St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-10
BAD PLACES FOR GIRLS.
How Young women are Taught by
Men at the Roller Kinks.

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Philadelphia Times
s.There is so, 600, 900 invested in rinkS
and roller skating in the United States"
said Samuel j. Byrne of the Christian
street rink, yesterday, ''and an average of
one patent day applicable to roller skat-
ing is issued in Washington" In the
absence of actual statistics the correctness
of Mr. Byrnes estimate is questioned in
other quarters, though there are few towns
of $500 people OF over where the rink has
not found foothold. Six months ago
there was but one rink in Philadelphia;
now there are over twenty i'll full blast
Like most popular crazes the rink epidemic
is mostly manufactured and is gotten up
entirely to make money out of roller skates
Little money is spent upon the Kinks, the
principal expense in the best Of them being
for smooth, hard floor. Generally some
large, old building is selected or hall
rented, and in several instances i'll this city
the Kinks are nothing more than the upper
floors of stables. In two eases meat mar
kets have been turned into Kinks. Where
any attempt at decoration has been made
it is usually tawdry and seldom goes beyond
having number Of japanese umbrellas
stuck up in the rafters OF along the sides Of
the building. An item of some expense at
tending all of them is the lighting but
many of them have electric light and few
the SiemenS burner. Among the prepara-
tons for the reopening of the rink at Twen-
ty-third and Chestnut streets is the intro
duction of complete electric light plant,
with boiler, engine and dynamos. Already
the business suffers somewhat from over
production, like so many other things, and
the Kinks keep multiplying in excess of the
demand. Owing to the competition they
howe m Upt mn OvQ1fipS al ,1ir fo
attract crowd. Some of them have had to
reduce their prices of admission and few
admit skaters free, in order to sell and rent
their skates.
SKATE-MAKERS THE HACKERS.
1t is said it was a Frenchman named
Tyers, who first invented skates on rollers,
but the man whose name is most generally
associated with the roller skate is a Boston
Yankee named PlimptOn, who has retired
with several millions from the invention.
He was furniture manufacturer and is
said to have got the idea from seeing the
chairs and bedsteads spun along the floor on
casters. He spent great deal of money
in fighting off all competitors for the in
vention and held it up to few years ago,
when one Samuel Wfnslow, employed in
his factory, copied his skate and kept il
afoat until the Plimpton patent expired.
| NOW udll ulth6 IUlltI Skates dlIu Il
great many are doing it. Many additions
are also being made to them and all sorts of
appliances are being devised to lessen the
physical danger of using them. One of the
very latest inventions is an ankle corset. to
lessen the danger from sprained ankles
which is always great. Each rink has
large SUPPLY of skates, which are rented
for Is OF 25 cents for stated period. Where
thousands engage daily this becomes quite
an item. Very many, of course. buy their
own skates, which are three-fourths profit to
the manufacturer. The Kinks, principally
| the larger ones. are to great extent con-
nected under the same management and are
run by or have some business connection
with the skate makers. 1t is asserted by
persons who seem to be in a position to know
that one-half or more OF the Kinks in this
city are under the one management, though
seeming to have different proprietors, and
they are generally backed by the skate
making concerns. 1t is curious that most
of them are run in the name of some COM
pany, about which there is mystery and
secrecy which the manager never clears
up. Even the numerous news
sheets that are Springing up
that give the ridiculous gossip of the
rink are sometimes issued in the name of
some high-sounding company"
THE MANAGERS MOSTLY STRANGERS.
Another odd circumstance is that the
managers and men at the head of the Kinks
are in hardly any instance men belonging
to Philadelphia. They are nearly all
strangers here and the men they surround
themselves with-the teachers, the eXhibi-
ton skaters. the ushers and even the So
called special policemen-are also men
whom nobody knows anything about,
though many of them are unfortunate in
having a style of appearance that does not
recommend them. They are generally well
dressed, however, have a sporting air and
wear imitation diamond studs to captivate
the feminine eye. In some cases they wear
uniforms with numerous brass buttons.
The teachers and exhibition skaters nearly
always dress very fancily, with velvet
breeches and bright stockings, and often
wear a lot of medals on their breasts. The
charge made for teaching how to skate in
the better class of Kinks is SIS for fifteen
lessons or fifty cents for a single lesson. AS
matter of fact there is little teaching and
the so-called professors" are really
kept as ATTRACTIONS to keep up the inter-
est among the girls. The ''profe ssors' are
as rule good-looking, well-bult, graceful
young fellows and they can hardly ever be
seen with an ugly girl in tow.
PUEFS FOR SM OKERS.