before he made his
report, but delays We're inevitable. The
adjutant general has also given a great
deal of time to the work of securing the
war claims of Iowa from the govern
ment, but there Is more of this work to
be done. Gen. Byers has also succeeded
well in making arrangements by which
the Iowa guard is to be equipped with
new weapons very soon. There Is not a
gun in the Iowa guard worth having.
Notwithstanding that Gen. Corbin in
sisted that the volunteers in the Philip
pines We're better off with antiquated
springaelds than with modern weapons