Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-12-05
BICYCLE AND AUTOMOBILE
THE SPEED MANIA THREATENS
MOTOR CAR INDUSTRY.

THE SPEED MANIA THREATENS
MOTOR CAR INDUSTRY.
Lists of Casualties and Recklessness
Provoking a Prejudice in the Public
Mind-WilI Like Causes Produce
Like Effects, as in the Case of the
Wheel?
The history OF sports and pastime5
in this country furnishes no parallel
to the rapid growth in popularity OF
the bicycle, and its even more sud
den decline as a means of recreation.
It's decline is rendered the more puz-
zling when We remember that the
medical profession Endorsed bicycle
moderation, of valuable assistance in
keeping the body in good condition,
and in the cure and prevention OF GER
tain ailments that arise from seden-
tary habits and the lack of a proper
amount of outdoor exercise. So true
is this that if it were possible to
gather the testimony of the hundreds
of thousands of people in this coun-
try, whose wheels" are to-day rust
ing in the cellar, or stored ingloriously
among the top attic lumber, it would
be found that not a few thousands of
them would readily admit that they
have never enjoyed the perfect health
which was theirs when the Sunday
trip into the country or the evening
ride on the boulevards or cycle paths
formed an important and pleasurable
item in the routine of their lives.
The causes for the decline were
many. The chief trouble was the very
one that is threatening the automo
too far; and those who were not
gifted with the muscular and consUi-
tutional equipment necessary for
riding centuries, or even haIf-centur
les, without distress, began to asso-
ciate the bicycle with aching limbs
and an exhausted body. Another and
scarcely less active cause of the de.
cline was the introduction of cheap
bicycles, and the placing of the
wheels within reach of everybody who
dollars for its purchase. Bicycling
became questionable; and in this re-
Spect the decline of wheeling is one of
the most startling signs of the fact
that the American people are fast
losing that independent, democratic
spirit which for three centuries has
been one of the distinguishing charac-
teristicS of the race. When the fad
became questionable its death-knell
as a pastime of universal popularity
was sounded. The bicycle was rele-
gated to uses purely unitarian. As
means of transportation it will al
ways fill a useful place in the econO-
my of everyday life; but that bicy-
cling will ever win back anything of
its former position as one of the most
fashionable and popular means OF
recreation is most improbable.
But what of the automobile? Will
like causes produce like effects? AL
ready the speed mania is threatening
to work injury to automobile interests
by multiplying the lists of casualties
and provoking a prejudice in the pub
lie mind. 1t is gratifying to know
that earnest efforts are being made
by the great body of automobiles as
whole to prevent reckless driving,
and save this splendid sport from the
harm that was done to bicycling by
the growth of the "scorching" habit.
The Introduction of cheap and reliable
automobiles (and if the plans of GER
tain firms do not miscarry, the market
will within the next two or three years
be flooded with SUCH will bring the
automobile within reach of the pocket
book of ten times as many people as
can afford machine under existing
conditions Before many years the
boulevards, concourses and turnpike
roads will swarm with devotees of the
sport Shall we in this splendid
means of recreation see repeated the
history of the bicycle? Will it be-
come questionable? Possibly in
limited degree it will; although it
must surely remain to the end of time
one of the most useful means of
transportation, both for freight and
passengers, that invention has placed
at the service of man, rivaling, If not
SURPRISING, the locomotive and the
trolley car.
There is this much to be said in
favor Of the prospects of the automo-
bile maintaining it's present popularity
as q means of recreation, namely, that,
unlike the bicycle, it affords a means
of travel that is comparatively free
from effort, and may be made, if so
desired, positively luxurious.-Scien-
tific American.