OCR Text |
Show I j " " ' THE 'TOWN DOCTOR t (The Doctor of Towns) j gayg............... 0 TOWN ETEK LOST A CUSTOM. ER FROM BEING TOO CLEAN Calvin Coolidge, addressing The American Federation of. Arts and The American Association of Music, said, "If clothes make the man, and certainly cer-tainly good dress gives one a sense ol self-respect and poise, how much more is it true that clean, beautiful surroundings lend a moral tone to a community?" And added, "We are gradually getting rid of the oppressive oppres-sive ugliness of our communities." Oppressive ugliness: a good house next to a shack; a beautiful lawn with a vacant lot overgrown wtUi weeds adjacent; unsightly outbuilding; outbuild-ing; highway entrances cluttered up with nondescript, claptrap, unpainted and otherwise obnoxious billboards; store signs of every sort, shape and description protruding at all sorts of angles from store buildings some low all derogatory to any sense of' attractiveness; poorly kept streets, open dumps, unpainted buildings, a dilapidated square, tin can alleys, visible pollution of steams, and ugliest ug-liest and most oppressive of all a citizenship with an inferiority complex com-plex one devoid of civic pride. Oppressive ugliness is that which makes residents of a community say, "Oh, you won't mind that after you've lived here awhile"; and the absence of which makes a stranger say, "I like this place." Oppressive ugliness is that which creates atmosphere. How often have you gone into communities or mercan tile establishments and given as a reason for not being sold on the place that there is no "atmosphere?" Atmosphere is that which Invites or repels; atmosphere is the making or losing of sales, prestige and good will. ; Oppressive ugliness relates materially mater-ially to appearance. How does your community look to a customer? Eighty Eigh-ty per cent of those things purchased today are sold through, or influenced by the eye. Therefore, how your town or community looks is important. import-ant. This is the season of the year when everything oppressive should be annihilated. ann-ihilated. Nature is ready to help make things attractive. Start now to help take your community to a good old-fashioned house-cleaning: clean it up scrub it up dress it up and keep it up ! Include yourself in the cleaning: get rid of the mental cobwebs that make everything about your place of abode so commonplace. Rid yourself of the superstition and prejudice that your town cannot be as modern, attractive at-tractive and interesting as any city anywhere. Like life, your community is what you and the rest of the people like you work to make it. It is just as big or just as little as the people in it. Copyright, 1929, A. D. Stone. Reproduction Re-production prohibited in whole or in part. This Town Doctor Article is published pub-lished by this paper in cooperation with the local Lions Club. |