Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-05-17
COUNTY FAIR A
POTENT FACTOR
AS DEVELOPER

| opeClaI u 1 He 4IIUUuc.
ST. PAUL, May lido not over
look the county fairs. They form tn
pivot in the development of the Nortl
western states agriculturally. The!
are the great clearing houses for tht
big land products and live stool
shows as well as all state fairs
This is the keynote which Louis W
Hill, president of the Great Nor.ner1
railway has sounded and which vii
be taken up with vim when the
! Northwest Development League
meets in Seattle in Jne. Among the
| benefits to be derived from the coun
! ty fairs of the seven Northwestern
states, Mr.. Hill sums up epigramati
ctlly, as follows:
",u They start many persons ex-
hibiting who would never think OF
making exhibits at the state fair.
"(2) They bring the fair sutti-
GENTLY near so that all may attend
'(3) ley educate the farmers in
attendance along the lines of their
own greatest needs.
"(D 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
Their says:
"One reason why many farmers do
not exhibit at a state or other large
fair is the apparent hopelessness OF
ever winning prize, because of the
extent of the competition, coming as
it does from SO wide an area, but
when the area is limited as it would
be in the case of a county fair or ev-
en- of fair more local than a coun-
ty fair, the farmer feels that he is
competing against one of his own
class, and, therefore, when he is the
possessor of a product that he be-
lieves to be superior, he is encour-
aged to exhibit the same. This he
can do with little or no expense in
placing the article on 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 anu
thousands 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 a
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 in educational lines that
fairs furnish so effectively by way OF
ocular demonstration. He is encour.
aged to 60 to the smaller fair be-
cause he knows many Of his acquaint-
ances will be 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 with that
line. As long as he stays at home
he becomes no wiser with reference
to shortcomings in his work. When
he goes to the fair and puts that
product on exhibition, he finds to his
astonishmenl, that half a dozen 9TH
ers are ahead of him in the compe-
tition. He is naturally anxious to
know the reason why, and in this way
he comes to see imperfections in his
methods that he would never other
wise have seen. In a hundred ways,
valuable information may be obtain