The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1921-07-08
THE NEW ORDER

1t is not long since it was the custom at race meets and similar
entertainments for the management to let to some individual or
individuals the right or concession to sell Inches and other refresh
mcnts to the crowd in attendance. The management received a fixed
sum or a percentage of profit and some man or men reaped a har-
vest of silver, getting from the amusement seekers call the traffic
would stand" But the order changeth, at least it is so on Maui.
In the old days every phase of a county fair or a race meet was
commercialized. 1t was get the money first and public satisfac-
ton and enjoyment aterward.
At the race meet Monday a striking difference from the old
days was apparent and the difference was even greater than showed
on the surface. No lunches as were served Monday would have
been obtainable under the old order, no such candies, no such
lemonade. Nor would there have been such service. The old way
was to have perspiring, shouting, soied aproned men pushing their
way roughly through the stands, doing out paper wrapped parcels
containing more or less dried out sandwiches. Contrast the old
order with the dainty, clearly, polite girls that served well pre-
pared lunches in the grand stand at Kahuui. Different? Rather.
Such is the difference that is apparent.
1t was at the last Maui Fair that the fair director announced
that no charge for the lunch concession would be made but that
the fair management reserved the right to supervise prices, to pre-
vent overchargng. On the Fourth of July the race meet sought
no revenue from the lunch and rcfrcshment concessions. As a re-
suit two worthy charities benefited materially, and the amusement
seekers had better service than if they had been at the mercy of
profit seeking individuals. High minded, large hearted women gave
their time to the preparation OF real, "home-cooked, homemade"
lunches. Others made candy or lemonade and still others superin-
tended the sales in the grounds all working for the community good
not for personal profit. There was no overcharglng and every
feature of the arrangement was agreeable. Some of these women
and girls were making willing sacrifices for a free dental clinic for
the kula Sanitarium, others for the Childrens Homes.
In part the changed order has been made possible by the strong
organization that runs the races, the Maui County Fair and Racing
Association. That organization still finds it necessary to make the
expenses of an undertaking, but it is able to do so o the admissions
charged to the races or other entertainment and does not find it
necessary to commemorative every feature connected with the affair.
Give the public all the amusement they pay for, the best obainable
but do not permit any one to exploit the amusement seeking public
is the policy in vogue on Maui. If a profit is 70 he made LET sucb
profit 60 to the good of the community. There must, of course,
be limits to the working out of the policy. 1t would not be prac-
ticable to work such a plan with shows and amusement features at
the annual fair. The association cannot be expected to bring at
its own expense shows and attractions from the mainland or the
other Islands. From space let to exhibitors, from various amuse-
ment concessions as well as from gate receipts, expenses must be
made and the grounds must be kept up and improved. But the
keeping at the fore the thought that these are community affairs
for the benefit of the community and that all receipts should so far
as possible be devoted to community institutions and enterprises,
is the long step forward that Maui has taken.