Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1918-07-19
MAKING FAIRS FIT THE WAR.
BY JOHN r. MCMAHON In The COUNTRY
GENTLEMAN.
Continued from last week.

minnesota Otate r air, the champion Oh
them all. has about 81, 10000 invested in
grounds and equipment and an annual at
tendance round 100000 people. How
ever, Canada boasts the largest show on
the continent. The Toronto Fair has be-
tween two and three millions dollars in
vested. and an annual attendance of about
100000 people. This is entirely a
municipal enterprise.
Texas large show at Dallas is an inter-
esting example of cooperation between
private and municipal ownership. A stock
company organized the fair and spent
about $l.500.000 on its permanent equip
ment Later on it was arranged that the
city of Dallas should make use of the
property as park and for public meetings
in the buildings for eleven months in the
year. and that for thirty days the fair as
ISOLATION should take charge and run the
fair on its own resources.
About the largest shows in the East are
the New York State Fair. at Syracuse and
the Interstate Fair, at Trenton. New Jer-
sey. The New York State Fair began to
forge ahead under the administration Of
Governor Hughes, who saw its value and
favored the appropriation Of something
like 100000 for permanent buildings
and equipment. 1t is quite large insti-
tuition. The Trenton Fair is under private
ownership and is not so large. yet it is
credited with good MANAGEMENT and with
excellent exhibits Of livestock. horticulture
and machinery.
Do fairs promote agriculture Well, the
manufacturers and some farmers of New
England have within two years staked over
100000 on the affirmative answer. New
England used to produce all her food then
she drifted into manufacture and is now
producing about one-quarter of what she
eats. The cost Of living is high and this
makes wages high. which put New Eng
land manufacture at a disadvantage In
competing with the lower wage. cheaper
food industry Of the well-farmed Middle
West.
go to. said the Eastern manufacturers
I'VE will revive the art Of agriculture in
New England. the decline Of which threat
ems the very existence Of our industry"
TOBACCO. But NARY Hoo.
As one Of the practical steps toward
this revival there was organized the East
ern States Agricultural and Industrial Ex-
position. and the best fair manager Of the
Middle West was hired to run the show.
About 100000 was put in the land, with
Improvements, and round $500,000 in
buildings. all at Springfield, Massachusetts.
As auxiliary to the main project pro-
gram of field work to stimulate agriculture
through all New England was laid out.
THE people need it," said citizen of
Springfield. IF you ride on the train from
here to New Haven. I'll bet you won't see
hog"
studied the landscape for miles be-
tween these cities and saw plenty Of to-
bacco on the rich bottom lands, but nary
hog. This situation has a larger scope
than the private interests Of manufactur-
ers. 1t is larger than New England 1t
concerns the nation and the world. If the
function Of the Springfield fair had been
properly understood at Washington it would
not now be in state Of suspended ami
nation. with its prOpertyin exclusive gov
eminent use. just to promote livestock in
New England this year several breeders
associations had offered $4,000 in premiums
in addition to what the fair people would
put up This big stimulus for cattle. sheep,
hogs and horses has. Of course. vanished
into thin air.
Having glanced at the merits of fairs.
let us consider few weaknesses. real and
alleged. In the first place big show is
not necessarily useful in proportion to Its
size. and heap Of money spent on equip
ment does not insure the best exhibits.
England has large fairs that show all
kinds Of blooded stock and machinery. yet
little money has been spent on buildings.
The fairs of John Bulls island seem to
travel round like circuses. putting up TEN =
porary structures. Nevertheless. an Eng
lish-American observer states that he saw
better line Of agricultural machinery in
the movable fairs OF Britain than in splen-
didly equipped American fairs located next
door to the worlds center Of agricultural
implement production. With all deduc-
tons for home prejudice in such state
ment. we know American fairs in general
have not lived up to their machinery ex-
hibit possibilities.
No doubt some shortsghted fair man
ager argued that the main thing was to
make money. and they achieved this end
by charging high prices for space. The
high charges discouraged implement manu-
facturers. especially newcomers. and at
tracted horde Of cheap but remuneratlve
popular amusements and nondescript COM
mercial wares.
OF course the fairs and the manufac-
lures should get together. II necessary the
Government should make them shake hands
and forget the past. Instead Of cumber-
some and too costly competitive exhibits.
there could be gotten up few representa-
tive selections Of the more important ma
chimes and implements on cooperative
basis. These could make circuit Of the
leading fairs at a minimum cost.
There is room for improvement in the
classification Of exhibits Of farm products
so as to stimulate the typical activities Of
any section. This is no time to encourage
freaks and rarities. One Of the large state
fairs Is said to have nearly the same CLASH
cation in its crop department now as II
did eleven years ago. The premium list
was borrowed in hurry by the latter organ
lied Oklahoma State Fair, and IL took the
Oklahomans several years to find that the
list did not it, People initiate what they
see. and a line Of impracticable and