The Newtown bee., 1908-01-24
The Newtown Bee.
 Newtown, Friday January 2t, 1908.
THE HOME CIRCLE
THE PROPOSED STATE FAIR.
THE GOOD WORK IT MIGHT AC-
 COMPLISH.

state fair find it necessary to acquaint
 the public with the facts in reference
 to the history of the movement for a
 State fair. Owing to so many con
 flicting reports of so called State fair committees, they are desirous of giv- ing these facts: The movement was
 launched during the midwinter meet
 ing of the State board of agriculture
 held during December, 1903, at Middle
 town. As a result of a discussion at
 that time at the Chaffee hotel, an ap- pointed committee, consisting of the
 late Secertary T. 5. Gold, Chairman
 L. A. Taylor, Secretary L. K. Sey-
 mour, was the beginning of organ
 ized effort toward reviving the Connec-
 ticut State fair. The experience of
 the committee in carrying on the pre- liminary work gave evidence of a strong
 fair sentiment throughout the state.
 In March, 1906, the committee suffered
 an irreparable loss in the death of MT
 Gold. L. K. Seymour was made
 chairman and T. L. Thomas was ad-
 ded to the committee. The new con-
 mittee redoubled its efforts and met
 with hearty cooperation. Meetings
 were held from time to time. At the
 August meeting, 1907, Chairman Sey-
 mour was instructed to correspond
 with A. J. Welch, the business man.
 ager of Charter Oak Park, to ascretain
 if the property could be rented, leased
 or bought, to be used as permanent
 quarters for State fair. After some
 duration, a letter was received bear
 ing the signature of o. A. Jones as
 secretary of the Charter Oak Park to
 the effect that they were not in posi-
 tion to take the matter up. This let
 ter was somewaht mystifying as MT
 Welch had put himself on record as
 strongly in favor of establishing the
 State fair on his property. The com mittee soon learned that there were
 number of accessible places that were available. At the September meeting of the committee, the Hartford Busi- ness Mems Association was invited to appoint committee of three to CO., operate with the organizing commit tee. On the 18th of the same month,
 the Hartford Business Mems Associa- tion voted to work with the organizing committee. President I. Wise, of the Hartford Business Mems Association,
 appointed Gen John P. Harbison, c. A. Pease and George R. Ford as com mittee to meet and work with the fair organizing committee at the State Cap itol on September 25. The two co m- mittees met there accordingly, Secre- tary Taylor had previously invited W. H. Gocher, secretary National Trot- ting Association, and Representative. Thomas, of Simsbury, who were also present. After going over the sub ject pro and con, Mir Ford, at Gen Harbison's solicitation, made motion that Gen Harbison and Representative Thomas should visit the officers of the defunct State Agricultural society at Meriden, to ascertain if that charter could be utilized, as MT Harbinson was of the opinion that it carried an an nuaI appropriation of S250O, and was
 chartered for the purpose of holding an annual State fair. This committee was to report after this information was obtained to meeting of the two committees. Chairman Seymour called on Gen Harbiuson on the morning of October 1, this being the date of the
 regular meeting of the organizing committee. Little or no informant on could be ascertained. Chairman Sey- mour was condescendingiy given to un- derstand that this committee might have chance to solicit for the sale of stock of Harbinson's State Fair company. The original State fair committee visited the Secretary of the States office for advice in reference to taking out State fair charter, but at the suggestion of Secretary Taylor, it was decided to give the Harbinson committee a chance ito report as it was instruced to do before going fur ther. From information that was as- certained it was plain to see that one, Harbinson, wished to put the original fair committee out of existance. The Hartford Courant of October 15, 1907, published an article of very nearly a column in length, headed, "Harbinson after Fair Promotion" Taylor and Seymour have no authority to act. Gen Harbinson in this article pub lished facts that he requested should be kept private at the meeting of Sep tember 9, with several other mislead- ing statements. The original fair or ganizing committee, after receiving le- gal advice, decided to incorporate un- der the name and style of the Connec-