Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-06-05
ARE WE SLAVES OF
THE MOTOR HORN?
The Arch Tyrant Blasts, Howls,
Whistles And Bids All Get
Out Of The Way.

There is no mistake about il. the
motor horn is busy endeayoring 10
make US its slaves. says the Christian
Science Monitor. i may be. of course,
that in these days, when to petty
tyrannies are added super-tyrannies
and world tyrannies, and our lives are
bound up with lighting the archest Of
them all, we are liable 10 scent a ty-
rant at every turn OF the daily routine.
But the motor horn is a particularly
fragrant type. Do what we will 10
dodge it, we are ready, if ever, free
from it. II reaches US as We wake, il
startles US as we walk. All day long.
and well into the night it keeps up its
hideous cacophony. its raucous de-
mand its threat and counter-threat,
its expostulation and blame. its roar
and blatancy, it's blast or howl, its
bark or whistle. bidding us 10 get out
of that despot's way No matter the
note, whether it issue from screech
horn. or rattlesnake horn, bulb or
bird, its meaning is unmistakable;
We must stand not upon the order of
our going. but go.
The motor horn is, at heart, a law
less fellow, though there were days,
halcyOn days. when he was amenable,
or at least law-abiding. Ii is rather
exasperating now to recall that COM
parative age of innocence when the
motor horn was emerging and the
horse driver predominated, when
nothing worse than the comparatively
f.-rSfa Of MI, in oh
ing used TO sound in ones ears, while
bicycle bells rang musically along the
highways. One took comfortably to
the mellow brazen trumpeting of the
bulb" 1t was friendly, certainly
kindly intentioned. 1t never startled,
and a puncture in its bloated sides,
which gave it a wizened, expiring note,
suggestive of debating balloons, al
ways raised a sympathetic laugh. 1t
seemed to say Would you mind?" or
by your leave!" or viii you oblige?'
or Mind your toes. pleased" or any
thing pleasant and courteous of that
kind. 1t was never brutal and tyran-
nical, it never presumed TO order us
about, much less to make US jump, or
suddenly change our legs into agi-
tated springs. One simply obliged it;
one liked to oblige; it was rather de-
lightful to obey such a kindly dis
posed fellow.
But a day came, a dies ira, when
everything changed. The "klaxon,"
the "screech," and the "rattlesnake."
the bird" and the roaring bull" the
barker" and the whatnot seemed to
have sprung into existence overnight
and to have combined in one fiendish
contest of autocratic malevolence with
the avowed object of chasing every
predecessor off the motor earth Be
fore their onslaught, bell, bulb. and
the musical Gabriel" went their way,
and. at last, with them went our peace
and security, Before we knew it, we
had. instead of motor signals, roar
ing fauna of the streets. Their names
were pure camouflage. We had revivi-
fed the prehistoric tribe of the bel
lowing and bowling dinosaur, the
mastodon, the diplodocus, the tricera-
tops, and the pterodactyl and let them
loose upon the world, to take the
beauty out of our days, to disturb our
rest, and to make us obey. They are
still ordering up about, treating us as
ciphers. They own the streets, the
man who blows them, and the people
who inhabit the globe. They rule and
dictate, and we disobey at our peril.
Some day we shall pluck up cour-
age 10 take the unruly fellow in hand.
He will not always be allowed to
screech, or below. or shrek, and gen.
orally to indulge his proclivities for
making of noise, when we have long
since banned the cock that crows. the
dog that barks. the hawker who
shouts, and the bell that clangs, from
certain peaceful human retreats.