The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-03-14
Commercial Club Gets Behind
the Project.
Determined to Make 1t Event
of Year.
ROUSING MEETING.
Plans of Paying Pipe Organ
Indebtedness Discussed.
Club Appeals for Major Ander.
sons Picture.

If the sentiment which prevailed al
the meeting of the Commercial club
last night crystaHizes into a working
actuality, and it will without doubt
Topeka will have the largest fair in
the history of the state this fall. The
pipe organ debt will also be wiped out
as far as the maker Of the instrument
Is concerned. The meeting was one OF
the most interesting held for months
and those present were enthusiastic
as to the future of the Estate wide,
state fair" which was the all absorb
ing topic Of the evening.
! The county commissioners have
| agreed to make levy Of four-fifths
of mill for state fair purposes pro-
| V1d1ng Topeka business men will raise
a fund of $4,000. The levy which
| the commissioners will make will
| raise fund of from $4,000 to s25,-
600 which will give the directors Of
the state fair working fund of from
thirty to forty thousand dollars.
The city has been divided into dis
tricts and committees appointed, and
| Monday morning the work of solicit
ing the necessary funds to secure the
levy offered by the commissioners will
commence. Voluntary subscriptions
one-third of the necessary $4,000 be-
ing raised.
1.-THE time is ripe for this effort"
said President Jensen, Everybody
wants to see a state wide state fair
held in Topeka this fall and there is
but one thing to be done to secure the
coveted event. We need the guaran-
tee asked for by the commission rs
and as far as I have been able to see
there will be no trouble in raising the
required sum. A state fair which is
such in reality means much to the
81 a a 0- xx-an
Using feature and will be worth thou
| sands of dollars more than it will
cost. Besides it will bring thousands
of out of town people to Topeka and
the result will be an immense benefit
for the business men of the city from
an advertising as well as cash stand
point"
81 know of a number of states that
are making a success of their state
fairs" said T. A. Borman, president
of the State Dairy association, land
there is not a single one of them that
will in any way compare with Kansas
when resources are considered. Kan
sas exhibitors have made these fairs
a success by their contributions of the
products Of Kansas and it stands to
reason that they would rather make
| their exhibits in their home state and
before their neighbors than abroad.
"A state fair Would prove an educa-
tional factor of ineStimable value of
the state and would attract exhibitors
from every state in the. union for
| Kansas already has a standard for
excellence in her sister states which
would prove a drawing card if we just
had an opportunity to show our re-
sources. We don't want horse racing
alone for the interests of the state
are varied and the farmer wants a
chance to show what he is doing, the
fine stock which he had bred and the
prize winning products which he has
coaxed from the fertile soil Of the
state
81 am so new in Kansas said J.
T. Huntington, superintendent of the
Topeka Edison company. having liv-
ed in the state less than two years,
that 1 doubt the value of anything
that 1 might say as to the state fair
from point of experience in the
state. However, long before [ came
to the state 1 had heard of Kansas,
even then it was one of the widely
advertised states of the union. The
advertising, however, had been to a
large extent in the negative.
81 knew of Kansas as the home of
the sockless statesman, Mollie Lease,
the state represented by bewhiskered
Senator PETER; the home of the biz
zard and cyclones and headquarters
for calamities in general; in fact the
prospect was anything but inviting.
You can we'll imagine my surprise to
find Kansas the grand state that she
is and the state capital one of the
most beautiful cities it has ever been
my pleasure to visit. You have the
climate and the natural resources and
all that you need is population and a
state fair will do more than any other
one thing to advertise kansas and her
natural resources"
Whats the use of breeding fine stock
and raising big pumpkins and making
Kansas the show ground of the uni
verse If we have no place to display our
products" said T. F. Doran. We need
a state fair worse than anything else
just at this time and we are going to
raise the money to insure it. We people
of Topeka are in need of a great big
revival and awakening; something that
will divorce US from our own business
while we pay few minutes attention
to the good of the community.
Taken as city or as a state we nave
the resources but we have been so bus
lily engaged in adding to our own wealth
that we have neglected our pupilc en-,
terprises. Let US talk this matter OF
a state fair to everybody for the next
day or so and I predict that we will not
have the slightest trouble In raising
ten or twelve or fifty thousand dollars
for that matter If necessary.
"One of the pleasant memories OF my
boyhood days. said F. p. MacLennan,
"as recall it at the present time, was
the thoughts of the approaching fair at
Topeka and for days before the event,
though lived in E;mporia at that time,
was the anticipation of the trip to To-
peka. There has not been a fair In re-
cent years that has equalled the annual
events of twenty OF twenty-five years
ago. In those DAYS the state fair was
the big thing of the state and made the
name Of Topeka famous throughout the
state.
ut IS my opinion that we should nave
revival of the old fashioned fa1r- Not
race meet and nothing more, Ior
while an event of this kind appeals in
a measure to nearly every one, there is
no opportunity given the agriculturist
and stock breeders of the state Tor an
exhibit of thes products OF their skill
A fair of this kind will do more than
reSa11,-fess of Hs.rnxalra .c city and KAN