The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1911-11-01

mention Mr.. Ballew's contribution In
particular, because we wish to COM
ment little on 1t and attempt to cor
rect what we believe is the wrong inn
preston which many people have as
to the real benefits to be derived from
q county fair. Mr.. Ballew evidently
has the impression, as many others
have, that the county fairs are intend
ed to draw big crowd to town and to
thereby bring a money spending peo-
pie to trade. While the county fair
does do that very thing. tc or mind,
that is not the purpose which 1t serves
The county fair is Intended for tho
benefit Of the farming people: those
people who bring exhibits and who
visit the exhibits with the idea of de-
4 .ivi"" some benefit therefrom. The
Laurens Comfy Fair was fair OF
this Kind more than any fair that we
have ever known of. with the eXcep-
| ton of the Fairview Stock Show. 1t
was intended primarily for the farm
ers themselves and was not gotten up
/ s..
When the meeting of farmers was held
in the court house in the early spring
of the year and it was decided to have
the fair only one merchant in the en-
tire city was present and he did not
stay fifteen minutes. The gathering
was made up entirely of farmers, two
bankers, few stragglers and several
county officers. 1t was farmers
meeting and the farmers carried the
burden of the fair straight through.
with the exception of tho part the mer-
chants played in Offering prizes and
taking advertising space in the prom
ium list catalogue. To go little aside,
however. at this point it must be ad-
mltted that the merchants of Laurcns
and Clinton contributed most literally
to the fair with their means a total of
over $500 being contributed But to
go on, the fair was farmers fair en-
tlrely and they and not the town got
most of the benefit. Therefore, if the
fair is to be for the farmers, it should
be conducted in way to bring the
most good TO the farmers And here
is where we differ with Mr.. Ballew
Mr. Ballew suggests horse racing, foot
ball games, shows etc, so that people
can come here from all over the state
to see" things. While we have no
doubt but that the city of Laurens
would like the best in the world TO
have fair Of that kind where people
come here from a distance who would
not come otherwise, that is not the
principal thing to be gained in having
the fair. There is nothing in a foot
| ball game, a side show, a balloon as
cension, an automobile hill climb or
a shell game tended to inspire Lau-
rens county youth to raise better corn
or Laurens county man TO use
more advanced methods of aGricul-
ture. Those things only serve to de-
| tract from the real educational fea-
lures o' the fair and wien we com
mence to give NOR. attention To the
pleasures rather than the benefits of
the fair, it will begin 70 deterioate.
Those men who give Their time and
money towards making the exhibition
an educational affair will not waste
their energies in order 10 afford an on.
r0!turity for carnivl!s AMI Shell game
artists to skin the people ont of their
money We do not mean to give The
impression that we ave opposed 10 the
fa'ks Havine good time, out we dc,
say that there is time and place for
everything. We, therefore repeat
again that to our mind many of orr
people have the wrong impression as
to the real reason why fairs should be
held and when they come to realize
that they are held for the benefit of
the farmers and exhibitors themselves.
we feel that then the fair will be plac-
ed on more permanent basis than
1t has been heretofore. We believe
that when the farmers begin to real
lze that it is an affair of theirs rath
er than that of the towns thev will
take more interest i'm it and he mere
willing to exhibit what they have in
order that their fellow farmers might
be benefited.
We repeat again that we are glad to
see so many of our correspondents
taking such an active interest in it and
though we might differ with them now
as to the real purposes OF the fair, we
nope that they themselves will come
around to our way of thinking and
next year they will assist us i'm maxi