L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 24, No 24
Articles in this issue
- Reader letters and short items, including Rev. Emory W. Hunt of Toledo praising the Bulletin, a Western minister's rule for Sunday riding, a member's account of regaining health through cycling, and detailed bicycle etiquette for a gentleman riding with two ladies.
- An editorial leader arguing that the bicycle 'craze' has made health contagious across all classes and ages; the same editorial page notes Rear Admiral Gherardi's League application, Hosmer K. Arnold's proposal for L.A.W. missionaries, and the success of having manufacturers endorse the League in their 1897 catalogues.
- An editorial weighing reader preferences between road books and road maps for touring, finding a majority favour maps for at-a-glance clarity; the surrounding column also endorses Josiah S. Dean for Boston alderman and warns against brass castings in vital bicycle parts.
- Sterling Elliott rebukes the Michigan Farmer for claiming to 'conclude' the good roads debate, arguing that state aid is essential because farmers alone cannot afford first-class stone roads while city taxpayers benefit directly from rural highway improvement.
- H. Crowther of Pittsburg answers a reader's query on frame height and crank length, advising long-legged riders to use longer cranks and higher gears and recommending larger sprockets for easier running.
- Herbert S. Forman of Cambridge recounts a ten-day wheel tour through western Massachusetts — Worcester, Petersham, Athol, Greenfield, Shelburne Falls, North Adams, Pittsfield, and back via Holyoke — over State roads, railroad beds, and steep mountain grades.
- The 'Camera Fiends' photography column, featuring H. E. Clewell's photograph of Rheinstein castle on the Rhine, S. Harper Folckemer's view of Ogden Canyon, Utah, and 'Deacon's' advice to use a folding plate camera over a box camera or roll film on wheeling trips.
- Two humorous tall tales: Chas. L. V. Berg of Le Mars, Iowa, claims a hoop snake punctured his tyre and became an inner tube, while T. Thompson of Norwell, Mass., reports a snake entangling in his chain and serving as a replacement.
- A symposium of member letters — from J. A. Green of Ottawa, Ill., a physician at Ft. Dodge, Iowa, Jules Doux of Utica, F. H. Gillette of Elgin, B. Anchell of Brooklyn, and W. B. Handy of Boston — on techniques, clothing, and road conditions for year-round winter riding.
- S. S. Hulbert (No. 76,506) of Battle Creek, Mich., recounts a five-day tour through the Blue Grass region of Kentucky with a banker companion, from Maysville via Millersburg, Paris, Lexington, and Blue Lick Springs to Louisville over fine hard roads.
- A Brooklyn resident's illustrated scheme to put electric streetcar tracks underground and fence cyclists off from wagon traffic, to which the Bulletin facetiously adds that the central cycle path be made of plate glass.
- Wm. Geo. Oppenheim, LL.B., reports the New York Appellate Division's ruling in Rookes v. Houston Street & Pavonia Ferry R.R. Co., holding the cyclist lawfully on the cable-car slot and reversing the lower court's finding of contributory negligence.
- A Good Roads leader arguing against the movement to build separate bicycle side-paths, contending that when cyclists leave the public roadway the strongest force for highway improvement is lost, and that wheelmen and farmers should unite to secure good shared roads.
- Prof. W. C. Latta of Purdue University summarises Indiana farmers' estimates that improved roads raise land values about $9.00 per acre and that the $76.28 annual loss per 100 acres from poor roads would more than pay for highway improvement.
- The L.A.W. official directory listing the 1896-97 national officers (President Sterling Elliott, Secretary Abbot Bassett), standing committees, and chief consuls and secretary-treasurers for every state division, with membership renewal and application blanks.
- The arbitration decision in Isaac B. Potter v. the League of American Wheelmen, in which Sams, Miner, and Alexander unanimously award Potter $4,271.50 plus costs for salary owed on his Good Roads Bureau contract; the same Racing Board section lists suspensions, declared professionals, and accepted records.
- Short notices from the state divisions, including annual-meeting calls for Illinois (Peoria), Iowa (Des Moines), Rhode Island (Providence) and New Jersey (Newark), club-representative certifications, Michigan's local-consul recruiting drive, Indiana's 408 per cent membership gain, and Ohio's appeal to lift its standing.
- The state-by-state list of new membership applications received under Article III of the constitution, headed by New York (56) and Pennsylvania (35) and including Rear Admiral Bancroft Gherardi, U.S.N., of New York.
- The Bulletin's Q&A column answering reader questions on forwarding costs, road books and maps, the duties of local consuls, women's riding prospects, winter cycling, cycle-path building, and where to store a wheel for winter.