DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 210, 24 November 1927, Page 4

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

NOISE <Copyright, 1927 j rpHERE is one drawback to our “rambunctious” civilisation. "\\ e fly through the air in planes that roar like machine-guns. We ! travel by express trains that make a noise like the wrath of Heaven, and our ' street cars sound like the infuriated bull of Basham Now comes a man who claims that he has invented a street car equipped with rubber tyres and roller bearings so that all jarring and jolting are eliminated, and that it requires less power to move the car. It is said that these cars are cushioned by rubber tyres which circle the hubs and relieve the roller bearings, whatever that means. Anyhow, it is a step in the right direction. All noise is waste. If we could save the noise made by the escaping steam of the locomotive we should have that much more power. Noise is like force. It is deceptive. W hen a man roars at you in conversation you are temporarily put out of business simply by his noise. But it doesn’t convince you. After it is all over you wonder if what he said was true. AH the most powerful things in the world are silent. Probably the greatest force known to mankind is that of the sun which silently floods this planet every day with its power. It makes the trees grow and the crops increase. It is the source of all known power and of all known life. But It doesn’t make any fuss about it. Volcanoes and earthquakes are merely sporadic indications of the enormous power beneath the surface of the earth. The silent moon raises and lowers the tides of the ocean and so the low-voiced woman controls her blustering husband. There has always been a feeling among men that silence means reserve power. As an economic asset and as «a boon to tired nerves let us have less