L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 24, No 2
Articles in this issue
- Short signed reader letters opening the issue cover road-signal systems, why the rear wheel picks up nails, the begging "bicycle tramp" travelling from New York to Canton to congratulate McKinley, toe-clip placement, assisting a weak rider uphill, and the ruts of the new Coney Island cycle path.
- Editor Sterling Elliott answers a lady member's complaint about the Bulletin's jokes at women's expense with a mock-legal retraction, blaming associate editor Nixon Waterman for the offending engagement-ring quip.
- An editorial urges riders not to chase cyclometer mileage through the hot sun, advising rides in the cool of morning and evening rather than torturing oneself on a dusty road.
- An editorial tells parents to teach children the rule of the road before letting them ride in the streets, reminding them they are morally and legally responsible for their children's conduct awheel.
- A humorous feature describes the comic juxtapositions of framed scriptural texts and mundane notices ("Watch Your Hat and Coat," "Try Our Welsh Rarebit") on the walls of a pious restaurateur's dining rooms.
- Quoting Chief Consul Isaac B. Potter's semi-annual report, the Bulletin endorses his plea that wheelmen treat railroad baggage handlers with courtesy to dispel prejudice against carrying bicycles.
- A New York City member (No. 58,476) lays out a seventeen-run, 610-mile tour from New York up the Hudson through the Catskills, Berkshires, and White Mountains to Boston, drawn from his private tour book.
- A Philadelphia reader (No. 55,524) argues every cyclist has a natural sustainable pace — his own is ten miles an hour — and that scorching beyond it leaves century riders physical wrecks for days.
- Marie Kobbe praises Colorado Springs as an ideal cycling destination, describing rides to Manitou, the Garden of the Gods, Cheyenne Canon, Denver (75 miles), and Pueblo (46 miles).
- I. B. Potter argues that cycle side paths are a protest against bad roads and would be needless where statesmanship has built smooth highways, as in England, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
- A New York Division member criticises the disorderly turnout of wheelmen at a recent Brooklyn parade and calls for appointed color-bearers, a bugle, and military discipline; a sidebar urges readers to send in names for sample copies.
- New York attorney E. J. Tinsdale clarifies that the Code of Criminal Procedure amendment letting arrested cyclists leave their wheels as bail applies throughout New York State, not just New York City.
- Reprinted from the Philadelphia Bulletin, an editorial rejects Councilman Hohl's proposed $1 annual bicycle license fee, arguing cycling damages no roads and deserves no special tax.
- W. F. Cooper of the Meriden Wheel Club rebuts first L.A.W. secretary Albert S. Parsons's claim that cycle paths are special favours, citing park equestrian paths and sidewalks as precedents.
- Reprinted from Scientific American via the New York Evening Post, a survey of how the bicycle boom has hurt theatres, jewellers, confectioners, and tobacconists while an eminent physician calls it the greatest boon to mankind in two centuries.
- Dr. Martin Siegfried, physician at the Rippoldsau resort in the Black Forest, argues cycling surpasses all other exercise for mind and body and refutes the comparison of pedalling to the unhealthy sewing machine.
- Edmund Rushmore (No. 56,752) describes a shore-road New England tour from New Haven through Rhode Island to Boston, north to Portsmouth, and back via Greenfield and Springfield.
- Rev. C. E. Varney of Monroe, Wisconsin defends Sunday cycling as no more sinful than driving a horse, holding that a quiet country ride can nourish the soul as much as a poor sermon.
- Julius C. Ott (No. 92,527) gives turn-by-turn directions for a 100-mile century run through Queens, Long Island, Brooklyn, Coney Island, Staten Island, and back to Kingsbridge.
- An East Orange member (No. 66,639) denounces road hogs, scorchers, and the brutal Milburn-Irvington road race, then lists courtesies — keep right, give way to loaded wagons, ring when overtaking — to protect cyclists' privileges.
- The Good Roads department leader argues the bicycle has ended the once-a-year road-working tradition, with a report on Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary Hamilton's macadam campaign costing about $500 per mile.
- The official directory lists 1896-97 officers (President Sterling Elliott, Secretary Abbot Bassett), the standing committees, and the chief consuls and secretary-treasurers for every state division, plus membership-application and renewal blanks.
- The Racing Board reports reinstatements, sanctions granted (Springfield, Saratoga, Asbury Park and others), suspensions of Minnesota and Ohio riders for unsanctioned and assumed-name racing, and National Circuit dates including the Detroit Wheelmen meet shifted to Windsor, Ont.
- Reports from the New York State Division board at Utica: Chief Consul Potter on membership growth and the Armstrong baggage law, W. S. Bull's financial statement, and committee reports on rights and privileges, road books, and by-law amendments.
- The state-by-state list of new membership applications published under Article III, running from Arizona, Colorado, and Illinois through New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with the week's New League Clubs noted at the close.
- The editor answers readers on Long Island routes, New York City brake rules, bloomer colours, and requests for touring companions and routes to Yellowstone, Louisville, Montreal, and Quebec.