The record-union., 1899-06-22
OF INTEREST TO CYCLISTS.
a RELAY-PRoPosED ELECTRIC
LIGHT MEET.
Chainless Wheels-Tourinx-The G.
C. W.-Those Badges-Good.
Roads-In the Orient.

Roads-In the Orient.
The Capital City Wheelmen Of Sacra-
mento. and the Reno Wheelmen Of
Reno will have a fifty-mile relay meet
on the Fourth of July at the latter
place. for trophy and percentage OF
gate receipts, the expenses being agreed
upon for each club. 1t will be very
interesting meeting indeed, for there
is a commendable spirit. of honest
rivalry between the two clubs. Captain
Clay is getting his Sacramento team
into good shape for the contest, but
his time is much too short in which
to prepare.
The proposition for an electric light
meet at Sacramento between the Olyin-
pic Club of San Francisco and the Cap
| ital City Wheelmen for fifty-mile re-
lay is worthy of earnest consideration
Sixty-five arc lights on the mile track
will illuminate it finely. The cost will
l.et exceed that of meet in which
from $50 to 500 in prizes are put UP.
1t would be a novelty and draw finely.
On one of our soft summer nights in
August it would attract thousands OF
people to enjoy the open air concert and
the racing between two of the crack
clubs of the coast. The benefit would
greatly aid the building fund of the
c. C. w. ard compensate the people
well with three hours of manly, genteeI
sport. The entire affair would cost
$4OO and it is certain that fully 5000
people would attend such a novel meet.
The Capital City Wheelmen at their
new rooms and grounds though the lat
ter are by no means yet in order have
successfully introduced QUOT pitching
and putting the stone Other athletic
exercises will follow Boxing is in
dulged in by few pleasantly and gen
teelly. A handball court is talked of
and croquet ground is among the
possibilities The new hot and cold
shower baths are now in and prove a
great convenience. All in all the G. G..
w. have cosy home and most pleas
ant resort free from all vices and
temptations.
The wheelway badges for unattached
wheelmen issued by the C. c. w. go
off very slowly. Not fifty have been
taken as yet. Nevertheless over 2,0O0
unattached wheelmen use that public
convenience the Folsom wheelway, and
fail to take badge and contribute to
the maintenance of the path, which
has cost the c.. C. w. in the neighbor-
hood of 50 1000. Badges can be had at
500 K street.
The motor bicycle under construction
in this city by one of the G. C. w. md
some brother mechanics, may make its
first appearance on the Fourth of July.
The preliminary preparations for the
program of the good roads assembly
Of the National Farmers Congress
make it evident that this will be one
of the most important meetings ever
held in the interest of improved high
ways. The fact that it is a farmers
meeting and that it will be presided
over by a wheelman, President keenan,
of the l.. A. W., shows how important
this movement has become Co-opera-
ton between these two classes, If sue
cessfully carried out. would be an ir-
resistible force in the State Legisla-
tures
Many of the European countries allow
members of cycling organizations to
cross the borders without payment OF
duty, providing they show their mem
bership cards. The International Tour
ing Association will endeavor to make
this universal for the individual mem
bers Of all the national organizations,
so that the simple showing of mem
bership card will be sufficient for a tour
through Europe without having to pay
any duty whatever This is privilege
which will be appreciated by American
wheelmen, particularly next year dur
ing the Paris Exposition,
=
Chairman Otto Dorner of the High
way Improvement Committee of the
L. A. w. makes the following inter-
esting remarks on the good roads
movement: The country road is the
neglected step-child of the Legislatures.
Railroads, canals, rivers and harhors
and steamship lines have been encour-
aged and lavishly subsidized with
bonuses but practically nothing is done
to help the farmer in building his coun-
try roads. Yet these are equally i'm
portant with railroads. We are pre-
eminently an exporting agricultural ma
ton, and whatever benefits the farmer
benefits the whole country. Our grain
products must compete, in European
markets, with the crops of Russia,
South America and India, raised on
cheap lands, with cheap labor. We can
meet this competition only with inven-
tion and enterprise, the liberal use Of
machinery and the reduction of the
cost of transportation to minimum.
The cost of shipping grain from Chi
cago to New York has dropped to one
fifth of what it was at the close of the
Civil War; we can ship it from there
to Liverpool for 4 cents, where we
formerly paid 101a cents. But the cost,
in time and effort, of man and beast,
in hauling wheat from the farm TO the
railroad can still be reduced by two
should be done is as essential to the
continued success of American agri-
culture as the reduction in railroad
rates. Some of the older Eastern
States, recognizing the logic of the sit
uation, are encouraging country road
building by paying part of the cost out
of the State Treasury, provided the
improvements are substantial. New
Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York
are the leaders in this policy of State
aid
Wheelmen in Mexico caught without
license labels ON their wheels suffer the
temporary confiscation of their ma