The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-05
USELESS NOISE.

] USELESS AOAsE-
In the exercise Of its authority and
! discretion the City Council some years
! ago placed on the ordinance books a
/ good law prohibiting hucksters from
/ crying their wares on the streets be-
I fore o'clock in the morning. The
reason for this restriction, and a suffi-
. cient one, was found in the fact that
| the crying of fish, vegetables. etc, In
/ the streets in the early hours was de-
| structive OF slumber on the part OF
majority OF the people, who do not
leave their pillows before or o'clock.
For the rest and comfort Of the ma
jority, therefore. one source OF dis
turbing noise was shut of.
But how many other sources Of noise.
useless and nerve-racking noise, have
been left! Take the early morning
steam whistle, 10 the number of which
have recently been added several of
those producers of unearthly racket
called steam sirens. What pande-
mOnium Of sound do they evoke, and
what volume of maledictions do they
call down upon the heads Of those who
seem to take fiendish delight in swing
ing on to the valve-cords! The whis-
ties begin shortly before 6 and their
discordant chorus is kept up steadily
for about half an hour. 1t seems that
each is trying to roar louder and long
er than every other. What is the OBJ
ject of all this footing and blowing?
Are the whistles calling mill hands to
work? Are they blown for the pur-
pose Of awakening those hands? 1t
must be that is the reason. There
could be no other sane reason. But
it should be remembered that this is
a city, not a backwoods mill settle
ment. The mill foreman has no right
to wake thousand people, who do not
care whether his mill starts at 6 or
s, in order that his corporars guard
of hands may be on time at their work
The mill whistle, Furthermore, is an
out-of-date method of calling hands
to labor, especially In a city. The
hours of beginning work are fixed.
Each hand knows it., and should be
required to report promptly. The whis-
tie, therefore, serves no really use
full purpose. 1t is not Indispensable
In the demoniacal fury with which 1t
is now manipulated, it is a nuisance.
And pretty much the same thing may
be said with respect to the bells. The
later at night and the earlier in the
morning the cars run, the more Wig
orously do the motormen pound their
gongs, apparently. The motorman
who, during the daytime, will merely
touch his gong a tap or two at street
crossings, will dance a jig on the gong
lever during his whole trip at mid
night or ct in the morning. When
the streets are filled with people the
gongs are heard only when it is neces-
sary to ring them, but when the streets
are deserted and the people are en-
deavoring to get little rest, the mo-
tormen seem to feel it incumbent upon
themselves to see how much noise they
can produce. Those who run on loco
motives seem to be imbued with the
same idea, and they keep their bells
going during the hours of darkness.
Do these several classes of makers of
needless noise do their worst out of
spite? Do they delight in keeping 9TH
ers from sleeping because they may
not themselves be abed at seasonabIe
hours? If all the energy that is wasted
in Savannah in year in the produc-
ton of needless and harmful noise were
diverted into some useful channel, it
would be sufficient to build up a city
in the midst Of plain. certain
amount Of noise is unavoidable in mod
ern life, but that which has no good
excuse behind it should be smothered,
for the sake of the nervous, the sick
and those who wish to sleep.