The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-06-06

church and state, in pulpit and theafer
and everywhere upon every hand Not
only are young men and maidens dodg-
ing both church and theater for a
chance to spin, but old men and women
everywhere are saving up their money
10 buy wheels. Having bought them
they ride them TO the exclusion of every
other amusement and 10 the neglect Of
every conceivable duty. They ride them
in the evening principally, but ride
them all the time and everywhere The
Post goes ON 10 declare that the bust
ness men are as loud in their com
plants as the churches and theaters-
The watchmakers and jewelers. say
they are nearly ruined; that all pin
money which the young people saved
formerly with which to buy watches
and jewelry now goes for bicycles; that
parents, instead of presenting a boy
with watch on his twenty-first birth
day, now give him a bicycle, and that
all the family economy is now conduct
ed with the object of equipping every
boy and girl, as well as father and
mother, with a wheel The confectiOn-
err cries me too to this plant, de-
claring that about all the business he
does is in chewing-gum, ice cream, and
sole drinks, while his candies find few
customers. The tobacco manufactures
says he is the worst hit Of all, since
few riders care TO smoke on the road
for which there is reason for profound
gratitude-and the journals of the trade
say it is fact that the consumption
OF cigars is decreasing at the rate Of
a million day, the total decrease since
the craze became general averaging
no less than 100000 4 year. In
stead of sitting idle and smoking most
of the day, hundreds of men now ride,
and smoke only when they are resting.
The tailor, the halter, the bookseller,
the shoemaker, the householder, and
the riding master, all tell similar tales
OF woe. The tailor says that so many
men go about half the time in cheap
bicycle suits that they do not wear out
their good clothes half as rapidly as
formerly. The halter says so many of
them wear cheap caps, in which there
is no profit to the maker, that their
mats last them twice as long as here
tofore. The shoemaker says he is even
worse of, for while they buy cheap
shoes for the bicycle, they do not even
wear these out, and they refrain from
q IaI, in, l. Nf oh
whatever, so that his loss is almost
total. The bookseller says people who
are rushing about on wheels, days,
nights, and Sundays, no longer read
and his business has become
worthless. As for the
Stabie-keeper, and riding
master, it is notorious what has hap
pened to them. They are no longer
Sin it," and, like the horse, are a drug
in the market Even the salOon-keep-
er groans, for he says that while many
riders drink beer, the number who
lake soft drinks" is much the larger,
while the number who take "hard
drinks" is constantly diminishing,
which must be the case in the pursuit
Of pastime which cannot be followed
With an unsteady head.
As a social revolutionizer the wheel |
las no equal, whatever It's effects on
inance. 1t is leveller and an evolu- |
tionizer. Equality is inculcated by it |
md universal fraternity. IL has cut |
skirts higher than ever did |
Mrs. Eloomer or any other refOrmer. |
It is developing leg and muscle and |
irving away the horrors of dyspepsia.
In short whether the wheel is response |
BE for the hard times, as held by the |
evening Post or not, it is a sure enough J
evolving revolution knowing no sex,
no institution and overrid- !
ne all social conditions