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Show ROLLER SKATING. Doscret News, editorial: "The launching of a new form of amusement, amuse-ment, or more properly speaking, tho return of an old one during the past winter, caused an observant purveyor of public amusements to say, a few weeks ago, that 'all Salt Lake Is en skates ' He might have added that the same was true with leferencc to the rest of tho country, for that is the fact, from Murray to New York, and from Ilutte to New Orleans. What was an all sweeping crae a quarter of a century ago has romc back as a pop ular fad, the permanency of which remains re-mains to be seen. Holler skating, no matter how much It Is commended or condemned, must be looked upon as an extraordinary de-elopment de-elopment in tho world of sport. More particularly Is this the case now than twenty-flvcycars ago, At that time there were far fewer forms ol sport for tho diversion of the people. Golf had not yet como across tho Atlantic and lawn tennis had only commenced to claim Its followers, while afternoon vaudeville, was a diversion unknown And yet, with all these new occupants of the amusement field, roller skating has sprung up Inside of a year and spread over all the cities of the land. Manufacturers are making Immense fortunes out of the tremendous demand de-mand for skates, and rink owners are getting rich on their gate icccipls. Kven with the showing made there arc those who say that tho pas tt I me has not jet assumed anywheres nearly the proportion of tho crazy of twenty-live years ago. In this connection lb Is Interesting to know something of tho origin of roller skating. It started In lloston in the fall of 1882, when the Mechanics' Pavilion was converted Into a rink and the ball bearing skate was Introduced for the llrst time. There had been some little skating before at summer resorts and big country houses, but nothing to speak of. The hard asphalt floor used for a time was nob as attractive or smooth as the maple Moor of today. Hy 18S1 It was estimated that 912,000,000 hart been Invested In tho business In tho United States alone. Meanwhile it had spread to England, through tho opening of the Olympla at South Kensington, which had Just.becn vacated by Ilarnum & Ilallcy. lb was an Iramcnce place and accomodated three thousand skaters at onetime. Hy the next year England Eng-land was skating mad, and tho practice prac-tice had spicad to France, Germany and Austria, and had even reached australia, India and South America. Then Mexico dropped its fandangoes for a time and went wild over lb. The most successful rink over established estab-lished Is said to have been the biggest of all, at Ilombay. In America, the fever continued until traveling theatrical theat-rical troupes were driven out from the profession, and they later combined to rout the craze from their territory. Suddenly the bottom fell out of the whole business, just as it did out of the bicycle mania of a more recent date. Whether or not lb will remain permanent this time Is what thousands thous-ands of men who have money In the venture are wondering. Most of them say that the signs for a long reign of the fad are In evidence and that they have pinned their faith to It with that hope In view. It might be added here that no city of Its size has a finer or larger skating pavilion than Logan at the present time. The New Auditorium compares more than favorably with any like Institution In Salt Lake City and as a place of amusement would bo a crcdlb to any city. Tho finest skates mado are In use there, the rink has excellent music at all times, and the hall Is so managed that lb Is a dcllghb to go thero. If tho average person had any real conception of the ease with which one may learn toskatu on rollers, and the exquisite pleasure there Is In skimming nlong without eilortovera smooth surface of largo extent to the strains of good music, all Logan and Cache Valley would soon be skating. |
