The record-union., 1897-12-20

A tool-case and a natty brake
The lists not near complete,
And frugal Peter Peel can't make
Enough to buy his meat.
-Pittsburg News.
The "L.. A. w. Executive Bulletin"
says: Bicycles are now carried as bag
gage without extra charge on American
railroad lines aggregating over $4,000
miles in length, an increase Of about
10000 miles since last February. Coast
line and river steamers and ferries
having a combined length of route OF
10000 miles are also carrying bicycles
the same as other forms of baggage and
without extra charge. The principal
coast line steamers on both the Allan
tic and the Pacific Coasts are included
III this list, and all the big transpac-
fic lines to China, Japan and Australia
are in line with the same policy. In
France all railroads carry bicycles as
ordinary baggage, and the increase of
receipts within the last year, due to
wheel1nen's patronage, has been very
substantial. The same effect is noted
in this country as shown in the case
Of the Long Island Railroad Company,
which last year carried about 10000
cyclist passengers and this year about
10000, each paying full first-class
fare"
With the tremendous growth of bicy-
cling in this country the condition OF
the highways is beginning to receive
the attention it deserves. In that re-
spect, at least, is the bicycle to be
held in esteem. The efforts of organ
:Zed wheelmen all over the country
toward the Improvement OF roads are
bearing fruit, but there is much more
TO do in that line. The League Of
American Wheeimen is the prime NOV
CT, and through its various divisions
and committees accomplishes much in a
general way. But it cannot work out
the needed reform alone. 1t needs the
cooperation and individual endeavor
of local organizations throughout the
United States. Each bicycle club can
help if its members are willing to put
their shoulders to the wheel.
The oldest organization of its kind in
America is the Good Roads Associa-
tion of Brooklyn. Its success has been
SO marked in recent years that 1t has
decided to widen its sphere of useful
ness SO as to encompass all of Long ISL
and. To accomplish this, branches
winter in the principal towns and viii
lagos of Long Island. Each branch
will have its own officers and will have
jurisdiction over its immediate terri
tory, but will act in concert with the
parent body.
Similar organizations might be
formed in the larger, CITIES by the
wheelmen. if a few public spirited ones
N ha mi
by the power of numbers much good
can be accomplished in dealing with the
public authorities in the interest OF
road Improvement. IT is no exaggera-
ton TO say that no city in America has
had so large a proportion of new pave
ments as Brooklyn during the past five
years, and this is due unquestionably
to the unceasing efforts Of the Good
Roads Association.
More than $1,000 new members have
Joined the League of American Wheel
men since the meeting of the National
Assembly at Albany last February.
Informal announcement has been re-
ceived that the Swiss, Belgian and Ital-
ian Governments have decided to ad-
nit touring L. A. w. members across
their frontiers without requiring the
payment of duty or the deposit Of mon
ey at the customs stations. This priv
ilege viii be formally proclaimed as
soon as necessary papers are executed
and filed by the officers of the l.. A w
Sample mem mbership tickets have been
forwarded to Paris. Berne, Brussels
and Rome for distribution among the
customs stations so that an L. A w
membership ticket can be recognized
by comparison with the one on hand at
each station.
Four new pneumatic tires have been
placed on the market, each of which
claims to be -puncturable. All Of
the four do away entirely with fluids or
solutions. the ultimate purpose of which
is to provide a hard inner coating for
the rubber. and depend instead upon
their manner of construction. One has
a wooden interior rim. another a pecu-