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Resolved, That the thanks of the Michigan State Agricultural Society are hereby tendered to the common council of East Saginaw for the generous tender of the use of the council chamber during the current week for the evening meetings of the executive committee.

A protest against the committee award in Division B, Class 2, signed by the following exhibitors, Messrs. Powers, Cliff, Anderson, Mass, Emery, Goodwillie, and Deyo, was received, read, and referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Humphrey, Rising, and Howard, with instructions to report at winter meeting, and the payments of the awards in that class suspended under the rule and protest passed to the committee.

A protest against the award of the committee in Division B, Class 13, was received, read, and referred to the above mentioned committee. This refers to Deyo's mare and colt. Protest passed to committee. Premiums suspended under the rule, and committee to report at winter meeting.

A protest against the award of the committee on swine, Division C, Class 23, in the Essex subdivision, was received from Mr. Smith.

Mr. Cottrell, agent for Mr. Smith, submitted remarks which were substantiated by Messrs. Kipp and Phillips, showing that the award was made to a sow and pigs of mixed breed over those of pure blood Essex.

After remarks by Messrs. Green, Hyde, Humphrey, Beckwith, Johnson, and others, the award was ordered suspended under the rule, and the protest referred to Superintendent E. W. Rising, with instructions to report at winter meeting, and the protest passed to the committee..

A communication was read from John Knapp and others on the cultivator award of 1873, in which case the award was protested by Messrs. King Bros., upon the ground that the awarding committee did not obey the rules of the society in regard to trials, and the protest sustained by the executive committee at its meeting at Eaton Rapids in December, 1873.

After remarks by Messrs. Hanford, King, and others, the subject was laid upon the table.

The box of cigars stolen from a case in Manufacturers' Hall were ordered to be paid for by the society.

Protest from sundry agents of manufacturers against cultivator awards was laid upon the table.

Protests were received against the owners in the trial of plows as follows: EAST SAGINAW, September 18, 1874.

We, the undersigned, exhibitors in Class 33, do protest against the award of the committee on plows, for the reason that we were not allowed to test our plows, which we had on the ground and offered them to the committee, were refused the team to try them and the attention of the committee, the committee saying that they would not allow us the privilege of trying them, which we can prove.

KIMBALL, AUSTIN & CO.
(Baker.)

We, the undersigned, do protest, as exhibitors in Class 33, against the award of the committee, for the reason that we had plows on the ground, regularly entered, which they refused to allow me to test, and refused their attention and would not allow us to test them. We had them on the trial ground, and we were not allowed to test them, and we respectfully ask you not to act on this until your winter meeting, when we will bring forward the positive proof of these statements, by authority of good, substantial men and manufacturers. KIMBALL, AUSTIN & CO. September 18, 1874.

(Baker.)

We, the undersigned exhibitors of plows, Div. F, Class 33, do protest the award of the committee, on the ground that one of the judges on that committee owns two of the Oliver Chilled plows, which he uses on his farm, and that he is interested in the sale and success of the plow, and so expressed himself on the ground before and during the trial. That the

Heckendown Plow was the lightest draft by eighty-three (83) pounds, and heretofore it has been the custom to make the award to the lightest draft plow when the quality of work was the same. This the committee admitted, therefore we cannot consider the award as ANN ARBOR AG'L CO.

impartial.

A special premium of ($15) fifteen dollars was awarded Mr. Charlesworth of Sarnia, Ont., upon his English stallion.

Adjourned.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1874.

After the decision of the sub-committee of the executive committee, locating definitely the fair of 1874 at East Saginaw, the question very naturally arose, "What is necessary to be done to render it a success beyond peradventure ?" To the superficial observer this would seem a simple question, but to those who have had experience in these matters, the location of a fair is but the beginning of labor. The selection of a building site is not all that is required to make a pleasant home, nor does the occupant of a new home, though the buildings be completed, find all things adapted to the ends contemplated.

So it was with the new-found home of the society, though the citizens of the Saginaw Valley had solemnly pledged that which, though difficult under the peculiar circumstances, they were bound to perform; yet the home had to be made by carefully and discreetly directing public opinion to the wants, the advantages, the capacities, and facilities of the great lumber and salt marts of eastern Michigan, and to disabusing the many minds that had conceived the idea that the cities of the Saginaw were mere oases in a desert of pine clearings and bottomless swamps, surroundings unfit for and incapable of being made useful for agricultural industries, or nurseries for stock-raising.

The citizens of the Saginaws had undertaken a great work,-that of preparing in one season all the buildings at the time deemed necessary for a State fair, and had the fullest co-operation and advice of the business committee and officers; but like every undertaking of this character, before the work was completed, experience dictated that other things equally necessary had been overlooked, which for the convenience of exhibitors as well as visitors, must be provided. The effects of a rainy season upon the peculiar soil, rendering a movement of stock and machinery from the various depots and landings to the fair grounds exceedingly difficult, was obviated by the building of a railroad track into the ground to the very doors of machinery hall, furnished with all the appliances which the energy and forethought of the managers of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad Company could supply.

The horse-barns of the Driving Park Association were found to mar the beauty and entirely obstruct the view of the grand circle and track from poultry, machinery, and carriage halls, and the grounds of the agricultural implement department, a very great consideration with officers, whose aim was to make a great people's fair, and the buildings were removed to adjacent grounds. The grand stand, upon careful estimate, was found to be but about half large enough to accommodate the percentage of people who usually are interested in speeding. This was fully demonstrated by the experience at the June horse fair of the East Saginaw Driving Park; and the accommodation of t

being the prime consideration, the request of the driving park authorities to erect an addition, upon the basis of pro rata division of grand stand receipts, and they to have the booth receipts of the part so erected for the year 1874, was granted by the business committee.

It was found that the long level with the size of pipe usual for such purposes, would not furnish an adequate supply of water for the machinery, stock, booths, and people, and the fault had to be remedied, and additional pipe laid down. It was also found that in adapting the desired buildings to the grounds, sufficient and convenient area of space for the display of agricultural implements had not been reserved, and additional being granted upon the same terms as the main grounds, sixty-one rods of post and board fencing had to be removed, rebuilt, and the ground leveled. It was found that while waterclosets had been provided for, under a rigid construction of the wording of the contract, no waiting rooms connected therewith had been provided for the ladies, an unpardonable oversight unless remedied,—and additional rooms were erected; and thus day after day, and week after week little things were constantly presenting themselves which, by the light of previous experience, it was necessary to provide, in order that the duties devolving upon the proper officers might not be said to have been neglected, and to have the ground preparations as perfect as might be expected. The vouchers for these improvements will be found in the schedule of expenses.

In the matter of attractions for a fair to draw the attention and interest the people, aside from the vast amount of information naturally to be derived from a careful examination in detail of all its departments of industry, the question very naturally arises, to what extent should this theory be fostered, and what does correct public sentiment require? Attractions and amusements are demanded, and judiciously sandwiched with the more substantial mental food, better subserve the wants of all civilized people, than an entire absence of either amusements or strictly utilitarian subjects. To furnish such an amount of amusement, blended with subjects of public interest, actuated the executive committee at its meeting one year since, to offer large prizes for displays of military, and the business committee to offer competitive prizes to base ball clubs of the State. The same principle, to a very large extent, actuates the liberal premiums offered for trials of speed. Upon this subject an active discussion is now taking place within most of the State Agricultural Societies of the west, as I learn by frequent letters of inquiry upon the subject. I merely advert to it without discussing it, because of the numerous applications received from every variety of exhibitions seeking the patronage of the State Agricultural Society, and the diverse opinions entertained by observing men upon the propriety of anything of the amusement character in connection with an agricultural and mechanical exhibition.

As I have said before, the making of a new home for the society brought with it other labors and anxieties than providing suitably to accommodate the several interests. A fair, to be a success, requires two things, the absence of either being fatal: exhibitors and spectators,-the one makes the exhibition, the other completes the fair, and how to reach and interest these two classes is always the consideration with officers desiring success. The prime motive with exhibitors is business gain, direct or indirect. This is a rule which has few philanthropic exceptions. The mere intrinsic money value of the premiums awarded in any department is not that which brings exhibitors to a fair, but is simply an auxiliary to the greater incentive to the acquirement of a reputation,

for the breeder and his stock, for the manufacturer and his wares, for the artist and his works of art, and the acquirement of increased knowledge in the various branches of industry by comparison of products and exchange of views.

Hence, to convince the agriculturists, the breeders, the manufacturers, and the artists, that their interests would be subserved, that it would pay them to attend, to contribute to making an exhibition, was a labor involving personal solicitation, and the setting forth truthfully through special publications and the public press such arguments as should.

First, Convince them that the new home of the society was desirable as a point for exhibition and distribution;

Second, That the fair would contribute largely as a stimulus to the development of the neglected industries of the northeastern portion of the State; and

Third, That it would draw together the people of a section to which these great combinations of the diversified industries of Michigan were, in a measure,

new.

The universal financial embarrassment which commenced in the fall of 1873 was at its height, affecting everybody, rich and poor, manufacturer, merchant, farmer, artisan,-all alike felt a necessity for, and had commenced, that system of personal economy which is rapidly bringing all classes to the standard of ante-war expenditures, and preparing the public for the era when fortunes are only made by thrift, and the accumulation of small savings. The location of the fair, though judicious and for the very best to promote the public good, encountered an under-current of preconceived prejudice from various causes, but largely from traditional ignorance of the formation and capabilities of the Saginaw valley, which pervaded largely in the more distant parts of the State. The extreme northeastern point of location, as viewed from western and southern sections of the State, though the facilities for ingress and egress were ample and admirable, was objected to by many.

Thus it will be seen that at the outset the three worst obstacles to success had to be overcome, to induce the people of Michigan to patronize the fair of 1874 by their presence, to wit: financial embarrassment and its consequent disheartening tendencies, an old and ignorant prejudice, co-extensive with the settlement of the State, and the extreme northeastern location, in atively new and hitherto undeveloped agricultural section whose capacity was unknown.

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To overcome these objections among a population of one million three hundred thousand people, scattered over fifty-seven thousand square miles of territory, and reached by mails through over one thousand postoffices, and whose centers of information were as many hamlets, villages, and cities, not only in the interest of the fair of 1874, but in preparation for any future fair at the same location, and also to compete in the interest of the people with the great Northern Ohio Fair at Cleveland and the equally attractive Chicago Exposition, both of which were in progress at the same date as our own, required not only an unusual number of premium lists,-ten thousand,--but posters of a size and artistic merit to compare with those of other competing societies, and to attract the attention of the people of Michigan; also circular publications, twenty thousand in number, embodying a full description of the preparations made for the fair, the accommodations of the cities adjacent for visitors, the wants, capacities, and industries of the Saginaw valley. All was done which the most judicious advice and judgment indicated as possible, to prepare the public mind with a favorable impression of the coming fair, and

induce a continuance of that practical interest which the people of Michigan have so frequently demonstrated in previous years.

Too great credit cannot be bestowed upon the public press of the State for its many and able notices of the fair. Probably to this cause, as much as to any other, is due whatever success attended the fair of 1874.

Great dissatisfaction has heretofore manifested itself on the part of awarding committee men, by reason of being invited to come to the fair, to labor assiduously for days, pay their own expenses and entrance fees, the same as other visitors, a manifest injustice which requires no demonstration. Hence, as a trial remedy, by the direction of the President early in the season, I forwarded to the address of each committeeman appointed by the board a year since, a circular asking his formal acceptance of the appointment, and upon the receipt of an affirmative answer forwarded a complimentary admission ticket, good during the fair. A much larger number of committee men reported for duty than heretofore, and the awarding work was much better done, still I am not satisfied that the general committee system, as practiced this year, or in years before, is the most efficient, economical, or satisfactory that can be attained. I think that six committeemen to each department,-and in some divisions less will answer,-selected by a sub-committee of the executive committee, during the summer previous to the fair, serving under such compensation as the wisdom of the executive board might determine, would transact the awarding business far more expeditiously and intelligently than it is now done.

THE FAIR AND ITS STATISTICS.

As usual, the first two days were devoted to receiving and arranging articles, stock, etc. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were comparatively pleasant days, but are not, properly speaking, the days of the fair. Wednesday is usually, and was with us, a medium day, but to Thursday and Friday we looked as visitors' day. Thursday, as all will remember, was as disagreeable, under foot as well as over head, as could well be; but fortunately for the society, visitors had started from all parts of the State under pleasant auspices, and the disagreeable change did not prevent a good attendance. Friday, though a pleasant day, experienced the discouraging effects of the weather of the previous day, and was far below the usual percentage of fourth day attendance, and on Saturday the forenoon was stormy and the afternoon was so mixed as to render the day hardly worth numbering as of the fair days. Hence, the weather during the fair week was, as a whole, unfavorable, and it is estimated that the receipts fell 25 per cent below what they would have been with pleasant weather. The following is the statistical history of the fair of 1874, by divisions and

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