Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-09-12

| when people considered the Marathon
county fair in about the same light that
an Apache Indian looks upon the study
of trignometry. The struggle of the
society for years and up to date not
very far back was about on compari-
son with man trying to support a.
wife and family of fourteen children on
salary of 81 90 per day. For years the
society held fairs annually with poor
showing and a poorer attendance, but
there came day when the tide turned.
Years back when people desired to see
a good county fair they went to one of
the southern counties. Times have
changed From all reliable reports the
fairs of the southern counties have been
going backward each year of late, while
the fairs of Northern Wisconsin have
been making rapid strides forward, and
especially the fair of this county This
is due to several reasons.
| lst, There is perhaps not a county in
the state that can excel Marathon,
when it comes to the richness of farm
productiveness
I'd Our lumbermen farmers some
years ago set the pace as regards the
raising of pure blood cattle, and the
pace has been taken up and followed
by our farmers. Every year more
farmers are buying pure blood cattle
| for breeding purposes and even if they
cross them with scrubs they are elevat-
| ing their farm herds. They are going
| through the school of experience and
| learning that it pays to raise good
stock
Sd. The fairs held in Marathon coun-
| ty are always characterized by a spirit
of fairness. No favoritism is shown
and everyone is treated fairly Conse
quently no trouble is experienced in
getting outside cattlemen or horsemen
to show their stocks or to make up al
schedule of races. A man who brings
string of horses here once to race al
ways wants to come again.
4th Our fairs are conducted clean.
No circus attractions are allowed on
the grounds, no immodest, immoral,
disgusting or demoralizing exhibition
is allowed on the grounds
The management has been conduct |
ing affairs on a conservative and busi |
ness-like basis, aiming to wipe out the |
old debt and create as little new debt
as possible.
For these and other reasons our fairs
have been increasing in merit and
attendance until the Marathon county
fair is at present looked upon as the
greatest in the state, aside from the
state and district fairs.
Our agricultural shows ought to keep
on increasing in excellence for a great
many years before we reach that stage
which many southern counties have
experienced-standing still for q time
and then moving backward. Our
county is still new and there are still
thousands of acres of undeveloped
lands awaiting the farmers plow-lands
as fertile as any in the United States.
BETTER IN MOST RESPECTS.
The thirty annual fair of the
Marathon County Agricultural associa-
ton was held last week-the 5-6-7-Sth.
1t was in most respects superior to fairs
of the past and what defects there were,
were more than made up by superiority
in another direction The day of TIE
pumpkin show is past; the fair gotten
up solely in the interests of horse
racing is doomed to be short lived, but
an annual display of the agricultural,
stock raising and dairy interests of
county, with enough horse racing to
satisfy those who hunger for races, will
be the winner in the end. Such is the
Marathon county fair No two per-
sons were ever born whose tastes were
exactly alike, nor will there ever be.
Therefore mixture of attractions is
better than sameness. A soup made
of warm water and cabbage is dis
tasteful. Add meat, more vegetables
and spices and it is palatable. Glycer
inc or nitric acid in their natural state
and separated have few commercial
uses. Mixed, they form a most power
full and useful explosive.
WEATHER AND ATTENDANCE.
| The weather at nearly all times was