Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / May 25, 1912, edition 1 / Page 1
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' WHAT .WE ARE i TRYING TO DO Page 10. ; 58J o " - A Farm and Home Weekly for the Carblinas, Virginia, . ' Jjfe:..::;:'.. Georgia and Tennessee, ' "i FOUNDED, 1886, AT RALEIGH, N. C. V-lv;'' : Vol. XXVII. No. 21. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1912. Weekly: $1 a Year J HOW FARMERS CAN INSURE CLEAN FAIRS XT 7 m : i ;fcillw few; i i - pP i! E are printing this week a letter strongly commending Mr. French's recent plea for cleaner State arid county fairs. Mr. French also sends us some letters he has received endorsing his position. We quote from one of them : "I have not attended our State Fair in several years, from the fact that the last time I was there the indecency and brazen im morality of some ot the 'midway' aggregation was sufficient to shock the modesty of decent men, to say nothing of pure wo manhood and innocent childhood." Now, the writer happens to know that what this gentleman says of his State Fair was true a few years ago. It is not so ) bad now, we are glad to say,' thanks to the stand taken by some of the ; State s best far- mers and some members of the Board of Agriculture! It has been only two or three years since The Progressive Farmer ; reproduced a p h o t ogr a ph, taken at another State . Fair; which showed boys and girls, in knee pants and short skirts, grouped around a gambling machine. Dozens of country fairs are made the rendezvous of all sorts of fakirs, charlatans and purveyors of filth who would not be allowed to hold forth for an hour in the county towns except at fair or " carnival" times. T Yet "these fairs are usually managed by men- who regard them selves as "good citizens," arid who grant concessions .to barefaced rogues and sell to shameless men and women the privilege of flaunting their indecency in the face of the whole community only because they do not know how else, to get the money they need. . . That these fair managers are justified in admitting indecency and dishonesty to the fair grounds we do not for one minute believe. Still it would not be just for us to place the whole blame on them. Back of them are usually a number of stockholders who insist that the fair must yield a dividend. Still back of the stockholders are the great' number of men and women who do riot approve of such things but who will go to the fair any wdy because everyone else , is going. It is a lot easier to grumble about things of this nature than it is to use ineans to prevent them, and there are few of us who have not at; some time been guilty of doing' ineffectual grumbling instead of effectual work. 7 . V :. . .There is not a farming community in the South where a 'majority of the; people will not choose a clean,' educational county fair to one "that is given overrto vulgar shows and doubtful attractions. tyor do; we believe that there is a rural icourity in the South in.which a clean, educational fair, of real value to everyone who attends it, cannot be had if the farmers and their families will go about it in the right way. ; The first thing to do is to insist that the fair be clean to put the PRIZE-WINNING PLYMOUTH ROCKS. A fair is valuable just in proportion to its educational influence. It should be a place of enlightenment, , " . . ' not one of dissipation. . matter squarely up to the managers and let them know what is expected. If there are not some real farmers among the directors and stock holders, the organization is on the wrong basis, and the farmers have failed to do their duty by it. Most fairs are partly controlled by far mers, and surely they can be counted on. The Farmers Union and farmers' clubs of all kinds can do effective work here. Having asked for a clean fair, the thing to do if it is not made clean is simply to stay away from it. There are, people, of course, to whom gamblers and fakirs and jprofligates are attractive, who prefer a fair, i with these things to one with out, but these people iilfcnot; make af fair a paying institu tion;0 If takes a different !ciass of people to do that, t -1 If the fair is kept 'cieante thing for . the people who be lieve in decency arid' rriorality to do isto make it pay; . The i o b j e c t i o n ab 1 e features get in simply because -they- aire . supposed to pay. ; If thegpod farmers joi the county jpi ta& . take sufficient interest in the r clean, fair to toake it pay and: let it be known that their inter est will cease when unwhole some features are admitted, there will be no trouble on that score. The farmer who attends his fair, who has an exhibit, who co-operates with the directors, who is not afraid to shoulder a little expense or do a little work,, is the man who does effective work ifor clean fairs. The man who only sits back and grumbles does not count A fair cannot be run without moneythat is certain and. if it is to be regarded as a purely private enterprise, and not, as it should be, as a means of public education--if the county, the town, the farmers themselves leave to the manager the task of "making it go," there may come a time when he will have to raise some money and feel compelled to get it the first place he can. FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE. A YOUNG GEORGIA FARMER-Felix Williams and His Good Work 5 BIGGER CROPS PER ACRE The One Way to Prosperity ; . 17 DIET FOR TIIE SICK Valuable Suggestions by Mrs. Stevens 8 FEED CROPS "OUR READERS RAISE A Symposium 0 HAVE CLEAN FAIRS The Shame of Some Things Permitted on Fair Grounds 14 HOW CO-OPERATION IS SPREADING Farmers in Many States ? Learning How. to Work. Together ,18 : MAKE THE SOUTn A LAND OF FLOCKS AND HERDS CatU WIH Make Ug. Rich "If Given the Chance : . 12 TniS SEASON'S- FLOOD SHOULD NOT OCCUR AGAIN The Ne cessity - of a: Settled National Policy 3 TOM SON OF THE SOIL--A Story for Boys 7 WHAT WE ARE TR YING TO DO And How You Can Help 10
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
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May 25, 1912, edition 1
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