Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 8, 1895, Page 21

ROUND THE WORLD 0N WHEELS Trials and Tribulations of Over-Oonfident Beginners, PERFORMANCE OF THE DENVER PHENOM Capital Invested In Wheel Making— Prospective Crash in Prices— Progress of the Dloomers— Chat About Wheelers, 1 you are a young man in search of a pay- fng vocation, open a bicycle riding school. There might be one on every corner, and each one would have a class of its own, Prox- imity of interests does ot interfere in this line of business, partly because everybody, young, old and middle-aged, is taking lessons, but principally because most of them are tak- fng their lessons sub rosa. The thing is, of course, especlally where one expects a large patronage of women, to have the practice hall out of the way; up one flight of stairs is well; up two, or even three, is better. No- body objects to being seen on a wheel after he or she is certain of an ability to control its “wobbles,” but while he is getting to that Place of security the more often his audi- ence can be numerically represented by zero the more satisfactory his lessons will prove to himsels, Sometimes a man, “wise In his own con- ceit,” fmagines that it is a mere bagatelle to bestride a wheel and ride right off at once, says the St. Louis Glohe-Democrat. Sometimes his friends tell him this until he believes it and buys a wheel and follows their instructions. Alas! the end of that wheel is the factory, and the fate of that man, sometimes, most always, is bruises and sprains and an added humility of spirit. Hence, riding schools flourish, and many there be who ride therein, There was a Sunday morning lesson taken recently at a St. Louls riding school where a snapshot camera would have figured to good advantage. The school s closed on Sunday as a general thing, but an enthusias- tic wheelman, employed during the week, asked the privilege of teaching his fiances to ride, and was allowed the use of the big third-floor practice hall. When he told he on Saturday of the arrangement he had made she demurred, because she had neither #hort, skirt nor bloomers for the lesson, which garments, she had been told, were indispensable to the new beginner. “What's the matter with taking a pair of mg~ala pants,” he suggested, “cutting them off at the bottoms and making knickerbockers of them “Oh, Harry,” she blushingly fal- tered. “Well, I dare you,” he said; “and besides, it's just me, you know." “H-m!" she pouted; then with a real new woman spirit, “I won't take a dare, though.” *Of gourse not,” assented Harry; “I knew you wouldn’t.””” Then in a meditative tone, with the air of a man resigned to the inevitabie, he halt soliloquized: “It is early for her to put on the pants, to be sure, but, great Scots! I've got to come to it, I suppose, and a fellow might as well be cheerful about it.”” The Sunday morning losson was a great and howling success, and now Harry and his flancee say “our trousers” when called upon to mention those unhandsome but useful bifurcated garments. CAPITAL IN WHEEL MAKING. People who call bleycling a passing fad have probably never stopped to consider what an enormous amount of capital is employed in the business of making wheels in this country, and probably have no idea of the number’ of people dependent upon the busi- mess. The figures are astonishing. There are in this country today about 130 good sized bicycle manufactories. It all the smaller corcerns were counted in, concerns that \furn out from fifty to 200 blcycles a year, ~-'the number would be swelled to about 300, The number of bicycles these 300 factories will produce this year is estimated by a Chicago exchange at 500,000. At an average cost of $75 each to the buyer this means that $37,500,000 will be spent in thig country this year for bicycles, providing, of course, the entire product Is sold. But there is little doubt of that. Go to a bicycle store and try to buy a high grade wheel. More good wheels have been sold this season than have been made, and it is doubtful it some of the manufacturers catch up before the Bnow flles, But the $37,600,000 do not cover the entire expenditures in the bicycle way of the people of the country. There are costumes—bloomers and such—lamps, cyclometérs, patent mud- guards and patent this-that-and-the-other kind of apparatus that will swell the sum to $50,000,000. Where does all this vast sum of money &0? Well, in the first place, some of the manufacturers who, a few years ago, were poor men, are now immensely wealthy. But thers can ba nothing unusual or particularly undesirable in that; they built up the busi- ness from nothing and. have furnished the public with one of the greatest sources of enjoyment ever known. Some of the rest of the money, after the manufacturers have had their bit,” goes for material, and the balance to the army of workingmen, women, boys and girls whose labor turns the raw steel, rubber, wood and leather into the finished product. PROSPECTIVE CRASH. ““These blacksmiths and tanners and wagon makers who are flocking into the bicycle business simply because their own don’t pay make me good and tired,” sald a pessimistic local manufacturer to the Chicago Times- Herald representative. “They are crowding in by the score, to be ready for next year, and I tell you something is going to bust. It won't be the old manufacturer, either. It Wwill be the new one. Of course, we have all had a good business this year, but the re- ports about a bicycle famine are ridiculous. At the first of the season dealers were not uble to fill their orders, but it's different now. The manufacturers have caught up, and are advertising the fact. I don’t have any trou- ble filling my orders now. It's the same with all the rest. Take a walk around the bicycle ores; they are packed full of wheels now. You can buy one and take it with you or you can buy 100 it you want them. Even the de- partment stores have lots of them. Now, with ail these new firms coming nto the business next year, what will b the result?’ went on the pessimist. ‘“Over- production, of course, and a war on prices. The war will not hurt the manufacturer whoso wheels have established reputations. ePeople will want them the same as now. But the other fellows, new ones who will want to establish themselves on the market, ‘will cut prices to do 0. The cutting will become so general and so flerce that the weak ones will have to quit the field, After & crash or two, in which the inexperienced will be the ones to get hurt, the bicycle busi- mess will be on a sounder basis than ever before, and there will be just as much money in it for us. Many riders who will help us mext year are those who this season have bought cheap wheels, for they will want the best as they have become experts on the road and I do not think, as many men do, th the manufacturer of cheap bicycles is going to have the field. That is uot so, for next year he will meet in competition the men who make so-called high grade wheels at cut prices, and where will he be? The new- comers in the trade have an idea that it is easy (0 ‘hook on,' so to speak, but really it takes several seasons and plénty of nerve and money to establish a bicyele. There 15 nothing easy about It. If all the reports are true about new factories, I really feel sorry for the ones working on small mar- gins. Next year will be the turning point, and then it will be a case of the survival of the fttest.” THE DENVER PHENOM. Farm bred muscle bumped up against the article ralsed in Denver last week, and all Denver wheelers are worshiping (he farmer. A tall, very young appearing man on a road ‘wheel, not in the best of repair, given eight minutes’ handicap, so that he would have & show to get In before the train left the finish on the return, made the train hustle to beat him to the tape. He cannot tell ex- actly how he did it, but confesses that the fact that he owed $2 rent on the wheel, and the thought that he might be able to get a ‘Wheel of his own, or at least pay that $2, had much to do with it. He went to Sand creek unattended, mounted his wheel without as- slstance, in seven miles was leading the whole outfit. and from that time to the close it was merely a question of how much he ‘Would beat the moxt man in. He came b: from the raca ended by a faithtul crowd ®f admirers, who bad suddenly discovered that he was a youth of most wonderful prom- ise. Makers of whoels are falling over them- solves in efforts to get him to ride their machines, and the $2 account can run on torever. It was a wonderful ride. Up to Monday the fastest time over the old Rambler course in competition was made by W. W. Hamilton, in the Memorial day race of 1893, when he made the -distance in 1:21:35. Not only was this lowered, but only one of the 100 men who had their time taken failed to beat the record. The paced road record of the state was made by J. A. McGuire, November 5, 1893, who went the twenty-five miles in one hour thirteen minutes and thirty seconds, The unpaced record was 1:22:20, made by J. M. Danfel, October 26, 1894. The world's record for twenty-five miles on the road was set In 1894 by Monte Scott, at 1:05:21 4-5. All these were placed in the shade by the ride made by the unknown O. B. Hachen- berger, who rode over the course, wholly unpaced for eighteen miles of the distance, in :04:47. He was not winded when he crossed the tape, he had experienced no difficulty in getting first position near the start, and once ahead, his place had been absolutely in no danger. While the track was in fair condi- tion, it was not considered fast. Racing men who had gone over the course the day before the race stated in the morning that fast time might be expected, but that the road was fully five minutes slow, and no records other than those on the track were in danger. So the feat of the young man will be seen to be greater than simply an ordinary win of a race. He has been riding a wheel, when he could get the opoprtunity, for the past two years, but has only been in active training threo weeks. The prizes secured by the winners of this race are a $500 plano for first place, a $100 diamond as first time prize, and at the very least a brand new wheel from the company v hich made the wheel he rode in the race. This makes a clean pick-up of $1,000 for a young man who was afraid his wheel would be taken from him because of a $2 debt. MARCH OF THE BLOOMER. A judge in Arkansas has rendered a de- cision that the garments are not illegal, and that woman has a God given right to ride on a bicycle. - That being the case, Is there no law for the creature that caused her ar- rest? You con't have people sent to jail for offenses that don't exist and expect to get a diploma, for doing it. But the reverse of the bloomers comes from the village of Mata- moras, which, being near Port Jervis, may be in elther of the three states that corner on that metropolis. The bloomers were blue, and they gave much offense to a flock of geese. The geese swarmed about the un- happy bicycle rider and plucked at the limbs of her clothes, while she screamed and vainly cried “Shoo!” These geese did not shoo, and until two small natives came out and charged into the flock the situation seemed to be one of peril. Speaking, in a4 recent interview, of bi- cycle riding, Mme. Modjeska, the actress, said that in Paris the lady riders all wear trousers, and she thinks they look much better s0. Her husband remonstrated, and suggested that a skirt over the masculine garment would be advisable, but she ex- claimed: 0, no, what is the use of doing it half way? 'If a woman sits astride she surely should wear trousers. Of course they should be full, neat and modest. Skirts ars horrid when the wind blows and the body is moving up and down.” Modjeska has' about the right of it. In the great cities where people are more independent as respects _conventionalities, and where the fashions are set, trousers, or knickerbockers, are almost the universal rule for lady bi- cyclists, and their sisters in the smaller cities will follow sult sooner or later. Short trousers are the praper garment, for both sexes, for wheeling. The only difference should be, as Modjeska suggesis, that the feminine garment be made full, neat ana modest, and the ladies know how to make them so. AN ANTI-BLOOMER CLUB. A company of young men in Edmeston, Conn., recently formed an anti-bloomer club. The pledge taken by each member was: “I hereby agree to refrain from associating with all young ladies who adopt the bloomer cycling costume, and pledge myself to the use of all honorable means to render such cos- tumes unpopular in the community where I reside.’” Of course the formation of such a club in a small village caused immediate and deep trou- ble. But the young men were stanch, and so were the bloomer girls, and there the matter seems to be resting. The young men of Birmingham, Ala., took a very novel and effective means of discouraging bloomers. The south has not taken to bloomers to any great extent. Indeed, bloomers are still something of a rarity,except in the very largest cities, and even there they are having an up- hill fight, as witness the Atlanta crusade. The Birmingham young men heard that some of the young ladies had determined to wear bloomers when wheeling. They did not walt for the enemy to make the first onslaught. They hired the biggest, fattest, most ungainly negress they could find, wrestled with her a week or more gettng her able to sit upright on one of the young men's bicycles, with some one to hold her on. They they dressed her in a most grotesque bloomer costume and started her through the streets of the town. She wore bright blue bloomers, trimmed with broad white braid, bright yellow stockings, and a red sweater. She was able after the first spin to go it alone, and every day for about a week she trundled her hideousness through the principal streets of the city. The bloomer girls naturally did not dare to show themselyes In their new costume while the negro bloomerite was abroad, and they didn’t wear them after the negress had retired from the ring. At last accounts the negro bloomer- ite was the only one of the class that hal ven. tured abroad in Birmingham. A NEW GEARING. James W. Matthews of Monmouth, III., has invented a new gearing for bicycles. He claims for the device that it creates higher speed with little additional friction. One revolution of the pedals drives the bicycle a distance of twenty-one and a half feet. Some of the best road riders in Chicago have tested the invention by using it up grades and against stiff winds, d all de- clare that the wheel, which is geared to eighty-four inches, was driven as easily as one geared to sixty-eight or seventy. Mr. Matthews' invention consists of an interior gear wheel with seventy-two teeth, attached to the crank hanger. This wheel resembles the large sprocket wheel of an ordinary bi- cycle in shape and differs from it only in having the power distributed from the in- side. This wheel is solidly brazed teo the crank axle, and consequently cannot become easily disarranged. Three inches back of the interior gear wheel, and fastened to the rear forks by an adjustable cone, is a “‘pinion” wheel, with twenty-four exterior teeth. This is operated by contact with the gear wheel. Attached to the same axle and on the chain side is a small sprocket wheel with eight teeth, over which the chain passes to the sprocket on the driving wheel. These two rockets are of uniform size. The ratlo of speed is as seventy-two to twenty-four, or three to one, or when a twenty-elght-inch wheel Is used for driving purposes a gear of eighty-four inches is obtained. If a larger or a smaller wheel is used the gear is in- creased or decreased in proportion. ALL THE MUSCLES STIRRED UP., A physiclan who spends most of iis spare time astride of a wheel, and who, in fact, attends to a good deal of his practice in this way, has grown tired of hearing the state- ment that bicycling develops only the mus- cles of the leg, and that it is therefore in- ferior as a health-giver to other sports. The doctor recently determned to give an ana. tomicel demonstration that this contenti is il-founded, and the result s a chart, showing the chief muscles which are used in propelling a bicycle. The arms are needed not only in steering, but they and the back are of especial help in hill climbing. When a steep incline is encoun- tered the legs alone would be unable to sup- ply sufficient propulsive power. The handle bars must be firmly grasped and the strain on them is great. In fact, they might even be broken if at all defective. This shows how much strength must be put forth by the arms and back. The doctor has had a num- ber of these Illustrations printed, and when- ever he hears the oft-told tale quietly pre- sents the narrator with a refutation of the story. WHEELING NOTES. A one-legged bicyclist in eastern Maine is riding fifty miles a day in a tour across the country. Countess Castellane (nee Anna Gould) has Joined the ranks of Parls women cyclers. The Mashpee Indians, who have a small reservation in Massachusetts, have all taken to bleyele riding. A colored girl in bloomers and a colored man in knickerbockers recently appeared be- fore a Louisville justice and were married. A Dbicycle thiel in Australis was sentenced recently to three years at hard labor for stealing & wheel, The owners of cyels stores In San Fran- clsco have banded together to resist the im- position of the quarterly license fee of $15. They will fight the matter in the courts. The bicycle has at last invaded the sacred precincts of the church. One handsome stone building on West Fourteenth street, New York, which was formerly one of the handsomest houses of worship In the eity, has recently been turned into a bicycle academy. A man who checked his bicycle at a public resort In Chicago the other night couldn’t find it at the close of the concert and couldn't get any satisfaction from the employes. He instituted suit, and now the proprietor of the place has been ordered to pay $100, the value of the bicycle, and $40) costs. This decision will _serve as a check on carelessness in checking property. Even Berlin, that fortress of prudery, is be- Ing conquered by the ubiguitous lady eyclist. Up to quite recently it used to be sald that the very dogs of Berlin ran In wild surprise after the daring woman who wore the bloomer costume or the divided skirt. But this sum- mer quite a new phase has begun. Ever €0 many Berlin ladies have taken to cycling and to a regulation cycling costume, and, curlously enough, the majority of these “ad- vanced women” belong to the court circles. At a forthcoming garden party there is to be a quadrille on cycles, executed by ladies and gentlemen in costume. Two American wheelers in England saw on their first afternoon out a_signboard by the roadside reading: ‘‘To Cyclists—This hill is dangerous.” The visitors had taken the brakes off their wheels on leaving home, and they were prepared for a siege in going down hill. By using a foot as a brake on the wheel they found no difficulty whatever in descending any hill marked as dangerous, although one or two were so steep that it would have been almost impossible to climb them. Using the foot as a brake was also a novelty to the Englishmen, A bicycle with- out a brake is a rarity in England, and when the tourists came down some hill into a town of considerable size with one foot on a pedal and the other in use as a brake they found dozens of persons stopping to see the unusual sight. Whisperings of the Wheel. It is now an assured fact that there will be present at Omaha's National Circuit mest, October 15 and 16, four of the fastest racing teams fn the country, viz.: Columbia team, consisting of Bald, Simms and McDonald; Spalding team, Titus and Cabawne; Stearns team, Wing, Johnson, Callahan and Kiser; Syracuse team, Terrill, Wells and the Coburn brothers. These four teams embrace the very fastest men in this country and will undoubtedly give the people some races, the like of which they never dreamed. The Associated Cycling clubs is working hard on the preliminaries and hope to have entry blanks and prize lists out by the 15th inst Its list will reach $5,000, making $2,500 for each day. There will be class “A,” “B” and professional events, and the track committee is going to make every effort to have the track in record breaking condition. The old fair grounds have been decided upon by the ciubs as the best place to hold the meet,it being nearer the city than the new mile track, and therefore easier of access. It is also con- sidered by racing men to be faster than the new mile track on account of belng older and more thoroughly packed. The program and prize list will be published in the sport- ing columns of The Bee as soon as com- pleted. Chairman Gideon of the League of American Wheelmen has begun to swing his ax in this vicinity. He transferred W. A. Pixley to class B last week and promises to thin out the class A ranks more before the season ends. There are a number of men in Nebraska riding In class A who should have been transferred to B some time ago. E. B. Mockett, Lincoln’s fast class B man, is showing up in excellent form this season. Last Tuesday, at Des Moines, Ta., he de- teated Orlando Stevens, Towa's fastest class B man, and also holder of the quarter-mile world’s record, and yet some people try to tell us Towa's men are faster than Ne- braska’s. This surely does not look like they were, The Omaha Wheel club is going to spring something on the good people of Omaha in the parade next week that will surprise them. Just keep your eye on It. Potter and Denman proved themselves to bo Omaha's fastest tandem team at the “Jubllee Day" races last Friday by easily defeating ali competitors, What we would like to see now is a tandem race for the state championship. Why can't we have one at oar National Circuit meet? The surprise of the week was the riding of H. C. Gadke at Fremont, Neb., Monday and Tuesday. He captured four firsts, two seconds and one third out of seven races in which he started. *Gad” ls rounding to* now, and will show some of the would-be class A champions his heels before long. Russell Condon will start training again Mouday. He is a strong rider, and if able to get In condition yet this season will un- doubtedly win some races. He will also ride tandem with Pixley. An experienced trainer, who has put more than one Chicago bicycie rider in ‘“condi- tion” for the season’s road races, has printed the following advice, which he gives to every new man who wishes to go into train- “Eat almost everything except 'green * potatoes and turnips. Make beef, dry toast and weak tea the principal articles of food. Do mot be afraid of fce cream and ripe fruit at your meals. Be In bed at 9 o'clock each night, and up at 6 o'clock in the morning. Take a cool spray bath on rising. Do not use tobacco or drink any kind of liquor. For rubbing mixtures, so dear to all racing men, use witch hazel mixed with a very little peppermint ofl. Mix in the proportion one pint of witch hazel to 5 cents worth of ofl. Do not depend so much on the mixture as on the rubbing. Have the body well rubbed over. Knead each muscle. End by brisk rubbing in order to bring blood to the surface nicely.” The League of American Wheelmen Racing board has ordered an investigation, and a sensation is on at St. Louis. 4'hree of the fastest riders in the country are charged with crooked riding, and all is not over. The men implicated in the scandal are Fred Titus, Dute Cabanne and Charley Murphy. 1t all occurred in the Diamond tournament at St. Louis last Saturday. It is alleged that the above mentioned riders agreed to divide honors during the day’s racing, but Murphy “copped a sneak,” and took two out of three races, and then there arose a squeal. The “Ak-Sar-Ben Bicycla Club” is the name of a married people’s bieyc'e club to be organized at the parlors of the Drexel hotel next Tuesday evening. Omaha now has two lady century riders, Miss Collie Hempel and Miss Lantry, each of these ladies having made two 100-mile trips s0 far this season. It is no easy matter to ride 100 miles in one day and it requires an immense amount of nerve and endurance. There are many, men who hesitate about tackling one of” these rides and therefore too much credit cannot be glven Miss Hemple and Miss Lantry for their meritorious rides. H. E. Fredrickson returned from a week's “pot humt” yesterday. “Fred” 'mas been riding at the small meets lately, where the competition was 50 easy that he could not help but win. Fredrickson is making a business of racing and therefore he should be tramsferred to class B, as he is riding with men who race but little and who are paylng their own expenses and depending on their other work for a living, while Fred- rickson is racing most of his time and you might say depends on it for his kiving, and he has no business in class A, Next season if the League of American Wheelmen control cycle racing they should appoint official timers and referees for each division or state. At most all of the eycle race meets which we have attended this season the timers knew about as much about handling a stop-watch and timing a race wo know about who will be the next pre dent, and that is very little. There are sup- posed to be three timers at each race and we have attended races where the timers would vary from two to ten seconds in their time of & race and they would then have to “split the difference,” as they would put it, and it would be announced as 2:20 or 2:30 as the caso might be, when the timers themselves would not know whether that was the cor- rect time or not. We sincorely hope that the Assoclated Cycle clubs will appoint for t timers of the National Circuit meet, which is to be held here October 15 and 16, men who know how to use stop-watches and time races. —_—— sense e new: r ae- Sonnts ‘of weddings, to Deoe the bride %-'&.‘-1' ‘most girls could Aad " ths way there in W §07 et USE OF CREDIT INSTRUMERTS Results of an Investigation Conduoted by the Currency Comptroller, CHECKS AS A FACTOR IN BUSINESS The FProportion in Retall Trans- nctions—Relntions Between Wholesnle and Retail Trade, The part which checks and other instru- ments of credit play in retail transactions, to the excluslon of coin and paper money, will be the subject of an inquiry next month by Comptroller Eckels. He attempted such an_inquiry last year, says a writer in the Globe-Democrat, and the results were em- bodied in his annual report to congress, but some of his questions were not stated so fully as to prevent misunderstandings, and the answers were not 8o complete as he hopes to obtain this year. The essential questions to which he directed attention were the character of payments made to retall gro- cers, butchers, clothiers, dealers in furni- ture and dealers in fuel. He asked the n tional banks to report what proportion of the deposits made on a given date by trad- ers in these articles was in coin, paper money and checks and other instruments of credit. Confusion arcse from the failure to state that clothiers were intended to cover dealers in dry goods, and that returns were desired from general stores in the country dealing in all these classes of articles. Re- plies were received from 2,465 naticnal banks out of a total of 8,774, and it was found that the use of credit instruments ranged from 43 per cent in Wyoming up to 86 per cent in Mississippi. The payments covered for a single day were $5,999,065 throughout the United States, and of this amount 58.9 per cent was in checks and store orders and 41.1 per cent In various kinds of money. The variations in different states were so great as to suggest the Importance of a more thorough ~canvass, and this is what the comptroller proposes to make this year. He will ask the national banks to make a count on some date In September of the amount and character of the deposits by their pa- trons who are in the retail trade. He has asked a number of students of political econ- omy to suggest improvements in the form of questions and new points to ba covered It has been suggested that scparate returns be asked of deposits of checks and store orders, as some of the advocates of a bank- ing currency regard the latter as an evil growing out of the defects of the present banking system. The comptroller has also been asked to request reports as to the dis- counts made on store orders or similar in struments when brought in for deposit by regular customers, and especially when brought in to be cashed by the operatives or laborers to whom they are issued. FORMER INVESTIGATIONS. The Inquiry made last year by the comp- troller was the first comprehensive attempt to ascertain the preportion of credit instru- ments used in retail rale. Most of the in- quiries of the past ensthe extension of credit have been directed to the great wholesals transactions through the banks. These show a much larger use of credit Instruments than retail transactions. Comptroller Knox made such an inquiry iu J881, and the results showed that out of receipts of $52,118,185 by the banks on September 17 of that year 8L.7 per cent was the average proportion cf checks and drafts throughdut the country. The pro- portion ran as low as 8.2 per cent In Nevada and as high as 91 per cent in New Jersey. The proportion was even larger in the great cities, averaging 928 per cent in fifteen cities outside of New York and 98.8 per cent in New York City. The proporticn of checks used at the London banks at about the same time was 97.23 per cent, at the Edinburgh banks 86.78 per cent, and at the count'y banks in 261 British cities and towns 72.86 per cent. The use of checks was at that time in its in- fancy in France and transictions were gener- ally made in coin or in notes of the Bank of France. The returns given in all the prec:d- ing cases include, of course, noth'ng but transactions through the banks. The propor- tion of credit instruments to currency would be smaller if the figures covered the aggre- gate transactions of the country. There Is another form of credit, Lowever, in uge by storekeepers where there are no banks which obviates to a large extent the use cf cur- rency. This rescurce Is book credits, given by the storekeeper to the farmer upon the de- livery of merchandise and set cff against sales of goods by the storekeeper during the year. The comptroller of the currency has no dircet power to make a canvass regarding the uze of book credits, and some of the advocates of a banking currency regret that it cannot be done, in order to show the scarcity of more legitimate means of exchange in the country districts of the south and west. A REMARKABLE EXPANSION. The growth of the system of compensations by banking and clearing house transactions has been one of the wonders of the present generation. It is probably a common opinion among figures, that modern banking facilities were nearly as much used twenty years ago as they are today, but this is far from being the case. There has been an expansion since 1870 quite as remarkable as any which took place before that date. This Is Indicated in a striking manner for Great Britain and France by the following figures of the opera- tions of the clearing houses at London and Paris for certain designated years: Lon: Pounds . 478,013,000 The years are not the calendar years in the case of London, but include three months of the next following year, but this does not materially affect the value of the compari- son. The manner in which the use of credit is belng developed, even in the old commer- clal countries of Burope, is indicated in a striking manner by the increase shown in the following table, within the brief period of fifteen years, of the aggregate transactions of the Bank of Belgium and the number of pleces of commercial paper discounted: Total operations. Bills, Discounted 1,811,569 Year. 1872 1875 1880 183 1885 The figures for Loudon and Parls show some variations, in view of the periods of depresslon in 1885 and 1593, but their general tendency is steadily upward. The aggregate of exchanges thus recorded at the London clearing house was equivalent to $39,000,- 000,000 in 1890, which represents nearly four- fifths of the accumulated wealth of the United Kingdom, and the returns from the other clearing houses would undoubtedly show that an amount equal to the entire wealth of the Kingdom passed at least once through the clearing house in the settlement of business transactions. The clearings for the United States have not advanced steadily since 1887, when they first began to be reported for the entire country, The growth of banking transactions is perhaps better indicated by the increase in the mumber of national banks and the amount of thejr loans at dates near the close of the year than. by the transactions of the New York clearipg house alone. All three items are showp in,the following table: Number of Clearings. Loans. at $ 72515538 CLEARING HOUSE TRANSACTIONS, These figures indicate the steady expansion of banking business, In spite of the extreme fluctuations in the New York clearing houge returns. Loans and discounts by the national banks have multiplied nearly three times since 1870, while the number of banks has more than doubled. One of the Joasons for the falling off in the transactions (hrough the New York clearing house, besides the in- fluences of the panic, iy found in the es- tablishment of the New York Stock exchange clearing house In 1592. While most devices for using credit in place of currency have those who have not examined the | WwCONTINENTA CLOTHING HOUSE THE NORTHEAST CORNER 15™ & DOUGLAS STS. < on the dollar. money when gladly—for there isn’t a suit in the lot worth less than twice our price. Sale Extraordinary A fortunate—a timely purchase of $75,000 worth of men'’s, boys' and children’s Suits, from the cele- brated Standard Clothing company of Boston, enables us to give you the most unprecedented bargains ever heard oI‘,' Beginning Friday, Sept. 13th They made only high grade clothing—every merchant knows that-—we back-it with our guar- immense purchase as we bought it—at 50c We will refund the it—and antee—and sell this you ask 430 double and single breasted pin check Cassi- mere Suits—absolutely all wool and elegantly trimmed—The Standard got $15 and it you don't s3e $15 worth in them get your money back by just asking.. 500 Cassimere Suits in a neat plaid—every fibre wool, serge lined, seams all clusive hizh grade suits, made tosellat $18. Raturn these suits at our expense if not as represented Men'’s Black Worsted Cheviot suits, breasted, sizes 35to 44—Oyer for $18. A Continental guar- antee goes satisfactory....... Fancy and Black Worsted Dress Suits in sacks and frocks—half a dozen styles—Best dresser can wearthem. Wehave them in black as low as $7—but these are $20 suits. Send for measurement blanks C asanasasasan: AN with every suit and money refunded if not ONTI CLOTH .50 27 silk sewed—ex- $ 8.50 double 350 suits that sell $9.00 Children’s 5200 Frock Suits— in the same values as the sacks and a car load of sack suits at Boys’ Clothes— Boys' Suits as lowas,.... $3-50 Suits as low as. . $1.95 Boys’ Pants as low as. All worth at least double, Overcoats— Light and heavy weights will be on the second floor during this sale— overcoats for men, boys and children NENTAL SE./ A AT Sooeoso oot et oo e t ended to Increase the vast aggregate of :purnlkms through the banks and the clear- ing houses, the establishment of stock ex- change clearing houses has had a directly contrary effect. The first official stock ex- change clearing house was founded in Frank- fort in May, 1867, and it was found that set- tlements involving $250,000,000 in securities could be made by the payment of $5,000,000 in currency. The primary feature of the stock exchange clearing houses is the set- ting off of sales of stock by certain brokers against purchases of the same stock by other brokers, 5o that the final balances only are delivered by the clearing house. Several of the stock exchange clearing houses go fur- ther, however, and settle the entire money balances between the brokers. The Berlin exchange adopted the clearing system in 1869, the Hamburg exchange in 1870, that of Vienna in 1873, and that of London in 1876. The peculiar crganization of the Paris Bourse has prevented tha forma- tion of a regular stock clearing bouse in Paris, but the same results are obtained by a voluntary ~comparison of accounts. The system was not introduced at New York until 1892, when a committes was appointed 10 in- vestigate and report, and their report was promptly adopted. The new plan went into operation on May 16, 1892, and has worked with remarkable success, The mecossity of keeping bank deposits to cover the full pay- ment for stock has been brought to an end, and accounts are settled by the payment of the balances. “The effect of the withdrawal of so much of the Stock exchange business from (he New York clearing house has been very marked. Comptroller Knox calculated, when hc made bis investigation, in 1881, that $113,000,000 of the sum of $141,000,000 recelved by the state and natlonal banks of New York City on given day were cleared by twenty-three bank having relations with brokers. An examina tion of their clearings disclosed the fact that $80,000,000 was In certified checks, of which it was estimated that 90 per cent, or $72,000,000, represented stock transactions. The comp- troller admitted that it was Impossible to determine what proportion of these transac- tions were speculative, and what proportion for investment, but he computed that about three-sevenths of the whole receipts of the New York banks represented speculative transactions on the Stock exchange. The falling off in clearings since 1892 has not been nearly so marked as this, and the brokers still have large use for the banks, but the establishment of the Stock exchange clearing house has introduced a new factor into finpnelal transactions which has to be considel in computing their lncrease In volume. CASTING A BRONZE STATUR, A Delicate and Tedious Work Re- aujring Great Skill, Tuere is a great deal more difficulty in cast- ing a large bronze statue than might be supposed. The popular idea is that molten bronze is poured into a mold, then, when the metal has cooled, the mold is knocked oft and the statue is complete. A much more elaborate process is necessary, and the oper- ation is one requiring the greatest care even to the smailest details, Nearly all statues, even the most elaborate, says the New York Tribune, are cast in one piece, instead of in sections, as was formerly the practice. After the piaster model has been obtained from the sculptor, it is laid upon a wooden frame and built up all over with & pecullar kid of reddish sand, obtained from France. The best sand Is impgrted from Fontenay aux Roses, about sixteen miles from Paris. When this sand is worked it possesses great cohesiveness, and it becomes of a stony hardness when dry. The building-up process is not ro easy as it seems, for the sand has to be applied in little chunks, varying in size but all fitting snugly together, so that they can be taken apart when the mold is dry. In an elaborate casting there wilk be from 1,500 o 2,000 of these pieces, all of which must be accurately adjusted or the casting will be imperfect. The most noticeable feature in a bronze foundry is the number of workmen employed in cutting litle chunks of the sand, and, after numbering them, carefully fitting them around plaster model. Nearly all the workmen are French, for some of the finest bronze foundries in the world are in Paris, and the best workmen come from there, When the blocks of sand are dry, they are carefully taken off one by one, refitted without the plaster model. This constitutes the mold, which is then filled with clay. As soon as the clay is dry the blocks forming the mold are agan removed, and a clay fac- simile of the plaster cast is obtained. The work to be done on a clay model is of a deli- cate nature, and upon its excellence the suc- cess of the casting depends. The model ha to be reduced by scraping until it is an exact but slightly smaller copy of the plaster cast, For a large statue about a quarter of an inch has to be taken off the entire surface, and the dificulty In doing this accurately when the subject 1s at all ornate may be imagined. The thickness removed from the clay model represents the thickness of the metal in the completed statue. 1t the reduction of the clay core, as it is technically termed, is satisfactory, the mold is agaln put together, this time with the core the inclosed. There is then a space of a quarter of an inch between the core and the mold. The core is stayed with fron rods in such a way as to hold it rigidly in the center of the mold, Teaving the interval between the core and the sides of the mold exactly equal all around. The molten bronze is then poured in from the top, completely filling up the space between the core and the mold. Atter the metal cools the mold is removed, and when the clay interior has been taken out the statue is complete with the exception of the finishing touches. These are usually given under the supervision of the sculptor and consist of smoothing off rough places and strengthening various lines. All these operations take considerable time, and the more ambitious pleces take years to finish, The Astor doors of Trinity church took three years. Ono of the most rapld cast« ings ever made In this country was the statue of George Washington, in front of the subtreasury, which was finised in six weeks and two days. Every one has noticed the bright color, of “‘patina,” as it is called, of the legs of this slatue, while the rest of the body Is as grim as all the other statues in New York City, This is due to tho rubbiog of the lower part of the statue by the shoulders of the news- boys and street urchins who gather round it In the evening. The founders of the statua would be greatly obliged to the boys If they would rub the rest of the great man's body, for a “patina” acquired in this way is s perior to any which can be given in the shop. The most elaborate statue in the country is perhaps J. Q. A. Ward's statue of President Garfleld, in Washington. The nude figures and oroamentation around the statue wee responsible for much of the difficulty in cast- ing. In statue casting the alloy commonly used consists of ninety parts copper, seven tin and three zinc. The ancient Greeks used an alloy of eighty parts copper and twenty tin. Bronze casting was first practiced by them at the time of Pausanias; previously bronze statues and ornaments were made by riveting sheets of bronze together in the way that the Statue of Liberty is ecn- structed, e =) et alllng » Halt, Washington Star: “There's just one thing that 1 want to say,” sald the proprietor of the newspaper to his managlog editor, “and that is that we've been imposed on long enough.” “What's the matter?” “We're going to turn over @ new leaf, If these pugllists are going to do their fight« ing In the newspapers they'll have to paw for it the szme the baking powder manue facturers,”