The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-05-23

They form the pivot in the develop
ment of the Northwestern states ag
riculturally. They are the grea
clearing houses for the big lan(
products and live stock shows as wei
as all state fairs.''
This is the keynote which Loui!
w. Hill while president of the Grea
Northern Railway sounded and which
will be taken up with a vim when the
Northwest Development League
meets in Seattle in June. Among
the benefits to be derived from the
county fairs of the seven Northwest.
ern states, MI. Hill sums up cpl
grammatically, as follows:
IL. They start many persons ex-
hibiting who would never think of
making exhibits at the state fair.
~. They bring the fair sufficiently
near so that all may attend.
"3. They educate the farmers in
attendance along the lines of their
greatest needs.
"a. They stimulate effort in the
direction Of highest excellence.
"5. They tend greatly to the
building up of the state fair, both in
regard to attendance and exhibits.
Because of these benefits the small
fair is we'll worthy of the support of
the state and of all actively engaged
in business in the communities in
which they are held" Mr.. Hill fur
ther says:
Zone reason why SO many farmers
do not exhibit at state or other
large fair is the apparent hopeless
ness of ever winning prize, because
of the extent Of the competition,
coming as it does from so wide All
area, but when the area is limited as
IL would he in the case of county
fair or even of fair more local than
q county fair, the farmer feels that
he is competing against one of his
own class, and, therefore,, when he
is the possessor of Il product that he
believes to be superior, he is encour-
aged to exhibit the same. This he
can do with little or no expense in
placing the article OH exhibition,
hence if he does not win he does not
feel the pinch of financial loss as he
would had he exhibited at the state
fair. In this way hundreds and thou
sands would be led TO exhibit who
never would have done so but for the
opportunity to exhibit at the small
fair.
"The location of the smaller fair
makes it easily possible for many
farmer to attend, who may not be
able, in the meantime, to afford the
expense incurred in journeying to
the state fair and of maintenance
while there. Such men are content
in the absence of the smaller fair to
stay at home and therefore they miss
the benefits i'm educational lines that
fairs furnish SO effectively by way of
ocular demonstration. He is ell
couraged to go to the smaller fair be-
cause he knows many of his &C
quaintances will he there whom he
can meet and he has friends in the
town who are glad to care for him, it
may be, during his stay at the fair.
"Such fairs are highly educational,
as indeed all fairs are. The farmer
may have concluded that certain
product which he grows is about as
good as can be produced by that line.
AS long as he stays at home he be-
comes no wiser with reference to
shortcomings in his work. When he
goes to the fair and puts that product
OH exhibition, he finds to his aston
ishment, that half dozen others are
ahead of him in the competition.
He is naturally anxious to know the
reason why, and in this way he comes
to see imperfections in his methods
that he wonld never otherwise have
seen. In a hundred ways, valuable
Information may be obtained. The
farmer comes to know about new
and valuable grains, and he becomes
acquainted with the possibilities Of
attainment in growing all kinds of
produce in his locality. These are
away beyond his long cherished con-
ception in regard to these things and
he naturally desires to know the
methods by which excellence has
been attained. He sees livestock,
much better it may be than he pos
sesses, and he desires to know the
measures by which such excellence
has been drought about. He finds
machinery on exhibition, better than
anything in that line that he has
used and he becomes acquainted with
the source from which he can obtain
it. He can get such informant on