The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-19


 was away back in 1881. Since that time five wheeling organizations have drop ped out of the league or have become social clubs purely. The Bridgeport club is one of the oldest in the state and Is the oldest league club in Con necticut It was organized in 1878, IS going to celebrate its twentieth anni- versary soon, and the affair will be one of local importance as its ex-members include everybody of importance in the business and social life of the town.
 A CYCLE SHOW.
 Bridgeport is going to have cycle show of it's own. The credit of It be- longs to the Rambling Wheelmen All the cycle agents of the city have been enlisted in the enterprise and they have promised to make their individual dis plays worth the looking at. The ar mory has been engaged for week, be-, |, ginning Saturday. Chief Consul West lake Is going to have big l.. A. w. display at it, and all the wheeling clubs of the city-there are five of them will have one night to themselves All the floor space in the armory has been asked for by the cycle dealers and manufacturers, and the show will be one of some magnitude.
 THE BICYCLE TAX, PRO AND CON.
 Representative Stiles Judson, jr,, who was active in the general assem- ply of 1895, Is inclined to favor the special tax on bicycles for the benefit of good roads. MT. Judson Is mem- Der of the Connecticut division. At the New Years reception of the dem ocratic (gold) club, of Bridgeport, MT. Judson and Chief Consul Westlake (both active repubicans), got into a discussion over the good roads subject and the proposition of issuing bonds as proposed by Lieutenant Governor Dew ell MT. Judson said that the plan to bond the state is not new one, and that George Gum wanted to do, 1t in 1895, but he could not overcome the prejudice of the farmer members who were in the great majority. He says that they are not getting educated up to the idea of good roads as much as some of the L. A. w. imagine He thinks it would be good idea for the bicyclsts to pay small tax for the benefit of good roads, if for no other
 
 dice of the farmers who have got it into their heads that wheelmen want good roads for their own particular benefit, and that farmers are asked to pay for them. To the majority of the farmers the roads are good enough. They never saw any better. It's hard, he said, to convince farmer, who never experienced the benefits of good roads till he came to the city, that there is any special blessing in them. MT. Judson said that bicycle tax would be a sort of sop, and would go great way to break down the prejudice that the farmers have against cyclists,
 He admitted however, that spscial tax was wrong in principle, and yhere was no more right in putting tax on wheelmen than on lawyers, nor half so much, but he thought that 1t would overcome prejudice that was worth paying for MT. Judson is nearly alone in this view of the case, and it is very doubtful if he has sized up" the farmers real sentiments in the matter. It is the opinion of the writ CT that the farmers are very much alive to the importance of good roads; and as to the taxation, why their own boys and girls are riding wheels nearly as much as their city cousins. No, when 1t is admitted that the bicycle tax is wrong in principle, that ought to settle the question.
 THE VETERANS LAMENT
 "The old free masonry of the wheel!
 Where is it? Aiasi for the good old 1--. eran wheelman to a small audience of 1 his younger confreres one day last summer. Now, one wheelman passes another without giving a sign that he Is conscious of his existence; then we never went by another without nod, at least and a cordial smile. Per- | haps, even, we stopped and shared one another's experiences; and, when we went into strange towns and villages where all were unknown to us, we straightway sought out brother | wheelmen-we were all brother wheel men in those days-and were shown | every attention our wants were all ! provided for, even anticipated And
 when the route ahead of us was a
 companied to the next town by our | l wheeling brother, who, until the hour, l had been a total stranger, and now 1 was dear friend who had neglected his business and taken up his valuable | time to show us our way. Do we find any such attention now? Never We
 are lucky if we secure a civil answer l to questions that we are compelled to
 ask. We obtain no more consideration | in our rambles than does the peripa- tetic tramp, though perhaps we are not watched quite So closely. The poet 1 ry of the wheel has gone; the romance
 of cycling has vanished, the prosaic
 utilitarianism has taken it's place. We have become wheeling nation, but we
 have lost the comraderie that once held 1 together the patrons of the sport. Hur- | ny has taken the place of goodfellow- | ship. The scorcher is the typical wheelman, and speed is the desidera-
 tum of all. There is now no pleasure taken in the. journey itself. The cen- l tury run and the number of miles one
 can make in a given time are the goals of present. wheeling ambition. The low cred handlebars and the racing atti-
 tudes are the marks of the majority, the plodder is held up to ridicule. And | yet, who shall say, who can say that 1 the plodder of a by-gone wheeling age, satisfied with his half-dozen miles an
 hour, and studying as one would an in- |