The Newtown bee., 1904-12-02

show that remains perennial is the dinner People will eat; it seems to be kind of second nature. But they are content with cleaning their plat ters. They want no digestive after math in lis tening to speeches. After dinner spea king at the cattle show is going out, too. It is not the fault of the speakers or their topics. The cat tie show crowd will not listen to them. Some shows are wisely dropping this feature, while others are still "kicking against the pricks' in affecting an es- pecial attraction by billing it. But they, too, will give in after while. This may seem strange in view of the fact that former cattle show audi ences would hang upon the words of a listed speaker with profound ndattention. But now they want none of it; they will leave the hall almost en masse, leaving the speaker to founder in his surprise and chagrin.
 The fact is, people go the fair now adays:tO enjoy certain sensations. They do not go for instruction. They want to be shocked, surprised and amused. A skirt dancer, or juggler on the ros- trum, instead of speaker, could hold UuCll DuU lO SpCdhCl, uulCo1 he should make clown of himself. An exception may be that of some ce- lebrlty whose personality is compile | mental to certain amount of popular curiosity. Such person, without spe- cial efforts at entertainment, may 1 hold this audience until it's curiosity | fraZZleS but no longer. It is not that the audience lacks intelligence or ap- | preciation; but such features are con. flicting to the motives of people in at tending the fair.
 The fakir is an important and neces. sary adjunct of the modern far. The prince of Showmen said the American people loved to be humbugged. This cannot be gainsald. It is vulnerable point, only of peoples fancies, but of with his tinsel and chicanery, his tricks and palaver comes near being the whole show. He is hearty soul, and enters into the spirit of the day
 His hearers open their mouths in laughter, the while unloosing the strings of their wallets. What the fakir offers is really thing of little or no value, yet somehow or other it seems at the time to be wonderful thing. The vender's ceaseless chatter is not designed to encourage sober sec ond thought. With him it is criti- cal moment. His living depends upon the genius by which he glides over a sham and sends his customers home much wiser, if poorer. The fakir, the midway and the vaudeville have be. come factor in the fair, commanding recognition. To bar them out for a series of five years, the most prosper ous fair to-day would go into bank rupJcy so far as it's receIpts go. A large revenue is collected from privi- iegeS and rentals in the midway, but this is small compared to the addition al gate receipts by the attractions they offer.
 | But the management, while it caters to the spirit of the day and thus in- sures paying revenue, must, at least
 make an attempt to preserve the tra ditions of the fair to save itself from the census of ';selling it's birthright for mess of pottage." Stock pens are therefore built, and sections fol agricultural and mechanical exhibits. Prominence is given to lists of money premiums, and entries are invited. It l may seem harsh criticism to say that this department is Spiritless But there are certain conditions which make it so. For in most cases the chance of cash or it's equivalent is the only incentive to exhibitors. With the earlier fair this was not so: the mere pride of winning out was enough Then, too, at this juncture, the gov. ernment experiment. stations and az. ricultural colleges, laudable and neces sary as they are, have usurped many of the prerogatives of the farmers | clubs and agricultural societies; and created standard of their own of a purely scientific nature and beyond the reach of the average farmer. This standard gives its demonstration in the great state and national exhibi-