Evening Star Newspaper, June 21, 1931, Page 76

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, TUNE A, OO, Bicycle Pioneers Inspired Road BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. HOUGH such men as Washington, Jefizrson and Madison may have seen, to an extent, the great future ahead for this country—a Republie, for instance, with a population of 120,000,000 people and pfrhaps in other ways have som:what- vicualized the future—yet it would certainly be forcing the imaginatien to conceive that their minds would be sufficiently keen to lcok as far ahead as the present day and see this country as we our- selves see it and know it to ko, They, of course, knew that people would come here as a haven from class and political op- pression, and as a place where th2y might worship as they saw fit, ang where even the humblest citizen might riss to the highest office provided for by the Constitution, but it is ex- ceedingly beyond the range of possibility that Washington or any one else of his time could have foretold the magnificent roads and boule- vards the automobilists enjoy today. K Then it was a question, in many cases, of blazing a roadway through the virgin forest, crossing mountains where the white man had never gone before, and fording streams that were not bridged until many years later. Even the road that George Washington traveled on his way from Mount Vernon to New York to e inaugurated President was but of the nar- row, unimproved type, muddy and almost im- passable in rainy weather, and dusty in the extreme when the ground was d:y. Traffic improvements, like other godsends to mankind, have been an evolution. The stage and the ox cart gave way to the more speedy horse and buggy and the stean locomotive, and the bicycle, though only looked upon for years as a pleasure vehicle, nevertheless proved the entering wedge to better roads, and no doubt had much to do toward bringing about the introduction of the automgcbile, which with its added demand for “better roads has given us the magnificent highways we are blessed with today. HEN Charles G. W Krauskropf brought the first of the modern bicycles to the Dis- trict of Columbia in 1878 there were no good roads around Washington, and very few good streets even in the city. To see a wagon stuck in the mud up to the hubs was a common sight, and to see some merciless driver lashing the horses under such conditions to make them pull the wagon out was one of the painful sights of horse-drawn vehicles. However, conditions were greatly improved by the advent of the bicycle. A few months ago the writer in talking to a gentleman connected with a well known country-wide organization referred to the L. A. W.—or, in full, the League of American Wheelmen—and, strange to say, the person with whom he was conversing did not recall this notable body of wheelmen, yet the history of that organization and the influence exerted by it meant a powerful lot in the building of good roads in this country a number of years before the automobile got its start, and it is safe to say that the advent of the automobile would have been delayed many years had it not been for the excellent and early construction work done by the L. A. W. This body had its origin in Newport, R. I, back in 1880, when 160 wheelmen, representing 31 clubs, met in a skating rink in that city and organized and elected the following officers: BEresident, C. E. Pratt of Boston; vice president, 'T. K. Longstreth of Philadelphia; corresponding secretary, A. S. Parsons of Cambridge; record- ing secretary, J. Frank Burrcll of the Man- hattan Club; treasurer, Hugh L. Willoughby of Saratoga. A board of directors also was elected, including a representative from every State where there was an organized club. Not only was the L. A. W. the pioneer in the movement for good roads, but it brought about traffic regulations, out of which have grown laws applied today to the automobile, but which were unnecessary to the horse-drawn vehicle. EBB’'S DIGEST, which contains about all the laws the Corporation of Washington needed prior to the introduction of the bicycle, is silent as to the side of the street a vehicle should be driven. No left-hand turn is provided against; lights are left to one’s own judgment, and the driver could cross the sireet wherever and whenever he wished. It was, indesd, a sort of go-as-you-please proposition. Regarding carts, wagons and drays hired for gain there were some regulations, which, however, would be quite useless under our present condmons For instance, we are told: “It shall not be lawful for any one person to have charge of or drive more than one such cart, wagon, or dray at the same time; and no person under twelve years of age shall be per- mitted to drive a wagon, cart, or dray licensed by this Corporation, and the driver of any cart, wagon, or dray while the same shall be in mo- tion shall keep to the right; when unloaded, and in motion, he shall have the reins in his hands; shall not engage in racing with another cart, wagon, or dray or drive faster than a moderate trot. And if any person shall offend against the provision of this section such person, or the owner or agent of such cart, wagon, or dray, shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding five nor less than two dollars for each offence.” As to horses the principal things Webb cautions us against is to prevent the animal from chewing up the trees and to keep him off the sidewalk and not to treat him cruelly. Along this ling the law says: “If any person shall tie or in any manper fasten any horse, mule or other animal to any ©f the trees, boxes, or other protection thereof, or any of the public grounds belonging to the United in the City of Washington, or shall drive or lead any horse, mule, or other animal or any cart, wagon, or other carriage whatever, on any of the paved or graveled footways now made or which may hereafter be made in and on any of the aforesaid public Tne yair sex on wheels, about 1890. Left to right: Mrs. E. V. Leigh, Mrs. Ball, Miss Martha N. Hooper. In background, partly obscured, Mrs. W. H, Seaman. The boy is Master Ball. League of American Wheelmen Led Way to Later Highway Development Throughout Country— W omen Who Shared in Sport Were Forced to Overcome Adverse Opinions—~Early Riding in the District of Columbia. grounds, or shall ride thereon, except at the intersection of streets and avenues, each and every such offender shall forfeit and pay for each offense a sum not less than one nor more than five dollars, to be recovcred and applied as hercinafter provided. “It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to cruelly beat or wantonly abuse any animal of the horse kind, or to cut, wound, stab, or otherwise injure any horse or animal of the horse kind, under a penalty of not less than three. dollars for each and every such offense.” Compare these sections, if you will, with the voluminous traffic regulations of today—which probably no one knows perfectly, and some of which everybody breaks—and you will see the crude state the traffic laws were in prior to the -introduction of the “bike” and the beginning of the L. A. W. IKE many other organizations, this bbdy of wheelmen had their minor troubles and differences when they first started out, and when in May, 1884, they met here in Wash- ington at the qld Ford’s Opera House at Louisiana avenue, Ninth and C streets—now all removed except the west wall—fear was ex- pressed that it might go on the rocks. But this thought was dispelled when the president, Dr. Beckwith, took the chair, as will be seen bythcmtementmadebyTbeStaratthe time, which said: “Unusual interest attaches to the meeting of Thomas C. Tipton, Capital Bicycle Club, about 1881, the league om account of the reported dise satisfaction of some of the members and in- tention on their part to move to dissolve the league. These reports arose out of the withe drawal from the league of the Citizens’ Club of New York on the 13th inst. The Citizens’ Club in withdrawing made a statement, saying that their reason for so doing was ‘that the club does not comsider it advisable that its members should be under the control of another organization, which recent events have shown to be practically the case.’ “At a caucus of officers and leading members of the league last evening this matter was considered, and it was thought harmony would prevail. Rev. L. H. Schneider of this city, one of the members of the board of government, said to a Star reporter this morning: ‘We have been treading on a volcano which threatened an eruption, but I think now that the fires have been dampened.’ Another prominent member of the league said that the majority of the members of the league would stand by the organization till the last, and any motion to dissolve would be made ridiculous by the unanimity with which it wouid be voted down. The Citizens’ Club, he said, withdraWws as a club, but its members as individuals were still meme bers of the league. As a club it could not hold its membership, as it had one member who was not a member of the league. “It was half-past eleven o’clock before the meeting of the board of government was ended. Meanwhile the wheelmen were assembling in the hall. When the president, Dr. Beckwith, appeared on the platform he was greeted with great applause and,all kinds of club ‘calls.” When President Beckwith called the meeting to order he announced that the board of offi- cers had had a very harmonicus and satise factory meeting.” younger generation of people who have come into existence in the past two or three decades know substantially nothing of the enthusiasm associated with the life of the bicycle and tricycle from about 1889 and 1900, when the automobile began to take its place. Many of the most prominent people took up the sport, beginning with the high wheel and finishing up with the safety. Two years ago 60 of these veterans of the wheel, early members of the Capital Bicycle Club, met around the festive board at the Cosmos Club and talked of hill climbing, cen=- tury runs, and H. S. Owen’s famous “birthday - run,” in the days of the high wheel, when the route led through alleys and over all kinds of rough roads—when many woculd start and few would finish, and those who did would usually wind up at Meridian Hill after climbing the steep grade to the standpipe. Among those who attended this bafnquet in 1929, and whose names no doubt will be familiar to you, were W. Spencer Armstrong, A! Barry Bacon, Clarence M. Barrick, J._ Allen Boteler, Walter E. Burleigh, Edward N. Burns, Appleton P, Clark, jr.; Herman J. Clark, Myer Cohen, Benjamin F. Cole, Wallace F. Cross- man, William W. Dodge, Abner F. Dunnington George E. Fleming, De Lancey W. Gill, Herbert A. Gill, A. P. Greeley, James H. Harper, Dr. Lee Harban, Alfred J. Henry, Dr. Garnett L. Hills, Dr. J. Bartlett Hills, Dr. Leland O. Howard, Robert C. Howard, C. B. Hunt, Thomas J. Johnston, Robert V. La Dow, jr.; Samuel E. Lewis, John T. Loomis, Gideon A. Lyon, Arthur S. Mattingly, William P. Mayfield, A. S. McCoy, William S. Minnix, S. Preston Mos:s, jr.; Ballard N. Norris, Prank H. Pelouze, Jesse D. Prosise, George F. Ruoff, John T. Schaaff, William E, Schoenborn, William T. Stockett, Henry A. Wil= lard, 2d; John L. Wirt and Dr. William D. Wirt. Max Hansman was the only charter member present, the Owen brothers, Herbert S. and Frederick D., being in Florida for the latter's health. Frederick has since passed away. There were many prominent and distinguished people who rode the bicycle in the early days. The writer recalls, in addition to those men=- tioned, Charles D. Walcott, later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; B. H. Warmner, Commissioner Truesdell, Assistant Secretary of