Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-08-28

tarily. and must submit TO have her
points" criticized as q jockey would
critcise the points" Of q horse. We
may stand and listen to tho ribald
Jests OF the crowd comparatively un.
moved. so long as the ladies' being ex.
hibited are neither friends or con-
nections OF ours: but place . daughter
there. and can you listen unmovodf
Again, consider the effect it must have
upon the mind Of the exhibitor herself.
preparing for a physical display. every
motion to be observed and remarked
upon by n thousand tongues, striving
for the piaudits OF the multitude0. and
considering how she Is looking every
breath she draws. The effect must be
to efface every truly modest and
womnnly feeling In her heart. do not
say that u lady cannot poasess all
those charms which we so much adj
n.ire in the true female character, and
at tho same time exhibit herself in the
ring: but II she be cognizant OF tho
character of large proportion Of
those who surround her. and thinks for
a moment OF the level to which she
is reducing herself-that OF the dumb
beasts which preceded her--she will
shrink from the ordeal.
But" 1t liz asked. what will we do
for something to draw out the pcoplc7
We must have some excitement, or the
institution will become bankrupt"
This is true: there must be something
to attract and please the crowd. In or
der to enable you to meet your ex-
penses. II all who attended agricul-
tural exhibitions went for the purpose
of personal improvement in any Of the
departments of agriculture or mechan-
les. there would be no need OF any OF
this excitement to draw a crowd; but
as not more than one in fifty goes
to improve his Judgment. or increase
his knowledge. some inducement must
be offered to bring out those who
merely go to see what Is to be seen in
the way OF excitement. II. then, ex-
element must be had, substitute some
thing else for the exhibition of ladies.
Put your young men on horses. and
get up a modern tournament, leap bars
advertise for a mule race. OF bull
race. or anything else. no difference
how silly the performances: It will tend
to the Improvement of stock Just as
much as lady equestrians will. and will
prevent placing our wives and daugh-
ters in n wrong position.
"A year or two ago. the New York
state society held their fair at Elmyra,
think: the day after the exhibition.
there was a contest In lady equestrian
ism got up by the citizens OF Elmyrn.
This contest went forth to the world
as taking place under the patronage
OF the state society. Mr.. johnson, who
has served that society many years. az
secretary and is known thruout tho
union as the very able occupant OF that
position. came out the next day In n
card, denying the truth OF the state
ment that the state society had any
thing to do with the matter. and init
mating In such terms as could not he
misunderstood. that whenever the 500
ciety took such exhibitions under its
patronage, his further services must be-
dispensed with.
The state board OF Ohio. who were
among the first to introduce this fea-
ture, have abandoned and repudfated
II.
The state society OF Pennsylvania
was met with an indictment by the
grand jury in Pittsburgh for allowing
such performance. But to close tho
authorities tho Country Gentleman
the highest authority on all such sub
jects. has spoken out against It. as
omething that Ia demoralizing. and
derogatory to the female character, and
that should not be tolerated.
These are the reasons and author
tiles for the views here taken on this
question. They are presented without
any reference to the past-except SO
far as the swallowing up OF other
things are concerned. and Is hoped
that in future they may have only that
consideration to which they are en-
::.!ca"
The troubles OF the early fair man
ayers were not confined to the lady
riders, however Just as that form OF
entertainment was receiving Its quietus.
horse racing came In. It appears that
the first two fairs. those held at Fair
field. were without racing. There was
no track anyway. But at Muscatine
racing was introduced. 1t must have
been hot sport. The record shows that
the way they raced was each horse to
have a chance all by himself against
time and then to compare. There was
an Ethan Allen who was ruled out
because his driver was "a jockey" Az
ter the preliminary heats the best three
raced against each other. A horse
from Muscatlne made the mile in 1904.
one from Scott county in 3:l9. another
from Johnson county 3:44 and Scott
county horse made record OF 1923.
and so on. In the finish Iowa Chief
took first in 2:59. Green Mountain In
90 and Blackbird In sos. In the
racing second day the best time was
sos But notwithstanding this Won
derful demonstration of speed all was
not lovely. The account In the Du-
buuue Northwest" said:
"-tll was harmony and good order.
except that at one time. after the
gray horse from Dubuque was ruled
out. for running for money. the people.
with whom he was n universal favorite.
demanded his admission to the course,
and for some time stopped all business
by clamorous shouts for gray. the
gray'-even threatening to tear things
to pieces II their sovereign will was
not complied with. So earnest was the
desire to see this horse that the subject
was before the directors there several
times. and as often negatived-an ex-
ercise of power which we thought ar
bitrary and uncalled for
But they did very well financially at
the Muscatine fair. They had $4,000
from the state and got $1,000 cash at
the fair. but the total when finally all
was collected was s3.e11. The fair OF
1855 failed by $40 to pay all premiums.
the finances of the first fair
tho treasurer reported:
AS treasurer OF the society beg
leave to report that IT was impossible.
from the irregular manner In which tho