Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-07-20
NEEDLESS NOISES.
A Disturbing Element OF Life In
the Big Cities
Changing BELLS and Rattling Carts Make
Nervous People Miserable - The
Need of Mechanical Inven-

The British Medical journal some
months ago. in an article calling at
tention 10 the effects Of the noise OF
cities on the nervous system. sets forth
in detail some Of those noises and sug-
gests means for their extinction OF
amelioration without sacrifice OF the
industries which produce the various
kinds OF din. II is pointed ont. for ex
ample, that the railway companies and
factories on the continent use horns
Of not unpleasing sound in place Of the
hideous steam whistle. The church
bells OF England are compared with
those of other portions OF Europe. to
the disadvantage of the former: and it
is held that in an age when every room
has it's clock and every adult his watch.
the frequent bell-ringing throughout
the day, which now offends the peace
Of Christian folk, seems unnecessary.
At night there are the shouting,
screaming and singing people about
the streets to cheat decent well folk OF
their rest, and worse yet to rctard the
curative process OF sleep in the case Of
those who are i'll. With the dawn
comes the milkman and his rafting
cans. The catalogue. SO far. of dis
tufbances for the London citizens ears
is about the same as with US. says the
Boston Transcript. In London they
have other nulsances which are not
known here. With true English con-
servatism. the knosker is still used, and
this continuance, long banished from
American front doors, is vigorously
piled by the postman or anyone else
who has a certain right to demand
speedy attention to his signal. They
have found in England, as we have
found here, that with every new con-
trivance for mans comfort or conven-
fence there is introduced the poison of
q new noise. The din of the bells on
the street cars has been stopped on
Sundays by municipal order. but it is
heard on other days. and is none the
less irritating because it is raised amid
the rattle Of every sort of vehicle. A
ties is the buzz and whirr OF the trolley
on the electric railroad wires.
1t is = common expression, and q
common belief, too. probably, that one
grows used to all these noises. That is
Q fatal blunder. As one whose sense
of smell is dulled by familiarity with
the poisonous effluvia Of tobacco may
be nauseated by An excess Of the odor
in close room IS quickly rs though
the senses were still acute, so one who
fancies himself proof against the
Notwithstanding effects of noise may
after long living amid din continuous
or irregular, suddenly find himself the
victim of as fine q case of shattered
nerves IS . neurOpath would like to
have in hand. If the insidiousness of
din and racket were once generally
recognized there would be q demand
upon the inventive capacity of me-
chanics to devise means Of prevention.
1t is because this recognition and this
demand are not general in certain
cases that the complaints of the sensi-
tive are met by the query: "How are
you going to help it?" propounded with
the air Of submitting a problem impos-
sible of solution. But when it il re-
called what wonders have been accom-
plished on steam railroads in the way
Of stopping or at least of lessening
noise, there is nothing unreasonable
in hoping that some Of the distracting
noises Of our city life may be scattered
through the kindly Offices Of in
genious men. For instance, there is
the rattle of wheels over pavements;
much of that can be prevented by set
ting the tires over inner tires of rub
Der, while for some light vehicles the
pneumatic tire Of the bicycle is posi-
BILE. Poor wheelwright's work is re-
sponsible for much of the rattle caused
by drays and express wagons. A
frightful din is made by wagons load
ed with metal rods or pipe laid in as
though the several pieces were only SO
many logs Of wood; to prevent this
noise it is only necessary to separate
each piece with block and each STRAIT
UNI with strips of wood. OF course, all
preventive means of noise will cost
money, but in many cases the first cost
will be all. If those who are response
BILE for the persistence in the noisy
ways of accomplishing much of the
work of life cannot be convinced of
their lack Of humanity public opinion
may yet crystalline itself into law-but
it is q mean sort of civilization that
has to be stirred to performance of
duty toward ones neighbor by statutes
and police regulations.