(See front cover)
Under the Sign of the Ram, the Bull, the Twins, the Crab and the Lion John Farmer toils and sweats through spring and summer from dawn to dusk. But under Virgo, when the sun slants toward its autumnal solstice, he lays down his tools and turns his thoughts to rest and fun. Last week as August gave way to September the time had come for the gala event of the farm year—the State Fair. In twelve great agricultural states the exciting aroma of hot dogs filled the noses, the brave piping of calliopes filled the ears and the bright glare of rockets filled the eyes of some 3,000,000 U. S. country folk celebrating Fair Week. September would not see the end of this rural revelry, for the South, busy with its tobacco and cotton, cannot frolic much before frost.
No graph or chart better reflects the success of the farm year than the receipts and attendance figures at State Fairs. What with government bounties and higher agricultural prices, last year was a whopper, best since Depression. Attendance records were well over the 1931-33 figure and, more significantly, carnival show operators reported business increases ranging from 12% at the Illinois Fair to 75% at the Colorado Fair.
With this record to shoot at, agronomists, farm journalists and Fair officials unanimously predicted that this year's Fair business would knock the spots off last year's. The Corn Belt Farm Dailies glowed with rays of "business sunshine." thanked God for good weather, the Government for good prices. These two factors were responsible for a grain crop up 80% over drought-stricken 1934, for cattle which, fattened on sweet lush grass, were selling $2 per cwt. higher in Chicago than a year ago. In Editor & Publisher, which issued a special supplement full of good farm news. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Agard Wallace estimated that this year's farm cash income would top last year's $6,200,000,000 by $500,000,000, a little more than half that of the 1920's, but close to twice that of 1932. And from the State Fairs themselves rang a jubilant affirmation of better times for the farmer:
¶At the Illinois State Fair at Springfield, Greyhound broke the world's record for 3-year-old geldings by trotting a mile in 2 min. flat (TIME, Aug. 23). Carnivals grossed $50,000 for an all-time record. Attendance was up to 810,000 which was 175,000 more than last year.
¶At Milwaukee, the Wisconsin State Fair featured the nation's greatest dairy cattle show, a children's milk-drinking contest for the first 1,000 arrivals, a two-ton cheese rated 93% perfect, and an attendance which topped the 1921 high.
¶The California State Fair in Sacramento hoped to overcome the competition of the San Diego Exposition with such features as pari-mutuel betting at horse races and equestrianism.
¶In Lincoln, "The Holy City" to many Nebraskans, the board of the Nebraska State Fair, in the hole for the past three years, put on horse races, announced that the betting windows "would be so concealed as not to be apparent to anyone not wanting to bet."
¶All opening day marks fell at Pueblo when 14,000 trooped into the Colorado State Fair.