The morning journal-courier., 1908-11-14
THE SMOKE NUISANCE.

THE SMOKE NUISANCE,
 It is seldom that one nuisance In this or any other city affects so many people and so large a territory as the present smoke nuisance in our fourth ward The matter has become nothing less than a public evil Like some in- tolerablc monster, the railroad com pauy's big round-house has long been belchng forth great volumes of dense, black smoke, to- the utter disgust ot every resident Innumerable com plants have been without avail The affair has finally culminated in a series of law suits now pending in the civil side of the superior court,
 One of these smoke nuisance suits, that by Henry Fresenlus, has just been on trial. How vital matter 1t is con sidered to be is shown hy the fact that President Mcllen himself has been sub pocnaed by the plaintiff to appear on the witness-stand The outcome of these suits should be awaited with in- terest by every New Haven citizen, The future development of the whole fourth ward section of the city depends upon how they are settled Time was when that ward was one of the most popular in the city It once had one of the longest lists of registered voters of any ward in the city. Howard avenue and its adjacent streets have many natural advantages, but these have all been more than counter balanced by the smoke nuisance of the railroad The result has been that hundreds and hundreds of desirable families have moved away to other sections of the city The present list of voters, which IS only fraction Of | the former list, shows that concluslvely. ' In short, the smoke nuisance has quite cffectually checked the natural growth and, spread of the city in one important direction
 The situation is not as if tho railroad ! were entirely powerless to better con l ditions though the fact that the rail ' road has itself bought up much of the ! adjacent residential property would seem to suggest that its officials thought such is the case. on the other hand, there are those who have been ! compelled to endure this somi-soid [ smoke day in and out who tell us that 1 the employees of the road at the round house show no willingness to stop the nuisance when they can. When tho 1 fires of the big engines are dumped the coals and ashes are left to shoulder for hours and hours, without any at tempt to put out their blaze. IL has been shown possible elsewhere Co get rid of smoke by burning it or otherwise, The same could be done al this particular round house by means of suction fans connecting with tho stacks of the big engines, but it has not
 If these suits in court begin to come out unfavorable to the road, it may be believed that ways and means vii he found to do away with the nuisance even if the round-house has to bt moved But, quite aside from thcs' suits, it Is quite possible for the city government to insist that the trouble be abatcd. That has been done lr other cities and il can be done hert Of course the time will comc-it hai been talked of for ears-when th' electric zone will be extended iron
 Stamford to New Haven and tha
 should mean the abolition of all smoke
 But, in the meantime, the whole ciC
 must not be retarded in Its free am
 natural growth because of this matter
 This therefore is something in whirj
 all New Havcners should be vitally in
 tercstcd, whether fourth warders' o
 not.