80 PUBLIC HEALTH 



some of them intelligent enough to know better, figure in the police 

 courts every year as prisoners on this account. 



Noise, as an element of public nuisance, demands increased atten- 

 tion from the sanitary officer. Its injurious effect on the health of 

 individuals is beyond question. But the authorities must distin- 

 guish carefully as to whether a particular noise is a public or merely 

 a private nuisance, and whether it is a necessary concomitant of some- 

 thing of public utility. 



Noise nuisances in connection with public utilities are in some 

 sense necessary. In cities the trolley-car is often a source of nuisance 

 to the inhabitants of the streets through which it passes, due to exces- 

 sive ringing of bells, and the operation of cars with unevenly worn 

 wheels. Both these nuisances can be minimized, either by calling the 

 attention of the railway operators to them, or, failing relief, by prose- 

 cution in the courts. The use of flat-wheeled cars is as much a waste 

 of power and equipment as is imperfect combustion of fuel, and, in 

 the interest of the public health, should be suppressed with equal 

 severity. 



Offensive and dangerous trades also call for attention by the sani- 

 tary authorities. Most cities which have given proper care to this 

 subject have restricted their offensive trades, such as slaughter- 

 houses, gas-plants, and the like, to certain areas, and allowed their 

 operation only under permit from the board of health, revocable 

 for violation of the sanitary ordinance. This system appears to work 

 very satisfactorily for the public, so long as the sanitary officers are 

 neither negligent nor venal. 



It is an interesting fact in connection with the handling of nui- 

 sances of this class that many improvements demanded by the sani- 

 tary authorities, such as the inclosing of rendering-vats to prevent 

 the escape of ill-smelling vapors or the collection and removal of 

 nuisance-making liquid refuse, have in themselves resulted in 

 cheapening manufacture; the discussions of methods for the innocu- 

 ous removal of such waste matter has opened the way for its profit- 

 able employment for the making of one or more of tlie numerous 

 by-products out of which large profits are gained. 



These results might never have been achieved without the cor- 

 rectional action of the authorities. 



The time has passed for the establishment of any of the so-called 

 offensive trades within the built-up portions of cities. Existing 

 plants should be gradually removed, with due regard to the vested 

 interests involved, and no more should be allowed to come in. Rail- 

 way transportation of dressed beef has become so general that there 

 is no longer any excuse for the building of slaughter-houses in east- 

 ern cities. Not only is this best on economic grounds, but the trans- 

 portation of live-stock for longer distances than absolutely necessary 



