OCR Text |
Show A NATIONAL NUISANCE. Quite a lot of crusading has been done with a view to doing away with the barricades of billboards which mar the beauty of our natural scenery, but in spite of some progress made here and there, the billboard is still an outstanding national nuisance. If this nuisance is ever to be effectively ef-fectively abated it must be done through convincing advertisers that their part in perpetuating it is bad business for them. Appeals to sentiment senti-ment and love of the beautiful are generally futile. State, county and city authorities can aid in the movement very materially, mater-ially, however, but it is often difficult diffi-cult to spur them to action. An example exam-ple of commendable activity in the fight against ugliness is seen in Georgia, Geor-gia, where the county commissioners of Fulton county, in which Atlanta ' is situated, ordered the removal of I all signs and billboards along the highways under their jurisdiction. The member who sponsored this measure said : "There is a proper place for everything, every-thing, including advertising. Our highways are designed to give tourists and Atlanta motorists the most beautiful beau-tiful scenery possible, but that scenery scen-ery is ruined by the ever increasing number of billboards and signs." This is true for every county in America where the encroachments of the "outdoor advertiser" have been permitted to have unrestricted sway. Billboards in locations which render them offensive are irritating to the public, without benefit to the concerns which pay for them with the mistaken idea that they are building business good will. |