Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/177

 men concerning my selection to ride for his company: “The Iver Johnson Company have pinned their faith in Major Taylor, the phenomenal colored rider, who won the championship in 1899. His almost unbroken string of victories, culminating in his winning of the American championship title, swayed us as we pondered on a selection to ride our models this year. We debated the value of Major Taylor and his victories from an advertising standpoint with some of the leading advertising agencies of the country.

“At first my company was rather skeptical because this was a very radical departure in advertising. However, we decided to give it a fair trial, and not only did we make Major Taylor’s victories prominent in our display advertisement, but we kept all our agents constantly informed of his successes on our wheels. I am frank to say that the money we paid Major Taylor was the best investment we ever made. Not only was this made certain to me by the reports of our agents, but through the frequent orders that came direct to us specifying the type of wheel Major Taylor was riding.”

Here is an extract from one of the Iver Johnson catalogues: “Major’s career since riding the ‘Iver Johnson’ has been particularly successful. No one has been able to demonstrate superiority over him. In the spring of 1901 he defeated every rider who competed with him, in Europe, his tour being regarded as the most remarkable in the