L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 24, No 23
Articles in this issue
- Readers' letters and short editorial replies running across several pages, including Essex Bicycle Club secretary George Murdock claiming his Newark club (organized 1878) as the third-oldest, W. F. Henning of Tell City, Indiana citing the 1891 emblem-misuse law, a Cincinnati 'Prize Puncture' tale, and a debate among riders over hard versus soft tyres.
- A boxed testimonial from Secretary Abbot Bassett declaring the L.A.W. Bulletin the most powerful magnet for attracting and retaining wheelmen, more responsible for the League's phenomenal growth than all other factors combined.
- Louisiana Division Chief Consul H. H. Hodgson warns members against C. D. McCollough of Birmingham, Alabama (L.A.W. No. 127,995), who borrowed $2 on his League ticket and was found to have robbed Birmingham's Chief Consul Stradford and pawned a stolen bicycle.
- Editor Sterling Elliott's seasonal leader argues that the coming snows cannot rob wheelmen of cycling's joys, since the memories and built-up muscle of a summer's riding sustain them through the shut-in winter months; followed by the editorial notes 'You Can Save a Quarter' and 'Concerning Asphalt'.
- A technical article explaining how tubing is brazed into the forgings of a bicycle frame with brass and borax flux, how the heating anneals and weakens the steel near the joint, and predicting a large reward for anyone who invents a low-temperature solder that avoids red heat.
- A long signed letter from Francis S. Hesseltine (L.A.W. 111,864), Delegate of the Touring Club de France in Boston, detailing membership in the Touring Club de France, the 'Carte d'Identite' machine permit, hotel costs of $1.50-$2.00 a day, road maps and Baedeker, and his three-month wheel tour from Boulogne up the Rhine to Italy.
- The recurring amateur-photography department, with contributors debating shooting toward the sun, how best to carry a camera awheel, blue-print and dry-plate formulae, C. H. McBride's Catskills views of Pratt's Rocks at Prattsville, and Horace Greeley Schwarz's prose 'Photographic Reminiscences'.
- A correspondent complains that road books instructing riders to return by the reverse of a route fail at forks, with an illustrative sketch; the editor proposes setting up an L.A.W. 'Helping Hand' guide post at each fork.
- A signed argument by Chas. L. Bryant (No. 43,717) of Philadelphia, replying to C. F. C., that most riders use excessively high gears; from years of trial he prefers a 70-inch gear with 6.5-inch cranks and warns that overstrained athletes die young.
- Drawing on U.S. Consul Sawter at Glauchau, an account of Germany's rigorous cycling laws - required name-plate, bell, high-mounted white lamp, brake, single-file riding, forbidden scorching, and fines up to 60 marks ($14.28) - reprinted from the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
- A signed letter from Wesley I. Newhall of Lynn defending the value of L.A.W. dues against 'Reformer,' pointing to improved roads in New England and the Middle States, fair racing under League auspices, hotel discounts, and a cordial reception in Canada on showing his ticket.
- A department of trade announcements, including Morrison's Bicycle Ice Creepers of Cornish, Maine, the Grand Rapids Cycle Co.'s '97 Clippers shown at the Murray Hill Hotel, and the Union Cycle Mfg. Co. of Highlandville's 1897 Union line from the $125 Special Racer to the $150 tandem.
- The Good Roads section gathering reprinted essays - 'Some American Jokers' lampooning negligent street commissioners and road supervisors, 'Arithmetic and Common Sense' on cheap drainage from the Pittsburg Post, and 'England's Good Roads' praising the resident roadman system around Bath from the New York Tribune.
- The League's official directory listing the 1896-97 national officers (President Sterling Elliott, Secretary Abbot Bassett, Treasurer E. S. Hartwell), the standing committees (Racing Board, Highway Improvement, Transportation, etc.), and the state-by-state division Chief Consuls and Secretary-Treasurers, with the membership application and renewal blanks.
- Consolidated division reports and notices, including Wisconsin's officer changes (George K. Mead's resignation and Sam J. Ryan's appointment) and board meeting, Isaac B. Potter's New York State Division $25 theft reward and board meeting, Ohio's redistricting appeal from Chief Consul Kempton, and election returns from Iowa, Maryland, Texas, Oregon, Utah, Connecticut and South California, plus New Jersey Chief Consul C. Frank Kireker's address to his division.
- Official Racing Board notices declaring numerous riders professionals - including men from Butte, Montana, Newton, Kansas and Memphis, Tennessee under various constitutional clauses - and suspending others until July 1, 1897 for unsanctioned races.
- The constitutionally required state-by-state list of new membership applications received, running over several pages and arranged by division from Colorado, Connecticut and Georgia through New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and beyond, with names, addresses and clubs.
- A signed letter from No. 87,211, writing from Kenilworth, on six months' cycling in England - the left-hand rule of the road, flint roads and thorn-strewn hedge clippings that puncture tyres, railway charges for carrying bicycles, and the unsuitability of wood rims in the damp climate.
- A department of brief replies to readers' questions, covering amateur photography, women bicycle repairers in England, the salary of the L.A.W. secretary ($3,000) and the New York Division secretary ($2,500), and points of cycling etiquette.