The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-06-24
THE REVOLUTIONARY "BIKE."
Ali Sorts OF Shopksepors' Wore Attrlb'
uted TO Ito Influence.
New York EUening News.

ouSly by the leaders III various Drancn'
es of industry, business and
ment that the real cause Of the hard
times is not the tariff, is not the ur-
rency, not the uncertainty about Nc
Kinley's financial position, but the
bicycle. Theatrical managers say they
have had the poorest season for many
wears, and that after patient and anx-
ious search for the cause they have
found it in the bicycle craze. They
say that not only do young men and
maidens, but old men and women, save
up their money in order that with it
they may purchase wheels. This of
itself is disastrous to the thea
tres, but worse remains to be told; for
having bought the wheels they ride
on them in the evening instead of
going tv places of amusement. They
ride also on Sunday afternoons, and
in Chicago they ride so universally on
Sundays that theatres, which former
ly rave successful performances on
that day, have discontinued them. The
Sabbatarian might find encouragement
in this fact were it not true that the
churches are suffering almost as Sc
verely as the theatres from the same
cause.
Business men are as loud in their
complaints as the theatre managers.
The watchmakers and jewellers say
they are nearly ruined; that all pin
money which young people saved for
merly with which to buy watches and
jewelry now goes for bicycles; that
parents, instead of presenting a boy
with a watch on his 21st birthday,
now give him a bicycle, and that all
the family economy is now conducted
with the object of equipping every
boy and girl, as well as father and
mother, with a wheel. The confec-
toner cries "me too" to this complaint
declaring that about all the business
he does il in chewing-gum, ice cream
and~soft drinks, while his candies find
few customers. The tobacco manu-
facturer 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 a fact that the
consumption of cigars is decreasing at
the rate Of a million a day, the total
decrease since the craze became gen.
eral averaging no less than 700, OC0, 900
a year. Instead of sitting idle and
smoking most of the day, hundreds of
men nov ride, and smoke only when
they are resting.
The tailor, the halter, the bookshelf
er, the s~hoedealer, 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 az formerly. The halter says
that so many of them wear cheap caps
in which there is no profit to the max
er, that their hats last them twice as
long as heretofore. The shoemaker
says he is ever worse off, for while they
buy cheap shoes for the bicycle, they
do not even wear these Out, and they
refrain from walking in any kind of
shoes whatever, so that his loss is al
most total. The bookseller says peo-
| pie who are rushing about on wheels,
days, nights and Sundays, no longer
read anything. and his business has
become practically worthless. As for
the horse dealer, stable keeper and
riding master, it is notorious what has
happened to them. They are no long
er Tin it," and, like the horse, are a
drug on the market. Even the saloon
keeper groans, for he says that while
many riders drink beer, the number
who take ''soft drinks" is much the
larger, while the number who take
"hard drinks is constantly diminish
ing, which must be the case in the
pursuit Of a pastime which cannot be
followed with an unsteady head.
Who are the gamers? An indig-
nant "Anierisan Halter writes to his
trade journal that the only bene6ci-
aries are the bicycle manufacturers,
"who invest in land and government
bonds, ana sendltheir families to Eu-
rope, there to spend the money that
should be distributed upon this side
among our own people, He THINKS
Congress should come to the rescue 9
the hat trade and "pass a law con-
polling every bicycle fend to weat
felt hat and buy at least two a sea-
son." Mckinley will, in all proba-
bility, lend a willing ear to that
proposition when he gets his millen-
mum in operation. But there are
other occupations than bicycle manu-
featuring which prosper. Butchers
and grocers are said to be doing more
business than ever because of the in
creased appetites and rejuvenated d.
gestions which riding has caused, and
the wayside tavern keepers of the
land have awaked from a sleep Of half
a century almost, to find prosperity
once more rolling in at their doors.
But the greatest gamer OF all is the
American race. An eminent physi-
clan is quoted as saying that mot
within 200 years has there been any
one thing which has so benefited
mankind as the invention of the bicy-
cle," that thousands upon thousands
of men ard women who till within a
few years never got any outdoor exer-
else to speak of, are now devoting
half their time to healthy recreation,
are strengthening and developing their
bodies, ard are not only reaping bene-
fit themselves, but are preparing the
way for future generations, which
will be born of healthy parents
There is no doubt about about this.
AS a people the Americans have
never taken sufficient outdoor exer-
else. We have been a nation of dys-
peptics, simply because We did not
take nough physical exercise to devel-
op and strengthen our bodies. The
bicycle is a wonderful builder up and
purger Of the system. It not only
abolishes indigestion and dyspepsia,
but rids the system of that curse of
middle and old age, rheumatism, and
thus adds enormously to the national
good nature as we'll as to the sum of
national happiness.
AS a social revolutionizer it has
never had an equal. 1t has put the
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