L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 24, No 3
Articles in this issue
- Readers' letters on cycling grievances, including a Brooklyn man overcharged $2.50 for a wagon ride in New Rochelle, a Scarboro, Maine farmer denouncing trolley-car tracks, W. J. Bulger of Oil City whose pitchfork-wielding assailant was made to pay $20 through the L.A.W., and a Grand Rapids member protesting a bell-ringing ordinance carrying fines up to $100.
- S. P. Childs, manager of Dashaway Stables in San Jose, warns touring cyclists against careering down the Mount Hamilton grade to the Lick Observatory, where frightened stage horses have caused repeated accidents and drivers threaten to shoot the next reckless rider.
- An editorial by Sterling Elliott contrasts genuine bicycle clubs with gangs of rowdy young men who adopt the club name as cover, urging police to suppress the latter while defending well-run clubs.
- An editorial traces how the press shifted from mocking the bicycle to treating it as a serious commercial and cultural force, noting the special bicycle numbers issued by Harper's, Godey's, Munsey's, McClure's, and the Ladies' World.
- The editors respond sardonically to Charlotte Smith of the Women's Rescue League, who condemned the bicycle as an invention of the devil, suggesting a manufacturer present her with an 1896 model.
- The editors rebut a Southern Churchman editorial blaming young men for skipping church to ride bicycles in "vile raiment," citing the sixth chapter of Matthew against the church's moralistic tone.
- A table at the request of a Massachusetts member compares L.A.W. membership for the six leading states, showing New York largest in total but Massachusetts and New Jersey ahead per capita and area, with Pennsylvania rapidly closing on Massachusetts.
- Congressman Lemuel E. Quigg writes to President Sterling Elliott explaining why the Republican National Convention at St. Louis rejected the L.A.W.'s proposed Good Roads plank, blaming rushed proceedings dominated by the financial question and predicting passage of the pending Good Roads bill.
- An open letter from a Philadelphia "Woman Cyclist" to Charlotte Smith's Women's Rescue League systematically rebuts its five resolutions against women's cycling, arguing that fresh air and exercise are wholesome and that immorality stems from character, not the bicycle.
- Gen. Roy Stone of the Department of Road Inquiry at Washington is working through the Bureau of Education to introduce practical road-building instruction in schools, with the Bulletin promising to publish an article by Stone on the scheme.
- President Sterling Elliott describes how bicycle dealers in Colorado and elsewhere are combining public guide-board signs with their own advertising, and suggests the L.A.W. might arrange such combined sign-boards in quantity for members.
- President Sterling Elliott reaffirms the L.A.W.'s commitment to highway improvement and offers members a free eight-page pamphlet on the Massachusetts road law, noting $600,000 was spent on roads in the state this season.
- Osborne I. Yellott (No. 92,894) of Towson, Maryland offers a detailed day-by-day route guide for cycling between New York and Washington via New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, correcting earlier pessimistic accounts with road-surface notes for each segment.
- Reprinted from the Scientific American, this essay argues that great inventors such as Edison, Howe, Stephenson, and Watt succeed through sustained methodical experiment rather than miraculous insight, drawing a parallel to how the pneumatic tire transformed the bicycle.
- Rev. J. P. Brushingham of the Fulton Street Methodist Church, Chicago, describes encouraging cycling excursions and picnics among his congregation, regarding the wheel as a healthful social force and possible promoter of matrimony (reprinted from the Chicago Times-Herald).
- A wide-ranging survey of the bicycle boom's economic effects finds the steel, rubber, sewing-machine, hotel, dry-goods, shoe, and hat trades all profiting while livery stables, piano factories, and some carriage makers suffer, concluding two trades are helped for every one hurt (reprinted from the New York Sun).
- Dr. John Cabot (No. 73,337) of New York argues that fifty miles of side path can be built for the cost of one mile of macadamized road, urging cyclists to press for dedicated paths along the Erie Canal tow-path and the Croton Aqueduct rather than await the Good Roads millennium.
- Reprinted from the Philadelphia Record, this item describes John D. Carroll's scheme for concealing a private identifying mark on a bicycle frame using carbolic acid under the enamel, as proof of ownership against theft.
- Ira C. Hubbell of Kansas City echoes an earlier "Don't Ask Them to Join" editorial urging members to recruit only persons of self-respect, recalling how the high price of the ordinary once filtered out the "sporty" element.
- A Wilmington, Delaware reader ("Old Timers," No. 105,134) reports that no cycling costume survives a warm, dusty twenty-mile run presentably, settling on the lightest possible bicycle suit with the motto, "If you can't look neat, look as neat as you can."
- An editorial in the Good Roads section argues that tree-lined highways are not merely beautiful but reduce dust and retain moisture, calling for negligent highway commissioners to ride a wheel along a sun-blistered road.
- Reprinted from the St. Paul Globe, this piece surveys convict labor on road improvement in South Carolina, Tennessee, and New York, arguing prison reform and road-building are compatible and urging Minnesota to adopt similar legislation.
- The official department lists the 1896-1897 officers (President Sterling Elliott, Secretary Abbot Bassett, Treasurer E. S. Hartwell), the standing committees including Highway Improvement under Isaac B. Potter, and the chief consuls and secretary-treasurers for every state division, with membership and badge order forms.
- Chairman Geo. D. Gideon's board reports suspensions for false entry and unsanctioned racing (including riders from Lynn, Westboro, and Philadelphia), riders declared professionals, and sanctions granted to meets at Jersey City, Philadelphia, and Bloomsburg, Pa.
- Consolidated division notices including the Camera Contest standings, North California's new representatives, Wisconsin and Massachusetts club representatives, the Nebraska, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania local-consul appointments, road-book announcements, and the Henry Trippett win in the New Jersey Orient-wheel recruiting contest.
- The weekly state-by-state list of membership applications and Renewal List No. 8, published under Article III of the constitution, running through the Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and other divisions.
- The editors answer readers' questions on L.A.W. badge rights, tours along Great South Bay, remedies for tired muscles, taking wheels into Canada duty-free, and the wearing of the winged wheel.