Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-21
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G. M.

mission. New York: Department OF
Health.
City noise is now recognized as q
menace to those who are continuously
shut up within it. City noise Is already
accepted as q definite source Of physical
and mental impairment, rs q direct
cause of lowered vitality and vitiated
efficiency.
Not an entirely new theory, this one
Rather Is 1t the rediscovery Of much
earlier outlook upon public health. Long
before our own era-away back in pagan
days-Greece and Southern italy In
cluded within their municipal programs
rules for the abatement Of city noise.
Like so many other triumphs Of modern
life in supposedly new fields of dis
covery and invention, this one, too, goes
back for its origin into the shadows OF a
near-antiquity.
The modern day in q new spirit, how
ever, is turning toward the question of
city noise as q menace to public we'll
being. Already England. France and
Germany are making definite expert
ments toward better condition in this
respect. Already each Of these coun-
tries Is reporting measures, according to
its special need, for amelioration In this
direction.
In SO far as thorough and systematic
investigation goes, in so far as q con-
crete municipal program issuing there
from is concerned, New York City Is,
in the formal movement toward abate-
ment Of city noise. DR.. Shirley w.
Wynne, commissioner of health, ap-
pointed a commission to study noise In
the great city and to develop means Of
abating 1t. This commission inspires
immediate confidence by virtue Of the
quality and standing Of its members.
Each IL nnfaNln I'm his
Here are doctors, lawyers, civil engi-
neers, specialists IN surgery, neurology,
| psychology, GEOLOGY. Here are heads
OF great industrial corporations. of the
City Sanitary Commission, of the Health
Department and 60 on in q roster Of ex-
perts and specialists, covering every DOS.
sible phase Of the subject in its relation
to public health, to individual efficiency
| mind.
'City Noise" the book in hand. is
the report OF the commission-its find-
lngS and its recommendations. Four
competent editors, headed by Edward
F. Brown, have turned the report into
body Of substantial information that
Is as interesting as it is purely useful
IN intent. Charts, pictures and other
revealing graphs give punch to the
text at many a vital point. AOne Of
the most striking of these is the cover
chart showing the sources of city noise
| in its bulk. Familiar points here
trucks, motor cycles, sirens, bells.
radios, pianos, building processes, and
so on and so on. From mere "an-
noyances" to the nervous" and the
Tightly" these sources of trouble have
now passed over to the consideration
of the scientist as momentous matters
In municipal affairs. The striking
effect Of this book is the compre-
hensive character of its investigations.
Next comes the clear impact Of its
method, its orderliness, by way of which
an amazing bulk OF diverse material
settles into but a few outstanding lines
OF cffense against the municipal life
Another impression left by city Noise"
Is the full-hearted cooperation that
1t has commanded. Business men,
noisy ones at that, gather round the
table with the specialists and medical
experts, talking out ways and means
by which they may be able to quiet
machinery at this point or that one,
to adjust and readjust working prac-
ticeS to the end sought Hundreds Of
occupations are represented here in the
interest Of the abatement of noise. In
terests that clash, specifically, are in
this common purpose toward . desired
end reduced to accommodations that
are, to say the least, of really inspira-
tional effect. Sounds overenthusiastic?
Well, it Is not. You read this report.
You'll like the rest of the folks better
after having read it.. From all over
the country responses have come to this
New York experiment. The press from
every quarter has been generous in sup
port and suggestion. At the last comes
the vital question, What can we,
citizens of New York, do about noise?"
And that is, after all, large part of
the whole. whether the citizens live in
New York or Chicago, or washington
to be sure. One that cannot be even
partially muf1ed without the personal
help of every one of us. And any one
reading this plain report-which is
almost everything but "plain"-will
without question quicken up to doing
his part. Addressed to the city fathers,
this report is, nevertheless, thing for
every citizen to read for its substance
and order and practical program.
- ~
THE GREAT GAME OF POLITICS.
BY Frank r. Kent, author of THE
Story of Maryland Politics" New
York: Doubleday, Doran 81 Co.
This book, according to Mr.. Kent, is
IAN effort to set out politics, the game
of politics as 1t Is played, "for the ben
CA4b VI Vic aFCAo6C OAb4ACAs \ IA y CAOA-
zen, end average, and deeply DESTROYS
Of "the benefits" of political schooling.
So, I've read THE Great Game of Poll
tics" have, in good industry and good
intent, gathered up here "the facts"
about politics as q theory of govern
ment rather than as the agent Of gov
eminent. From this quite Illuminating
start moved on to get acquainted
with the politicianS-the sort they all
m ho-ny1A NTH "A xooAINiV1Aa
that have been invented for facilitating
the moves in the great game. I
watched the gradual Sletamorphosis of
candidates to politicians. Indeed,
went the whole way from the one voter
at the polls clear on through State
politics, where was left looking over
into the national field itself.
without will on my part there came
into my mind the spirit Of sportsman-
ship that is being so carefully and so
heartily inculcated on the youth OF
this country, all the way from the
lads in the back lot to national and
international victors in one or another
of the modern forms Of play. What
has become Of that spirit? Certainly
it has fled. For from this account Of
facts about politics" here Is no game.
Rotten from end to end. Most de-
pressing to read about it, even. The
first reaction to such reading is denial,
swift and vehement. But pause comes
with the reflection that the writer Is a
political expert, like many journalists
Of equal note, an observer to be count
ed. an expositor p be minded. So
plug away at this stuff, finding only
vulnerable men on the one hand and
corrupt leaders on the other. Yet, this |
effort" is not made with abusive in
tent. There is much Of description, OF |
analysis, of deduction here, all fairly |
and expertly presented. Much OF po- |
litical history in painStaking and faith
f,1I ranord Az h0tt0n1 IL seems as III |