THE SMOKE NUISANCE 155 



ants? It is a penalty people pay for prosperity. The smoke-laden air of every 

 city is but a testimonial of the general prosperity of the country. No smoke 

 and rural stagnation is the rule — pleasant to live in, but not conducive to 

 general prosperity. 



All of which is respectfully submitted by the president in behalf of the 

 board of directors. 



Here then we have what we may appropriately call the official 

 defense of black smoke ! It is healthy ; it is inevitable ; it is a con- 

 comitant of prosperity and those who make it pay taxes ! Surely a 

 formidable argument, hardly requiring, however, a reply from the rev- 

 erend Monsignor. Still parts of his reply are so apt as to justify 

 quoting. After declaring that he had not asserted that the Erie 

 engines could be run without smoke while consuming coal, he declared 

 that the use of bituminous coal should not be tolerated in our cities, 

 as it is not tolerated in New York, which had its 



smoke problem and solved it as New Jersey should do; of course I need not 

 tell you that the elevated roads running through the great arteries of the 

 metropolis, and the Grand Central were to my mind a species of " railroad 

 traffic " and therefore my comparison is not odious. 



I have not said that any, or all, railroads are a nuisance, on the contrary, 

 I consider them one of the greatest blessings, but I do most persistently assert 

 that they are capable of committing nuisances, and in this particular instance 

 under discussion are now injuring, as they always do, where such abuses are 

 patiently borne, our property, and our homes. 



I believe railroads do pay taxes. I do not know a great deal about this 

 question, never having given it much consideration, but I do read occasionally 

 that the whole machinery of the city and state have to be put in motion to 

 collect the taxes levied. 



From what you say of the healthy condition of the bituminous coal fields, 

 which is not relevant to the issue, the attention of our leading physicians 

 should be called to it. As health resorts these fields might enter into com- 

 petition with the seashore and the Adirondacks. 



No evidence is needed in any city of considerable size as to the 

 existence of the smoke nuisance and of the part which the railroads 

 play in maintaining it. There is an abundance of it on every hand; 

 all too obvious, all too persistent. The encouraging feature of the 

 situation, however, is the existence of a wide-spread and intelligent 

 effort on the part of alert and progressive railroad officials to meet the 

 situation and abate the nuisance. Largely, no doubt, because of the 

 financial considerations, but in some instances because of a growing 

 conviction that it behooves them to give heed to legitimate public de- 

 mands, and because they are awakening to the fact that it is the wisest 

 policy. 



The recent orders of the Pennsylvania Railroad to its engineers 

 and firemen may be said to be almost epoch-making in their importance 

 and significance. This great corporation, in order to secure greater 

 economy in the use of coal and to reduce the smoke nuisance, has inau- 



