Evening journal., 1913-11-14
FRIDAY. NOV. Ia. 1918.
BusINFss AND CLOCK CLANGOR,


THE welfare Of the Hotel DUPONT and the comfort
/ Of its guests are Of infinitely greater Importance
10 the people OF the city Of Wilmington than the
brazen clangor Of the of the Court House clock
We do not think any sensible man or woman will
deny that
The hotel represents the biggest enterprise Of its
sort the Delmaryh Peninsula has known or
possibly viii know for years Il represents
something more than sordid business. II stands
for the patriotic sentiment and civic pride Of those
who brought into being. They believed that Whining
ton their home town. entitled TO something truly
metropolitan in the hotel line. In consonance with
that belief they poured money without stint and
erected and furnished the Hotel DUPONT IL is some
thing which wlmingtonians hailed with pleasure and
TO which, TO all comers. they point with pride
Next in importance the hotel Itself comes the com
fo,t OF its guests When the hotel opeaed one Of
the public claimed for Sc that It would be
a stopping place for business men and tourists who
heretofore had passed through to Philadelphia and
Baltimore 70 spend the night Il was said by scores OF
our most prominent disnterested citizens that that
would assist materially in the highly important work
OF putting Delaware the map. Those predictions
have been verified. The hotel has bn9' up an envi-
able tourist and transient trade II Is threatened with
incalcuabe injury by the fact that all night
long the Court House clock directly across Market
street booms out the hours disturbing Che sleep of
the transient guests and causing them to complain bit
tefiy to ths management OF the hotel.
In view Of such sistuaton It is not surprising that
the management appealed 70 the Levy Court which
controls tho clock relief to the extent OF Keeping
tho bell silent from 9 D. m. until A m. II is sur
rrsinr decidedly so. that the Levy Court has re-
fused 10 grant very reasonable and busness-lke
request The commissioners should bear in mind the
c that while the clangor Of the clock may not dis
thrb the sleep OF those persons who live constantly
near the Court House II does disturb transient
MOTEL guests who do not live the neighborhood long
enough to get used to IN the sleeping hours They
also should take into consideration the fact that In
these days when every home has clock and many
homes have several such time pieces and when there
usually are several watches each household there
IS no special why the Court House clock should
be permitted to strike at any in the day TO most
OF those who live or work constantly within sound OF
tho bell. familiarity makes IL clangor practically
meaningless To those who within sight OF Il, the
tells Its story without the assistance Of the
bell.
IT, seems to MS that the request OF the Hotel DUPONT
MANAGEMENT that the bell be silenced in the nigh
time is a very proper and that those commissioner
who voted against granting it did ewing to mis-
apprehension of the interests involved and the state
public sentiment Second-thought may impe them 4
recede from the position they have assumed They ar
business men, interested m the comfort and the wei
fare Of the city aud state They not mere Senti
mentalists The Hotel DUPONT is a business Broposi
ton in the success and welfare of which the city an
the state have acute interest The booming OF h
Court House clock in the sleeping hours represent
merely annoying sentiment those Who because @
long residepce within the zone OF It's sound do nc
hear it, it serves utlitarian purpose. Thos
who are brought transiently within that zone find
it an unmitigated nuisance which robs them of thei
sleep their comfort and, often their temper.
II the Levy Court Commissioners who voted to cor
tnue the nuisance wish do the sensible thing the
viii reverse themselves this matter and perm
good sound business reasoning to override the sent
mentality that seemingly obsesses them.