New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-03-12
Justice Guy, of Supreme
Court, Refuses to Enjoin
Federal Printing Co.
WHEN PRESSES
MAY RUN AT NIGHT
Public Interests Held More I'M
pOrtant than Fastidious
Comfort Of Persons.

and 45th Streets, and particularly 10
1 the owners of the great printing and
/ publishing establishments in that dis
! trict. II was in favor OF the defend
ants j. an action brought by Jennie
/ Garcewich and others against the Fed
/ eral Printing Company and the Nc
| Graw Realty Company.
/ In this case the Importance of the
/ decision lies in the fact that in the
! last eight or ten years there has been
concentration in this part Of the city
! of great printing establishments, which
are constantly increasing in number,
| nearly all of which find il necessary TO
, operate their presses at night.
A contrary decision to that made by
Justice Guy. If sustained by the higher
courts. would in all probability have
resulted not alone in enormous losses
TO such printing establishments, but
would have ended the development of
| this part Of the city as a centre for
such printing and publishing business.
The decision sustained the contention
OF the defendants that where the loca-
tion Of such business was appropriate
for the purpose. and they had used all
proper precautions to minimize the dis
turbance OF those upon adjoining
premises, the convenience and residen-
7 tial preferences of adjoining owners
must give way to the higher rights Of
/ the community as q whole.
Sought TO Enjoin Presses.
The plaintiffs are the owners of the
! large fiat or apartment houses az 251,
253 and 255 West Thirty-ninth Street.
! They brought their action for an in
( junction to restrain the defendants
from the continued operation, particu
larry in the nighttime. of the great
printing plants in the premises atloin-
ing upon the east, running from 23l 10
PAP. inclusive, West Thirty-ninth
Street The McGraw Realty Company
was made defendant, as the owner of
the property, but the action was
chiefly directed at the Fede. al Printing
Company. which, accord ng TO the evil
dence given at the trial, conducts on
these premises one OF the largest
printing establishments IN the world.
1t prints thirteen weekly trade jour
nails of large circulation, including
"The Iron Age" THE Dry Goods Econ
omist" and The Electrical World" six
monthly journals. including "The
Building Age" and THE American
Printer" and two quarterlies, besides
much job printing.
On the motion for a preliminary in
junction, before Justice Blanchard. it
was shown by the proofs presented by
. William {. Chapman, jr, of counsel
for the Federal Printing Company,
that the granting of such motion,
preventing, as IL would, the carrying
out OF the contracts to get out all Of
these publications within the pre-
scribcd time, might entail upon the
company loss Of approximately
100000. Tho result was that the
preliminary application was Withdrawn
and the question of an injunction left
for decision upon the trial. This oc-
/ cupied nearly two weeks before JUS
/ tee Guy in December.
Evidence Conflicting.
The plaintiffs presented the testi-
mony OF a large number Of tenant wit
nesses, who swore as to what they
called the almost deafening noises OF
the printing presses day and night and
10 resulting vibrations. which were said
TO shake pictures and mirrors from
the walls, and uphcavals that the wit
Eesses declared seemed to make the
buildings rock upon their foundations.
To d.sprove this testimony the de-
PENDANTS used in court. probably for
the first time in the trial of such an
action. seismograph. IL was set up
in court in the same way as in the eX-
periments it had been set up on the
plaintiffs premises. and experts swore
that the vibrations shown there when
all the forty large and fourteen smaller
presses Of the Federal Printing Com
] -
were practically negl igible.
But it was the findings OF Justice
Guy as filed yesterday upon other
points sustaining the contentious and
proofs of the defendants that are of
chief importance as affecting all print
! ing and other manufacturing houses
similarly situated as 10 dwellings in
! that part of the city. II was cOntended
/ by the plaintiffs that they were legally
and equitably entitled TO the quiet en-
joyment of their premises as dwellings
/ in the same manner as they were when
! they erected these buildings twenty
1 five years ago. when that part of the
| city was chiefly a residential section.
But Justice Guy holds that the de-
b PENDANTS have shown 10 ms satlsfac-
/ ton that since 1901. when the work OF
constructing the new Pennsylvania
Railroad station began, all OF this sec
ton of the city west of Broadway
from Th;rty-fourth Street TO Forty
/ fifth Street has been developing into
more and more of business section
by the coming into the section of
stores. loft buildings, storage ware
/ houses and manufacturing, including
printing and publishing establish
ments."
/ Among these are the great printing,
/ publishing and manufacturing estab-
/ lishments Of the Gorham Manufacture
ing Company. the Mccall Company, the
American Press Association, Scribner's.
/ THE Pictorial Review" The Times"
annex, and other printing and litho-
! graphing establishments not so well
known, but extensive in their opera
tons.
Court Refuses Injunction.
The court holds that the large build
/ ing o: the defendants in which the
presses were run were so constructed
Of steel and concrete as especially 10
adapt il 10 such printing use and 10
give il unusual strength ana stability
/ and TO reduce the vibration. and that
the features which had been incor-
porated into the building "for the pur-
pose OF reducing the vibration of the
building caused by the operation OF
the machinery therein were the best
that were known for the purpose" at
the time the structure was erected;
also that the nature of the business
carried on by the Federal Printing
Company requires II to operate us
plant during the night as well as the
4 day. and that the noise and vibration
resulting from the operation Of all
/ these presses were not sufficient IN
amount "to affect in any material way
/ the ordinary comfort OF existence Of