Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-04
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| not think of others until they are forced
to do so.
The hope is, however, that the great
bulk of city residents have become
thoroughly urban conscious. They
realize that few today live in mansions
in their own grounds They know that
walls between houses in rows are not
as thick nor as soundproof as they
once were. They know that different
| people have different kinds OF Work,
that they work during different times,
and that they do entirely different
types of work.
They know these things; it remains
for them to be brought to their atten-
ton often enough to make them realize
that there is very satisfactory solu-
ton of city living for every one If
every one will cooperate Tor the bene-
fit of every one else.
Cooperation, then, must stand as
the common sense solution of city liv-
ing, especially from the angles of peace
and quiet, and their opposites, noise
and hurly-burly. It is impossible to
believe that there are more than one
or two families in any given neighbor-
hood who would deliberately keep a
man awake until 3 or 4 am. when
they know that ne must report at his
place of business at ocloek, or maybe
Z or 8 o'clock.
We are convinced that ell who throw
wild parties" II they once stopped to
think the matter over. would attempt to
make them less wild If they really
thought that they were preventing &
neighbor from earning his bread and
butter.
1t is because they have never put
such matters upon common sense,
personal basis that they mostly are
thoughtless of the rights of others, and
Indifferent to their welfare.
81 x X
Campaigns" are started with many
different AIMS; we are convinced that a
fine one could be undertaken with the
simple objective of square deal for
every city resident in the matter Of
living conditions to his liking.
No modern man or woman, we are
convinced, could Withstand the logic of
this campaign, which would be one Of
education throughout, without penalty
or fine.
The net result of it would be that all
sorts of common nuisances and annoy
anceS would be ended by the co-opera-
ton of the very people who create them
or permit them to go on.
The>term community living" instead
Of being just phrase, as it so often is
now, would become a real matter of
concern to every man, woman and child
who wanted to get the most out of life.
Instead Of pretty phrase, COM
munity living would become just that
community living, with the rights OF
every one safeguarded for the benefit
of every one. Citizens associations
might function as courts of complaint,
where attractions might be aired and
the light of decent opinion placed
sQuarely upon them.
Out of this enforced turning of the
gaze, mental and actual, upon the ques-
ton of consideration Of others, would
come personal interest in what others
want in the way OF everyday living. The
trouble today is that so many never
once stop to think. The growth of
large cities, and what may be called
the "city complex" have come about
so gradually that the average city resi-
dent finds cruel selflshness stealing
over him.
1t takes real resolution, true determi-
nation, to realize that the man next
door whom we do not know is never
theless a human being like unto our
self, with a perfect right to want to go
to bed at 9 o'clock II he wants to, or
If he has headache, or If his job
demands it. Yet this is the need OF
modern city living, without which those
who live in the smallest hamletS enjoy
better living, in great many ways,
than we who so proudly think OF our
selves as "city people"