L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 24, No 13
Articles in this issue
- Readers' letters on cycling questions, including Charles L. Newcomb's stick-and-handkerchief scheme for towing a disabled wheel home, a warning about punctures from tin tobacco-tags, Robert T. P. Fiske's defence of wheelmen against careless horse-drivers, "Truth" on Sunday riding and the Sabbath, and a Brooklyn member's Æolian-harp rubber bands.
- A humorous Portland Oregonian item describing a Chinese scorcher whose queue caught in his rear-wheel spokes, jerking him from the saddle and nearly tearing off his scalp before bystanders cut him free.
- Editor Sterling Elliott argues that road improvement and wheelmen's rights depend on electing progressive legislators, urging L.A.W. members to engage in local politics and to present candidates with printed road-law texts to endorse.
- A short editorial applying the Golden Rule to cycling etiquette, asking riders whether their own conduct on the wheel is what they would wish of others.
- The L.A.W. Road Department explains how to apply its new gold-and-silver "Good Roads / Wheelmen's Rights" decalcomania to a bicycle frame, with notes on transfer size, varnish and peeling; single transfers cost four cents by mail.
- A Road Department note proposing that States publish their road books at cost so that local consuls in border towns can supply books of adjoining States to members who tour across State lines.
- An official notice that the Pioneers' constitution and by-laws are forthcoming from the Executive Committee so new members can be enrolled, and that secretary Burley B. Ayers of Chicago is laid up after an eye operation.
- Isaac B. Potter, reprinted from the Century, argues against proposals by officials in New York, Philadelphia, Rochester and Chicago to levy a special tax on bicycles, calling such a second levy unjust, unpopular and probably illegal.
- A report on the Sept. 17 New York meeting of pneumatic-tire makers who formed an association under President Theodore A. Dodge to standardize the tire guarantee, voiding it for tires treated with "anti-leak" compounds.
- An essay contrasting horse-race and bicycle-race finishes, explaining how a late burst of speed and the spread of riders across the track make close finishes genuinely hard to judge, and defending race judges against newspaper critics.
- Touring and road notes including a suggestion to gravel railroad bicycle-paths, a Camden, N.J. ferry-boat grievance, and a member's letter (No. 123,722) rating the pike roads from Reading through Harrisburg, Carlisle and Chambersburg to Waynesboro.
- A two-page department defending the BULLETIN's discussion of free silver, answering A. B. Bennett, S. R. Kitchin, Wm. D. Kempton and Mr. Choate, with Sterling Elliott's replies on money as a memorandum, the gold-silver ratio, and the editor's apology to Mr. Choate.
- W. H. Parsons (No. 97,687), over sixty, recounts a 400-mile week awheel from Watertown through Boonville, Utica, Syracuse and Forest Lawn to Rochester and home, praising the Ridge Road sidepath and reporting not a single puncture.
- A Good Roads note, with illustration, on a sample bad Missouri road east of Ritchey found on a union run of the Monett Wheel Club, where fence-rail bridges were built to keep the ladies dry-shod.
- George Appleton of Providence, R.I. argues against riding hard tires to save wear, contending that under-inflation protects the spine and health and that dealers should advocate soft tires to sell more wheels.
- A report on the Pittsburg meet, claimed the most successful in L.A.W. history: over 600 membership applications forwarded to Secretary Bassett, a huge lantern parade, and races drawing 15,000-20,000, under T. J. Keenan, Jr.
- The Good Roads department on highway maintenance, arguing roads should be repaired whenever they need it rather than once a year, with a notice of Charles Freeman Johnson's San Francisco road-inquiry circular and Dr. Mendenhall's case for permanent road-building.
- The League's official roster of 1896-97 officers (President Sterling Elliott, Secretary Abbot Bassett), standing committees, and the full state-by-state list of division chief consuls and secretary-treasurers, with membership-blank forms.
- Racing Board actions listing riders suspended pending investigation, suspensions raised, men suspended for unsanctioned races and false entries, declared professionals, and sanctions granted to clubs and agricultural societies in New York, Massachusetts and Ohio; with state membership totals and L.A.W. badge offerings.
- Reports from the divisions: the New York Division Honor Badge and hotel list (W. S. Bull and Isaac B. Potter), the Massachusetts Division quarterly meeting and election committee (Spencer T. Williams, A. D. Peck), and notices from the Pennsylvania, Indiana, Utah, Oregon and Missouri Divisions.
- The constitutional state-by-state list of new membership applications received up to Sept. 25, 1896, totalling 786 (membership 68,233), together with the September expirations table and Renewal List No. 12.
- Replies to readers' technical questions (crank length and sprocket sizes for "Mechanic" of Albany), plus a follow-up on the "lost ticket" swindler Calwell/Carter, arrested in Wheeling after borrowing money from L.A.W. members across Virginia and West Virginia.