L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 27, No 5
Articles in this issue
- Editor Sterling Elliott's leader argues that the fraternal value of belonging to the League of American Wheelmen—the badge as an introduction between wheelmen—matters as much as the material returns on the membership dollar.
- An editorial warns that towns granting electric car companies overly broad rights of way risk letting the railway dominate public highways, citing a Battle Creek, Mich., line proposing to usurp fifteen miles of cycle side-path built by the Battle Creek Cycle Club.
- Responding to readers' queries, the editor declines to advise for or against the chainless bicycle, noting the bevel-gear shaft-drive system and predicting a year's experience will settle whether chainless wheels can rival the 1898 chain wheel.
- A detailed advisory on selecting suitable road-wheel specifications—gears, cranks, frame sizes—closing with the tabulated 'Suggestions for Road Wheels' giving recommended dimensions for men and women by height.
- Reprinting Consul Parker of Birmingham's annual report, the article documents the collapse of British cycle exports against a roughly 300 percent surge in American cycle exports to the United Kingdom and its colonies.
- The seventh installment of the cycle-history series traces the American velocipede craze, from Edmund Landis's Rocking Propeller and Pierre Lallement's crank-driven patent through riding schools, rubber tires, and the rapid collapse of the 'bone-shaker.'
- John F. Clark answers J. G. Linsley of Oswego's published questions about the proposed Junior Membership or Cadet Corps, defending restricting eligibility to League members' families as a way to recruit youth and win over their parents.
- A League member writing from Aiken, S.C., praises the superb red-clay sidewalk wheeling and describes Hon. Wm. C. Whitney's new seven-mile bicycle path beside his $75,000 winter home, open to all.
- Reports Governor Black's message advocating highway improvement and surveys the half-dozen good-roads bills before the New York legislature, including state-bureau, continuous-road, and convict-labor proposals.
- Quotes Governor Dyer's message urging a Rhode Island Highway Commission and continuous road work, crediting the state's L.A.W. division for financial support and noting twelve sample macadam half-miles built at a cost of $89,154.
- Describes E. E. Whipple's 'Supplementary Adjustable Wide Tires,' metal bands that let one man fit a wide tire to a farm or lumber wagon in twenty minutes to comply with the spreading wide-tire laws.
- Summarizes the Massachusetts Highway Commission's record—rising state-road appropriations and about forty-five miles of new road built in eighty towns during the past year—and its $600,000 request for 1898.
- Reports that citizens of Mobile, Ala.—said to have the worst streets of any city in the country—have organized a Good Roads Club to press for improved city streets.
- The League's official matter—national officers, standing committees including Albert Mott's Racing Board, the state-by-state List of Delegates to the National Assembly, Renewal List No. 4, and membership and renewal blanks under Secretary Abbot Bassett.
- Consolidated division reports and notices: Indiana and Iowa division appointments and St. Louis delegates, Kentucky and Illinois local-consul lists, a Michigan membership-by-town tally, and a Stolen Wheels notice.
- The state-by-state list of 190 applications for membership received up to Feb. 4, 1898, published under Article III of the Constitution, bringing total membership to 103,039.
- Recounts how E. T. DeGraff built up eleven miles of cycle side-path at Amsterdam, N.Y., since 1893—raising money by subscription and the 'badge on head of wheel' method—at a total cost of about $1,200.
- President Abbot Bassett's notice reorganizing the L.A.W. Pioneers, calling on members in arrears to remit dues and announcing an Indianapolis Meet banquet for the veterans.
- The recurring reader-query department answers correspondents on road maps, crank length and gearing, chain lubrication, racing records (directing them to Racing Board chairman Albert Mott), and ladies' cycling costume.