L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads, Vol 27, No 7
Articles in this issue
- The Board of Side-path Commissioners of Niagara County reports on its first year, with $2,378.30 raised from the wheel tax plus $846.20 in donations, and explains how cinder-and-tile wheelways were built between roadways and foot-paths.
- C. T. Raymond, chairman of the Niagara County side-path board, argues against Frank Van Doorn's toll proposal of Jan. 21, favoring a single annual fee of twenty-five or fifty cents over paying toll every few miles.
- Editor Sterling Elliott reviews the National Assembly that marks the divide between the L.A.W.'s racing and non-racing epochs, reporting the election of Isaac B. Potter as president, the new junior department, and the resolution to transfer racing to another body within a year.
- A technical essay argues that the rage for very large sprockets has been carried to absurd extremes, contending that rear sprockets of eight or nine teeth give the best road feel while larger sizes add drag and weight.
- Replying to an inquiry by No. 42,838, members debate vaseline for bicycle bearings, with a chemist (No. 105,969) warning that its viscosity varies with temperature and recommending a light machine oil of sewing-machine grade for ball bearings.
- At the instance of the Ohio Division, L.A.W., a bill is to be introduced creating a three-member State Highway Commission, funded by a one-mill annual tax with costs split between state, county, and township.
- G. Herbert Follows concludes his Home Study paper on bicycle balance, using diagrams of brick, pole, and roller-stand experiments to show that a rider stays upright by constantly steering the front wheel and swaying the machine beneath himself.
- A light verse by Nixon Waterman professing contentment with three meals a day rather than the brooding sorrows of genuine poets.
- A historical installment tracing the velocipede's transformation into the bicycle, covering the Phantom of Reynolds & May, Magee's tubular frame in Paris, and Starley's Ariel and Spider built for the Coventry Machinists Co.
- From a paper by Fawcett Plumb before the Illinois Clay Workers' Association, this Good Roads feature proposes a traveling, self-propelling kiln that would dig roadside clay, burn it to 1,200 degrees, and veneer the highway with burned-clay road material.
- Good Roads notes report that courses on road-making, suggested by the Good Roads Association of New York State and approved by President Schurman, will likely be added to Cornell's College of Agriculture, alongside items on country doctors and bad roads and C. L. Whittle's three road-building periods.
- The official department lists 1897-98 officers under President Isaac B. Potter and Secretary Abbot Bassett, prints consul lists for the Ohio, Kansas, and Illinois Divisions and a recruiting appeal from the Kentucky Division, and details L.A.W. supplies, badges, and renewal blanks.
- The statistical reports presented at the National Assembly, including a division-by-division renewal tally, the Auditing Committee's criticisms of the Executive Committee's record-keeping, and financial statements from Treasurer Hartwell, the Racing Board, and the Secretary.
- Abbot Bassett reports L.A.W. membership grew from 72,000 to 102,000 in 1897 (a 40 per cent gain led by Pennsylvania and New York), recounts the costly renumbering of members, and recommends crediting the twenty-one surviving Newport founders of 1880 as Founders.
- The consolidated state-by-state list of membership applications received under Article III of the constitution, running through Alabama, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, and the remaining divisions.
- Francis S. Hesseltine of Boston, American representative of the Touring Club de France, reprints a circular explaining membership dues, the Revue Mensuelle and Annuaire, and how the club's card admits a bicycle duty-free into France, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium.
- E. Trumbull Lee of Cincinnati extols riding at near-zero temperatures as more exhilarating than sleigh-riding, insisting that freezing is impossible for an active rider and predicting winter cycling will rival skating in popularity.
- A reader-question department answering correspondents such as A. J. B. on cycling's muscular benefits and Chas. H. Wilson of San Antonio and H. C. Bealer of Bethlehem on touring routes, with a note on the price of French machines for '98.
- A dialect poem by Joe Lincoln expressing fondness for stormy weather and the comforts of a fireside, kitten, and humming kettle on a wet day.