Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-06
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

But before the race gets to the sad
| point visualiZed by the New Yorker,
when we neither see nor hear, nor are
able to keep ourselves upright by the
aid OF the queer little balancers in the
Eustachian tubes, something is going to
| happen.
one may feel quite sure about that,
! and it makes some of us who are dis
turbed by noises quite happy. What is
going 10 happen is just this: The COM
| mon sens, OF the race is going to as
sert itself again, as 1t has so many times
| in the past.
Already the handwriting on the wall
| points to the sensible curbing OF city
| noises Anti-noise commissions have
been appointed in some of our greatest
cities in an attempt to assure a good
nights rest to those who need it and
want it.
These bodies are dealing not with
radio alone, although that is one OF the
greatest offenders, but with all types OF
noises which disturb the peace OF COM
munities, especially residential sections
The hopeful thing is that these COM
missions are not merely passing regula-
| lions. They are actually making it easy
for those regulations to be invoked and
| enforced There are enough police reg
| ulations on the books of all cities to
| handle any such cases already, II the
| average home owner did not flnd IL
difficult, almost impossible, to invoke
| them.
| A complaint is not enough. but the
complainer must face the burden of the
proof, and must have witnesses OF all
sorts, and be backed up by several OF
| his neighbors. Now, any one who has
| lived In a neighborhood-any ne1ghbor-
hood-knows how impossible 1t is, in
the face of the modern spirit of criti-
cism; to get any one else to agree to
anything he says or thinks.
If he thinks certain dog in a COM
nunity is nuisance, his nearby neigh
| bors don't think so at all. Let it bark
necessarily all night long, the moment
he tells the police about it, others will
have failed to have heard it at all.
| The simple eXpedient Of inviting an
officer up and permitting him to listen
with his own ears is thing unknown
to off1cialdom. officials do not function
| in such a common sense manner. They
| have their rules, and often enough 1t
seems as if the rules were made to
| thwart the very regulations for which
they were ostensibly made.
X X y *
But the common sense way of look
| ing at nuisances of all sorts is making
Roadway, and, much to the surprise OF
! the Nation, in the very city where
/
| metropolis of New York.
! Those who do not read the New York
papers can have little idea of the bust
| neSslike way in which their Noise Com
mission has gone about its business If
it keeps on as it has begun, 1t will go
far beyond anti-loud-speaker regula-
! tions as passed in Washington and a
| few other cities
| Thus the hilarious, healthy family
which rather prides itself on the
amount of noise which it can broadcast,
in the form of laughter and talk, in the
course of a friendly session at home,
will find that 1t comes in the same class
with misused radio sets and speakers.
Unframed dogs, yapping one zap every
two seconds at the inoffensive moon,
tors under the law, and their owners
will discover that other people have
rights as we'll as themselves.
| The list of noisemakers might be
| extended but every one who is at all
sensitive to such things knows them
without enumeration We have heard
OF one man living in the community Of
| Silver Spring who has protested the
mighty whistling of the B. g. o. in the
early hours of the morning He says it
is too loud, and we have no doubt 1t is
All such matters will be handled, in
time, by noise commissions, appointed
with authority 10 act and to act with a
heavy hand, and in the interest of the
peace and health of the whole people.
! The man who today may be labeled
Crouch" will then be the popular hero,
the far-seeing man who as long ago
so they will say-as 1880 saw the needs
for quiet, healer of minds, nerves and
| SNIIlC