On this Date in Minnesota History: August 31

August 31, 1910 - A compromise arranged with some difficulty by Minn. Gov. Adolph Eberhart and the management of the state fair will alleviate the necessity of paying two admissions to the state fair grounds to listen to President Taft when he speaks there during the conservation congress.

President William Howard Taft¹

The state fair management, seeing the president as a star attraction, wanted to charge all that traffic would bear, and planned to have the president speak in front of the grandstand, where payment of double admission−one to get into the fair grounds and another to get into the grandstand−would be required to hear him.

Minn. State Fair Grandstand²

Insisting earlier that it was necessary to double charge for admission, state fair management has now decided to make admissions to the grandstand free.

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Reduce Fee to See Taft; State Fair Management Decides to Make Grandstand Free”; August 31, 1910; p. 1.

¹http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Howard_Taft.jpg

²Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain Aug. 31, 2014, as long as acknowledgement included.