The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-07-28
NOISE IN A BIG CITY.
PROGRESS FROM BARBARlsM MAY BE
MEASURED 81 NOISE.

tie ue>lr" :aI less No:-e-TheE Efforts Of
CITY Az tiles Of Today Are DIRECTED!
Tow ard Reducing II.
There always comes a period in the
history of II progressive community WHEN
a desire to keep down roise begins to
~hogv itself In the primitive stages Of
culfure-the savage. the barbarian All!
.he Seiuibarbailan-tiie passion for noise
Is always strong. All savages and bar
barians love to make all the row they
can Their Joy and sorrow both express
themselves in yells. walls and shouts
and the beating and blowing of loud re-
sounding Instruments. more especially
the drum ard the horn. The noise of
primitive savage warfare almost equals
that of the gunpowder engagements of
modern arms. although it was. as we
might say. almost wholly manual o
vocal
The din of a barbarian funeral. too.
was and is something appalling. The
practice Of hiring -nourners to make q
lond lament on such occasions has come
down almost to our own time among
the Celtic Irish. All African travellers
describe the noise Of little merrymaking
in an African village as something which
no civilized man easily forgets. Those
who have passed an evening at q Chinese
theaSer have probably never in their
widest dreams thought it possible to
produce plays with musical accompani-
me,.ts OF such awful shrillness and in
tensity.
In fact. it is hardly an exaggeration to
say that the progress Of a race in civ
ilization may be marked by a steady re-
duction in the volume Of sound which it
produces in connection with its deaths.
births. marriages. eeGsts. merrymak-
.ngs. its wars and peaces, trade. COM
merce and manufactures. The more cul-
ture of all kinds it acquires the less noise
it produces. There is no surer sign, in
fact. of an upward movement of the
tribal soul than the appearance of a de-
sire to get along with less uproar. When
its leading mel begin to ask themselves
whether this or that could not safely b.
done with fewer yells or smaller drums.
it shows that it is becoming self conscious
and is feeling the throbs of a new life.
After this comes a change in the charac.
ter Of the musical instruments, a general
lowering Of the tones of the voice, the
substitution at funerals of the silent tear
for the half maniacal keen and the
~exaction of silence in military drill.
In cities this mental and moral growth
is of course .isplayed in the repression
OF street cries. of street music. of all
noises made for mere amusement. such
as beating of drums. and Blowing of
horns, and purposeless and persistent
shouting and yelling. These are hut
~rudimentary steps. and we have already
taken them in New York. The next and
most important n the reduction of the
noise made by the ordinary and leciti
mate street traffic. we are only begin
ming. Its Importance has been recor-
nized in the modern world pari passt.
with the increasing interest in and care
for pnblic hygiene.
There is no modern city health board,
and indeed no modern city doctor. who
is not well aware of the evil effects OF
incessint noise in the vast and increas-
ing multitutes who in all the great cities
now live. one might say. by their wits.
but, more accurately, by their nerves.
The mount of mental operations which
require silence. or at all vents an ar
proach to silence. for their healthtulness
in cities like New York. London or
Paris. carried on by merchants. brokers.
bankers. boo!ikeepers, preachers, profess
ors. architects. designers. engravers,
painters. students. judges. lawyers. ed
itors. ministers, 10 something enormous
and grows with all our material growth.
The performance of this work in the
midst of tremendous uproar Of any kind
Of course greatly increases the expendi-
lure of vital force which accompanies
all mental exertion. Consequently the
reduction OF city noise is now n of the
most important elements in all city re-
forms.
In New York we have as -. only
made a beginning on it by the int roduc-
ton Of the asphalt pavement, but this is
being rapidly extended and must pro-
duce . marked effect in sound reduction
before long. What this pavement does
to lessen noise in the streets in which it
exists everybody who has passed along
them or lived on tim knows. It makes
SouVCA60t1OA ~ SoOO " S0AA104C0 IN !
rooms facing on the street comfortable
and makes sleep in summer nights with
open windows an easy possibility-facts
which are really . complete answer to
al the complaints Of ~slipperiness.
Better far that an occasional horse
should come down than that the nerves
Of thousands Of hardworking men and
women should be continuously set on
edge BY CHATTER which is all the more
wearing for being intermittent. In Lon
don the hard grinding, soul penetrating
noise of the New York stone pavement
has been suppressed, or rather has been
largely converted into a subdued. on
tinuous roar or boom by means of wood,
asphalt and macadam, and though
horses fall much on them oil humanity
gains.-New York Post