The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-22
Your Whistle, Mr.. Hewitt

Trustworthy reports from the n~eighbor-
Ing State of New Jersey represent the ex.
istence there Of a condition Of affairs which
needs correction. This particularly con-
Germs the Hon. ADRIAN S. HEWITT.
Mr.. HEwITT's celebrated railroad. the
Greenwood Lake, now operated as a part
of the Erie system, has become ali of a
sudden a whirlwind of enterprise and
vigor. In twelve months it has jumped
ahead at least thirty years In the matter
of modern ideas and progressive manage
ment. Money is spent generously as well
as intelligently for the improvement Of the
plant and the accommodation of the public.
1t is a work Of thorough regeneration. All
this is due partly to the Hon. ADRIAN S.
HEwITT'S abiding affection for the creature
of his earlier manhood and partly to a re-
cent touch from the magic wand which the
Genius Of Reorganization exercises at the
corner Of Wall street and Broad.
Along with other changes, Mr.. HEWITT
has invented a new steam whistle Of phe-
nomenal activity, and has attached the same
to most of his locomotives. This whistle
can be heard nearly one hundred miles in
any direction. 1t rips through the Jersey
air as a buzz saw tears through a log Of
wood. Its awful voice is pitched some.
where between the shrek Of a dying mega
~losaurus and the piercing yell of a damned
soul, Unexpectedly subjected to an unusual
torture. The Hewitt whistle ought to in
terest SATAN, for there is nothing like it
yet in sheol.
Formerly the machines employed on the
Greenwood Lake used to amble up and
down the rails i~notfensively. The only
concern of the roads customers about the
quality of the steam, or rather the sluggish
evaporation from tepid water which did
its best to perform the functions of steam,
was that it should hold out at least half
way across the meadows. There was no
surplus vapor for noise; but now what a
prodigious revolution There is steam
enough on the Greenwood Lake to operate
a first-class railroad and a frst.class hades
simultaneously.
AS a public advertisement Of the advent
of energy, Mr.. HEwITT's whistle is a howl.
ing success; otherwise it is entirely repre-
hensible. The energy Is misplaced. 1t is
an application of steam power through the
wrong aperture. The whistle terrorizes
eastern New Jersey during twenty-four
NAN 49, v Neyo III III ntth.
There is no escape from 1t except by emf.
grafton. 1t PUSHES back and forth in dew
ilish JOY, setting the whole atmosphere
a.quiver, spreading far and wide the germs
of nervous prostration, numbering innocent
sleep, threatening robust health, doubling
the pangs of physical pain, and making
invalids pray for death. We are credibly
informed that there is a hot time in the
old towns along the Greenwood Lake Rail.
road when Mr.. HEwITT's whistle lets itself
loose on the community.
We have endeavored, in the interests of
a now thriving section of a noble Common
wealth. to state the facts plainly and with.
out exaggeration in order that the Hon.
ADRIAN S. HEWITT may decide for himself
whether the case does or does not demand
his personal consideration. His present
ideas of the proper whistle equipment of a
renovated railroad, If persisted in, will lead
to the inevitable result; the region affected
will become a wilderness. In any belt of
territory the presence of this whistle and
the presence of such a population as alone
can produce traffic and make dividends are
utterly Incompatible. Citizens may con.
time to petition, township committees
may continue to protest, boards of health
may search the statutes for power to pro-
tect the helpless, grand juries may move,
but we prefer to appeal directly to the
Hon. ADRIAN S. HEwITr's well.known
benevolence.
Besides, he knows something of the hor.
rors of insomnia himself.