The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-15
GREATEST FAIR


Continued from Page One,
tended to get down there this after
noon and see them
TOO late" said Keats.
well, every race advertised was
run, wasn't it? Every horse entered
raced, didn't it? Every horseman got
his money, didn't he?" asked East
man.
Yep" said Keats.
THE same thing happened last
year, didn't it?" said Eastman.
Yep" said Keatsf
Il guess the horsemen know now
that this association means business
and pays it's bills said Eastman, with
a grin.
Need More Room.
The one big thing that is bothering
L. M. Penwell president of the fair
association, is the matter of room. At
ter watching the exhibits pile up this
year and seeing the crowds interfere
with the operation of some exhibits,
such as farm machinery, he is of the
opinion that the time is coming when
the Kansas free fair is going to need
more room
TT needed more room this year"
said President Penwell, but if the
fair continues to grow as it has since
the free gate idea was developed more
room is going to be an absolute neces-
sity. 1t is shame the way some of
the exhibitors were crowded this year.
Their good nature made it possible
for us to get by but in some instances
we had to double them up, putting
two exhibits where one was intended.
The question of space is one that
must be taken up soon. Thursday
there was not a square rod on the
grounds. In the spaces where ma
chinery exhibitors expected to demon
strate their moving machinery such
as tractors, cultivators and plows the
people were so thick they were unable
to operate.
Need Larger Grandstand.
1.-The grandstand, even with its
bleachers. also proved inadequate on
afternoon and Thursday night we
were unable to take care of the crowd.
Thursday night for the fireworks and
patriotic program we were forced to
send people who had paid for seats
out into the track and quarter stretch
to find seats on the ground as best
they could
$50 Street Cars an Hour.
Albert Patten, superintendent of
transportation for the fair, also head
of the Illinois Traction company in
Kansas. says the Topeka Street Rail
way company handled more people to
the fair grounds this week than ever
before in it's history.
Thursday" he said, 1--WE sent $50
cars around the loop each hour, and
everyone was loaded to the running
boards when it reached the fair
grounds. There was an average of a
train a minute, with trailers in each
train. Never before has there been
such a demand for street railway
equipment in Topeka"
Forty or fifty extra men were
brought to Topeka from the Wichita
street railway to work on the extra
cars during the fair. The crowd was
handled perfectly. There was never a
time when there was undue delay in
reaching the grounds from the center
Of the city.
Efficient Management
The big fair spelled a great deal of
work for the men and women who
were responsible for it's various de-
partments. That they have done their
work well is best shown by the sue
cess of the fair.
Phil Eastman, as secretary, has
been on the job morning, afternoon
and night. He has spent more hours
on the fair grounds this week than
any working man employed there, and
the probabilities are that he has seen
shows and amusements than the ordi-
nary person who spent one afternoon
or evening on the grounds.
Hour after hour he has occupied
the little cubby hole in the secretary's
building, answering the telephone,
Strengthening out tangles and smooth
ing over rows. Where sixty or seventy
thousand people are thrown together
there is always trouble.
For a week. every. time Eastman
has stuck his head out the door of
his room somebody has grabbed him
by his coat lapels and unloaded tale
of woe. Men, women and children
have followed each other in rapid
succession. He has handled them all in
a diplomatic way. and there were few
sore spots among the hundreds of ex-
hibitors who spent the week on the
grounds. Frequently Eastman was
forced to leave his office and walk
across the grounds to some distant
exhibit where two exhibitors could not
dwell in peace and harmony. The