The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-06
CYCLING'S DEATH
 EXCITES WONDER
COLLAPSE OF TRUST MARKS COMMERCIAL FINISH OF
 GREATEST OF PADS.
Rise and Fall Meteoric-Even the Former Riders Unable to Say Why They Cast Aside
 Their Wheels.


 Chicago Tribune
 With the collapse of the American Bi- cycle Company. which has asked for the appointment of a receiver in New York, the. finale can be written of the most re- markable fad the country has known.
 Commercial recognition of the wane of the cycling craze was the last to come. Cyclists themselves cast aside their wheels and wrote the epitaphs two years ago. but manufacturers and retailers would stimulate the demand after the sport had died.
 Various reasons for the puncturing of the bicycle trust are urged by bicycle dealers-all reasons except the essential one-that the main output of the com panies whose stock 1t held was unmar- ketable. Automobiles and even street sweepers are blamed for the collapse Dealers assert that the company lost money in branching out into the manu- facture of these articles.
 There still is market for the bicycle. the dealers say, yet figures show that sales have fallen off more than 80 per cent in the last three years.
 Greatest of All Crazes. No sport ever became mania of the proportions of cycling. Six years ago wheelmen were a guild with political power. In some cases they dictated leg islation. They were responsible for road improvement They started in the face of opposition and fought their way against prejudices. They became so strong numerically that politicians began r,la, f &1,a,,, frr thai. forced recognition to their rights in the roads. Their races became events of the year. Their clubhouses were costly. their organizations highly perfected, and the optimistic could see no end to the career of the bicycle
 But with a suddenness as sensational as the growth of the fad, the bottom drop- ped out of it.
 Six years ago the main boulevards were so covered with wheels that it was all most worth pedestrians life to attempt to cross them. Yesterday one could have crossed and recrossed Michigan boue- yard without seeing a bicycle.
 Figures Show Growth and Fall.
 The statistics of the fad speak for themselves. In 1898 the Illinois Cycling Club. said to be the largest in the world, had S20 members. In 1899 it had 1sO, and shortly afterwards was disbanded. In 1898 the organization had a $45.000 club house and the next year it was out of ex- istence.
 Illinois was represented in the League of American Wheelmen with 4.050 mem- bers. A report of that organization now shows ffty-flve members from the State New York had more than 27.000 members in the League. The State now has less than 1000
 q have seven wheels in the basement of my residence" said man who was president of one of the big cycling clubs. Many of them are as good as new, but have no use for them."
 During the height of the fad a census of wheelmen was taken in Chicago by representatives of cycling societies. There was no infallible method of making the count, but the wheelmen systematized it as well as they could. At the end of the season it was estimated that there were between 200 GOO and 300 900 wheelmen in this city alone.
 Races Like a Derby.
 In 1894, 1895 and 1896 the great yearly event of Western wheemen, the Chicago road race, bid fair to eclipse any sport ing event in the country. As high as 50s contestants started in one of these races and the spectators were in uncounted lhOuoouS' 4NOI tNClA tiiC <AliiCliChli ItTDy has aroused more interest than was dis played in these road races.
 An illustration of popularity of the sport can be found in the fact that on the occasion of the election of a President of the Illinois Cycling Club extras were printed by the morning papers, the count having extended until late in the morn- ing.
 .I, City Full of Clubs.
 Other clubs had the same experience as, the Illinois. During the height of tho, fad any number of clubs had a member- ship of 800 and over Among them were' the Chicago Cycling Club. the Lake View Cycling Club, sthe Thistle Cycling Club, the Woodlawn Cycling Club. the Lincoln Cycling Club. and the Minnette, Monitor and Garden City Clubs.
 At one time the Associated Cycling Clubs had a total membership of 11,OOo. The Association recognized only such clubs as had leased quarters. Another Association had a still larger member shlpA with 15,OOO wheelmen enrolled.
 Campaign Work by Wheel.
 When the cyclists became a political power Mayor Harrison became the Cyclists Champion" The Mayor is one of the few who have not given up the sport, and considerable of his leisure time in Chicago is spent on his wheel. It be- came part of political campaign to make the round of the cycling clubs. On. one occasion Granville Browning then running for Judge made the round of thirty-seven clubs in one day, starting early in the morning and closing at mid night
 The L. A. w. as the national organiza- tion of the wheelmen was highly perfect ed. New York and Pennsylvania were fighting for first honors in the league both having over 27,000 members, and New York leading by a few. Massachusetts had 14,000 members enrolled.
 A number of publications were devoted