310 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



too, two otlier associations were organized and began work in the 

 same way. 



The supreme merit of voluntary effort, as every careful stu- 

 dent of Mr. Spencer's social philosophy knows, is the powerful 

 stimulus it exerts both upon the generous emotions and upon the 

 intellectual powers. People brought together by their interest in 

 a common cause not only feel friendly toward one another, but by 

 their desire to interest others in the same cause they are moved to 

 be friendly with them. Most marked was the growth of this feel- 

 ing among the bicyclists of the city and country after the defeat 

 of the tax bill. It was often mentioned and commented upon. 

 As a result of the desire to promote a common cause, contribu- 

 tions came in freely. They were not limited to the dollar fixed by 

 the tax bill. There were several sums ranging from twenty-five 

 to one hundred dollars. Nor did they come from bicyclists alone. 

 People that never rode a wheel gave. Nor were contributions 

 confined to money ; they included cinders, ashes, and gravel for 

 the paths and team work from farmers. 



The invention of ways and means was quite as marked as the 

 moral effect. Had the tax bill been passed, the bicyclists would 

 have been just as indifferent to this subject as they would have 

 been to one another. But the necessity of raising money by vol- 

 untary effort stimulated them to the discovery of the most effect- 

 ive ways. The women riders held a lawn festival, and raised 

 some money ; they gave an entertainment in a public hall and 

 raised more. A newspaper was induced to undertake the collec- 

 tion of a fund. It was so successful that it obtained more than a 

 thousand dollars. At the suggestion of a physician much inter- 

 ested va bicycle riding as a healthful exercise, a callithumpian 

 parade was held in the driving park. Although the admission 

 was only twenty-five cents, nearly twenty-five hundred dollars 

 more were obtained. The result of the various methods for rais- 

 ing money was over five thousand dollars. 



The best part of the defeat of the tax bill was the deliverance 

 from politics and politicians. Here, too, was another application 

 of the social philosophy of Mr. Spencer. How often has he shown 

 that a more cumbersome, ineffective, and wasteful way of doing 

 business could not be devised ! Had the wit of man set about to 

 invent something to dissipate energy, to stir up contention, and to 

 produce the least satisfactory results, it could have hit upon 

 nothing better adapted to this end than the tax bill. There would 

 have been the intriguing for the appointment of the side-path 

 comm-issioners ; the scheming to get contracts for the construction 

 of the paths ; the pulling and hauling to have them constructed in 

 some particular locality first ; and, finally, the certainty that they 

 would not have been built in the best and most economical way. 



