Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-07-02

Bicycles as calamities.
Business men will presently be look
ing for new st. George to dem0lish
the latter day enemy of trade, the b.
cycle.
One hears the same complaint on ev-
cry side, 'The bicycle has ruined our
business"
While this state of the case Is doubt
less exaggerated there is still modi-
cum Of truth In this oft-repeated wall.
The bicycle fever seems to have
spared no one, and as q natural conse-
quence money that was once spent in
many directions is now sunk In wheels
and the concOmitants thereof.
1t is well known that no branch of
trade has been more visibly as well as
radically affected by the bicycle craze
than the manufacture Of watches. A
large number of well known firms
which once found 1t profitable to make
watches have abandoned their manu-
facture for that of bicycles.
This is said to be the case with well
known firms in Boston, Canton, O., and
Rockford, Ill. These concerns are still
turning out wheels, but the wheels are
no longer put in gold cases.
The falling off in the demand for
watches is justly attributed to the in
creasing number of twenty-first BIRTH
days which are now glorified with BIZ
cycles.
In the good old days his proud father
always presented his hopeful son with
gold watch when the latter celebrated
his accession to manhood's estate.
Now the boy must have a bicycle.
In the brave days Of old, when girl
was pretty enough to deserve every
thing she wanted she asked for jewelry
or clothes or diamonds, or poodle dog.
Now she insists on a bicycle.
All of which is refreshing and anus
ing when considered from the point Of
view of poesy or athletics, but to the
last degree tragical when looked at
through the spectacles Of the honest
tradesman.
For the retail jeweler no longer sells
papa watches or diamonds, the dry
goods dealer no longer measures out
silks and laces, the cigar man fails to
sell perfectos to Mary James young
man, and is forced to lay in slabs Of
chewing gum instead. Even the tail
ors feel the strain. Men roll about so
much in bicycle suits nowadays as
never to wear out their other clothes.
Theatrical managers complain bit
terly that the bicycle is hurting their
business. Sweethearts used to go to
the theatre together when they felt the
need of let up in the ardent exercise
of spooning. Now they go bicycling
together. A prominent manager says
that the loss to theatres on account Of
the mad craze for wheeling was simply
He declares that persons
who never in the past were known to
go out at night unless they went to the
theatre now fly about on bicycles ev-
cry night and never darken q thea
tres doors.
He declared that unless change for
the better occurred very soon the thea
tres must inevitably go to the wall. If
men and women flew to the wheel with
the same persistency for another year
there would literally be nobody left to
support the theatres.
Indeed, the bicycle appears to be
"hogging' everything. 1t confers few
benefits upon the world Of trade, ex-
cept in the domain Of confectionery
and soft drinks.
Saloon-keepers are by no means sat-
isfied with the drift Of things. They
say that they are selling very little
hard stuff, and still less beer, to BIZ
cyclists. 1t appears that the wheelmen
find it necessary to stick to soft drinks
In order to stick to their saddles.
An immense quantity of candy is
by both sexes. Women are
said to be incessant chewers of gum
md sweets when on the road. Men are
becoming converted to the habit, and
instead Of smoking, as they used to do,
now MUNICH mint stick, suck lemon
balls or chew gum.
Wheelmen have also discovered that
yelling and smoking are irreconsilable.
What is the result? Retail tobacco
dealers will tell you that there is a tre-
mendous falling off in their receipts.
An authority on the tobacco trade told
me that the bicycle had lessened the
output Of the manufacturers by 10000
200 cigars annually. Chewers also find
It inexpedient to use the weed in their
rides, and many have even gone to the
length of giving up the habit alto
gether.
In conclusion, attention is called to
the phenomenon that some of the Chi,
cago theatres have given up their SUM-
lay performances because the patrons
who used to flock to them now pedal
their ways into green fields and over
asphalt roads.
The bicycle already rules the world,
and its reign has been joyfully accept
ed. But what is the business man GO
ing to do when the woman upon whom
he relies for his fortune spends all her
pin money in outing suits?
Siberia's Great Railway.
There are to be about 200 railway