El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-02-08

much from the administration OF
Woodrow Wilson as president It IS
true they are not seriously concerned
about the tariff, or conservation, or
currency reform. Their bright antici-
pations are of other things. If the
president of the United tSates goes a
wheeling. why should anyone else hest
tate to do so? And bicycling is MI
Wilson's favOrite exercise.
Everybody admits that bicycling is
heaIthful exercise, that it is q form Of
exercise that can be taken by rich and
poor, high and low alike. but tens Of
thousands of people are deferred from
riding a wheel because bicycling has
been largely surrendered to messenger
boys and children. The rare sight
that 1t IS to see woman awheel these
days is WOman's best reason for not
using the bicycle, and men are IN
clined to feel that when people can
not afford street car fares they resort
to a bicycle as a method Of rapid
transportation.
May Restore Bikes to Farm.
But if Woodrow wilson's fondness
for vacation aWheel shall prove to have
as much influence over the American
mind as king Edwards liking for a
certain cut OF clothes or style Of hat
perhaps the bicycle Will be restored to
good society, and while the business
man will probably never again use a
bicycle as his sole means Of transpor-
tation, he may keep one along with his
automobile or carriage, to get his days
exercise when business is too pressing
to allow him TO visit the golf links.
And when that day comes everybody
viii be willing once again to be seen
riding a wheel
While the manufacturers do not ex-
pect such a craze for bicycling as there
was in the nineties. they do hope that
president Wilson will be able to ne
move the ban of prejudice that has
been proclaimed against the wheel, and
that this will allow people to use them
who cannot afford a motorcycle, a car
rage, or an automobile. and who yet
feel bound by. the customs which have
banished the bicycle TO the messenger
boys and young America.
Make Vacations Pleasant.
1t seems evident that the bicycle as
a means of vacation travel will get a
big boost from the Wilson administra-
ton Already hundreds of college boys
are calculating on getting passage to
Europe aboard cattle steamers with
vacations aWheel after they get there.
And that such q. vacation is a pleasant
one we have the testimony of the
president elect and Of the assistant
secretary of state, Alvey A. Adee.
Tens OF thousands Of votes were cast in
the last presidential election by men
who were not born when Mr.. Adee be-
from the time that he was an attache
Of one of our legations in Europe he
has loved to travel the by-paths OF
the continent awheeL
Rockefeller Once Used a Bicycle.
Other prominent men have chung to
the bicycle to a greater or less degree
John d. Rockefeller used one for many
years while riding from hole to hole on
the golf links But, like Wilson and
Adee, he has used il only at play, and
would probably not feel at ease on One
out in the busy haunts Of men,
Scranton Club Has $4,000.
Although the bicycle has lost so
holds prominent place in some COM
munities. In Scranton, Penn, there is
a club that has a membership Of more
than 300, and assets that reach nearly
$4,000 It has been in existence for 50
years, and no matter what the viSciSsi-
tudes of the bicycle have been in
other communities, in the city CT
Scranton it has been able to hold its
own, even in the face of the advent Cf
the motorcycle and the automobile
Changing Gears on New Machines.
The changing speed idea Of the auto
mobile at last has been applied to the
bicycle, and If a man wants to have
a wheel that will split the wind on the
level and one that will at the. same
time pull easy when going up a hill,
his gear. Then, when the top Of the
hill IS reached the gears may be
shifted back and speed once more sub
stituted for power. The mechanicism
IS attached to the coaster brake at
rachment With a bicycle that will 20
up hill as comfortably as a man can
walk up, that will glide down hill IN
der the control Of a coaster brake, and
that will vie with the motorcycle on
the level. the main bugabOos of bicycl-
o q
Guilty has arisen, however The advent
OF the automobile has changed road
conditions. It used to be that a wheel
was about the fastest thing on the road
and that it could keep out of harms
way by its speed The large number
Of accidents to bicyclists caused by au-
tOmObileS shows how other difficulties
have come to replace those which in
genuity has overcome.
Hns Strong Hold in Many Places.
People do not realize what a strong
hold the bicycle still maintains in
many places until something happens
like the attempt to abolish some priv
lege, such as the cycle path at COney
Island It was asserted that the path
was no longer needed, and a plan was
made to abolish it in favor of a speed
way. Promptly the Greater New York
Cyclists association was organized,
and within three short weeks a mons
ter parade Of cyclists was organized TO
in line in that parade and all New
York witnessed it. There were parad-
ers on the old fashioned Columbia high
wheels, Uncle sam on one of the first
safeties, an English built side by side
and many other novel and historic
wheels and wheelmen.
Boston Has Oldest Club.
The Oldest bicycle club in America is
the Boston Bicycle club, and every year
II holds an annual tournament known
as The Wheel about the Hub" Some
so bicyclists annually take part in this
tour around Boston They run over all
the good roads Of its envirOns. visit all
its historic spots, and have a general
two or three days cycling frolic
large number Of clubs still flourish
throughout the country, but the ma
jOrity of those which existed in the
nineties have long disbanded.
One of the worlds youngest bicycle
riders is Freddie Hoehm, of Santa
Clara, Calf. He could ride like a pro-
fessiOnal when he was only three years
old His wheels were only Is inches
high at that time. but that did not keep
him from making just as good time as