L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 24, No 12
Articles in this issue
- Readers' letters to the editor, including a Schenectady member's plea for colour-coded grade maps, Wm. R. Smith of Franklin, Pa. on yielding to road hogs, Louis C. Johnson praising the Central Railroad of New Jersey for carrying wheels free, Wm. D. Kempton on city street-sprinkling, and a protest against loafers insulting women cyclists around Long Branch.
- Two humorous sketches by T. C. Durant: a flustered young woman checking baggage at a railway station, and a terrier that catches its tail in a bicycle sprocket while chasing a rider downhill.
- An editorial leader warning of a man impersonating a stranded League member at Shippensburg, Pa. under the alias C. C. Caldwell, No. 114,320, soliciting money on the pretext of having lost his L.A.W. card.
- An editorial on the dangerous Creek Hill above Peekskill on the Hudson, where several riders have been seriously injured despite warning signs, framed as a jab at a newly started anti-cycling paper in Europe.
- Practical advice noting that most saddles favour lightness and looks over comfort, and passing on an old rider's tip of soaking the saddle leather in water and riding it dry to mould it to the rider.
- Advice to a New York newspaper man on preventing spoke rust: proper nickeling, wiping with a slightly greasy cloth, or a thin coat of vaseline or varnish.
- An editorial rebutting the Philadelphia Times, which called it impudent idiocy for wheelmen to seek a law compelling railroads to carry bicycles as baggage, arguing the question must finally be settled by the higher courts.
- Reprints sections of Massachusetts Public Statutes Chapter 93 governing travellers on bridges and roads: right-of-way, passing rules, sleigh-bell requirements, and penalties for offences.
- Arthur Munson of Stamford, Conn. (known to readers as "Stamson") was seriously injured when thrown from his wheel, attributing the accident wholly to the dangerously stony condition of the street.
- Urges Massachusetts Republicans to back Col. Samuel E. Winslow of Worcester for Lieutenant Governor on account of his record advancing the State highway system under the late Governor Greenhalge.
- A two-page department of reader correspondence on free silver coinage versus the gold standard, with letters from a Lockport, N.Y. silverite, a Southern lawyer, D. B. Bement, J. M. Chatterson, and Robert C. Belville (No. 105,900) arguing per-capita circulation figures against the free-silver case.
- A comic narrative poem by Nixon Waterman about a miser whose thrifty wife makes him a sixteen-cent shirt that torments him through an entire church service until he reforms.
- A satirical column by Myrtle Reed of Chicago offering tongue-in-cheek cycling "etiquette," such as scorching past nervous beginners and never signing one's name to letters to the Bulletin.
- Henry Clyde rebuts a Robert Grant article from Harper's Weekly, arguing the best riding position is a forward lean from the loins with raised saddle and extended arms, to apply body weight to the pedals and relieve spinal strain.
- Describes the opening of the Indianapolis Wheelway League's bicycle path along the old Indiana Canal tow-path, a shaded ten-mile cinder track capitalised at $10,000 and dedicated to the public.
- A recurring department noting newly received maker catalogues, including the Folding Bicycle Co. of Danbury, Louis Rastetter & Son's wood rims, the Block Mfg. Co.'s "Tribune" book, and the Boston Wood Rim Co.
- An editorial opening the Good Roads section, mocking communities hedged about by bottomless mud who resist road improvement, and insisting the bicycle is everywhere pleading the cause of good roads.
- A. B. Dunning proposes a three-tier Pennsylvania road system—State, county, and township—funded by redirecting the $3.6 million annual road tax under the Flynn bill, with State appropriations matched to county contributions.
- Opens the official section from League Headquarters at 12 Pearl Street, Boston, listing the 1896-97 officers (President Sterling Elliott, Secretary Abbot Bassett), standing committees, and the full directory of division Chief Consuls and Secretary-Treasurers by state, with membership-application and renewal blanks.
- Racing Board notices of suspensions pending investigation, suspensions removed, records accepted (including a Paterson, N.J. tandem mark by Henshaw and Hedstrom), riders transferred to the professional class, and sanctions granted for upcoming meets.
- Consolidated division notices, including the New York State Division's road maps and "50-mile books" effort under Chief Consul Isaac B. Potter, plus reports and nominations from the Wisconsin, Maryland, Georgia, Michigan, Iowa, and Pennsylvania divisions.
- The constitutionally required state-by-state list of applications for League membership received during the week, with expirations and new League clubs, running through the closing pages.
- A reader-questions department covering railroads that carry wheels free, ladies' eligibility for L.A.W. membership, the royal-purple cover colour, the origin of the word "mile," and the legality of large bicycle bells.
- An editorial answer to No. 91,375 on whether a club may hold members-only Sunday races without entry fees and remain in good standing with the L.A.W., explaining the limits of Racing Board jurisdiction.