The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-01
DEMAND FOR BICYCLES


wheel is not Indigenous to any partic-
ular localty-the fever inf1icts the en-
tire country from Maine to California
and from Minnesota Florida. Even
Mexico and South America are repres-
entated by their plants in the offices Of
the numerous factories throughout this
country.
Dealers who placed large orders for
spring delivery last fall were obliged to
Keep the mails and telegraph wires red
not with their requests to begin shipping
at once. This was before the snow
melted. Even at so early a period the
| retailers had received either whole or
partial payments upon wheels for March
delivery.
When the mail and telegraph failed to
bring the makers to time and as days
rolled into weeks and no wheels came the
dealers found it compulsory to send ennis
sarieS with certified checks and even
sraD every wheel turned out in order to
MI their city bookings with instructions to
thelr men to sleep in the factory if neceS-
sary to attain this result
All This has been of no avail, as their
agents invariably found the represent
was obliged to content himself with a
! mighty small pro rata share of complet-
ed bicycles.
consequently the hue and cry for
wneels continue in every hamlet and
c1tysof this country without cessation and
| until every prospective rider is in pos
session OF mount it will know no abate-
ment thousands of people who origi-
nelly intended purchasing expensive
wneels nave been content to avail them
serves OF obtaining medium grade pro-
uuct IN leu OF nothing else Obtaina BILE, all
the while announcing their intention of
traoing 1t IN just as soon as the more ex-
cured.
Many argue to this day that this I'M
precedented boom is due wholly to fadd-
| ism and tenaciously assert that it is on
| par With roller skating and will as sud-
denly pass out of existence. Such is not
the case by long odds. The comparison
OF cycling to roller skating is asinine in a
large degree. Neither sport has any,
tning IN common, and the utility of the
Dlcycle has been long and successfully
demonstrated In every phase of life.
cycling Is essentially an outdoor sport
mat may be INDUCED in the greater part
OF the year.
There is no other form of exercise more
| invlgorat1ng and enjoyable and which is
attended with less muscular expenditure.
Stat1sticians have figured that a per-
son can ride fifteen miles upon a bicycle
with more ease and less fatigue than one
exerts IN walking mile. That assertion
was clearly proved to the writer not over
| a month ago, inasmuch as a thirteen
mile walk was productive of more ex-
naustlon than any century ever traversed
a-wheel.
ANY modern physician with the soli-
cltuoe OF his patient at heart will readily
prescribe wheel exercise to build up the
disease-ridden system. We have yet to
learn OF an instance wherein roller skat-
ing mad ever been advised. The bicycle
mas entered into every walk of life and
there exists no vocation today that does
hicleS.
The physician makes his daily visits to
ms patients thereon, and the dominic full
nils his parochial obligations astride it;
the butcher, the baker and candlestick-
maker take and deliver their various or.
ders for supplies by it's assistance. Our
daily mail Is collected and delivered by
the gray-coated servants of your Uncle
Samuel. Even the noble descendants
OF 1reland's kings, who deign to wear
blue coats adorned with brass buttons
galore and with star-shaped insignia Of
authority, have assented their Wiling
ness to accept it's services in pursuing the
guilty transgressor of the law. The mer-
chant has fOrsaken his Kentucky thor
oughbred In favor of the modern bicycle
and prefers to invite it's assistance in
provoking an appetite for his matutinal
meal He has even gone so far as to ride
on 1t to and from his place of business.
HIS employees have emulated his good
example and utilize it daily. thereby saw
ing little toward the purchase Of the
much coveted suburban home
Artists invest its ready services to
place them among natures storehouse of
beauty.
So it goes on ad infinitum; everybody
who can, wants a wheel, even members
Of Understandable society, male and
cycling fraternity. Royalty also is well
represented, and the desire on the part
of those not possessing a wheel to share
the health-giving pleasure of their more
fortunate friends is what is causing the
unusual furry in wheel manufacturing
circles.
The chief reason that the makers are
incapable of readily supplying the ever
increasing demand is directly attribut-
able to their inability to procure the
seamless steel tubing from which
the frames of the machines are
ticle was only obtainable from Europe
for that matter large percentage of it
is still gotten from the old country. The
trouble is that the tubing mills of the
United States are wholly unable to sup
ply the demand AS the duty ON import
ed tubing places prohibitive price upon
1t, American manufacturers are loath to
buy it at an increased price. Still they
are willing to do this at present they
| could obtain 1t; that they cannot do so is
owing to the fact that the older countries
have made little provision toward caring
for American trade, as they, too, are
limited as to production.
The scarcity of the other component
parts Of cycle construction is also appar-
ent in every branch of the industry, and
| it begins to look as If there was to be a
veritable wheel famine.
Did the exponent of fads ever hear Of a
dearth of roller skates? Emphatically
not.
The ultimate result Of all this rush and
inability to fill orders is liable to revert to
The time is not far distant when those
who have not possessed themselves of an
up to date model will content themselves
to await the coming of those of 80, and
will pedal along on their old crock"
It was ever thus, and this season will
prove no exception to the rule. Taking
! this into consideration, it is very probable
| that many a maker will fall into the
fault of overproduction and will lay him.
self open to the assistance of people other
than the regular dealers for the disposal
of his superf1uous stock. Verify, this has
been the greatest year in the history of
| the bicycle, the most celebrating and
pleasure-giving vehicle ever devised in
the brain Of human.
| It Is to be hoped this temporary short
age will be speedily remedied, and all
those desiring wheels may have their
demands satisfied, and when this is done
may they go on converting captious
tpNvva tor <1 Nv,1xy hoct h.