Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, August 24, 1920, Page 8

AILLBOARDS VERSUS BEAUTY | WASHINGTON, D.C. (By Mail).—The staring, glaring| billboard, which forces its messages upon us wherever we go, 1s system. Toledo has recently cities where outdoor advertising is strictly ‘regulated. Jos. Pen-| ell has just faced a convention of fellow artists to deliver} one of his violent denunciations against the Inartistic billboard, as a result of which the convéntion passed a resolu- tion urging laws to drive boardings out of existence, The American Civic as- sociation has issued a pamphlet show- ing that, according to recent decisions, the courts are at last conceding that beauty as tell es utility has rights be- fore the la All of this activity indicates that if the signboards are not in danger of im- mediate banishment, they are at least be checked in their apparent alm to cover the earth. Pennell takes a rather gloomy attitude toward our chances for signless cities and highways, He is sure the unless reform is speeded up, genera- tions of the future will get their ideas of art largely from billboard ads. He fears that the public is losing its ca- pacity for enjoyment of. beauty, be- causé so little beauty is left in its en vironment. Unless the billboard reform of the cities is extended to the count he prophesies that soon we shall ride through a lane of signs whenever we board.a train, Ads as Farm By-Products, This last is scarcely an exaggerated prospect. The average property owner whose land is near a railroed is easily bought over to allow a series of huge boards to decorate his premisés, Sum times even one side of the farm hous: is profaned iy a big red and yellow mural depicting the wonders of some article no househoit should be without, while the barn is usvally so decorated. Anti-billboard agitators usually try. to make graphic this boarding up of the countryside by a story. Ii is always the same story, though sometimes the ad. s are different. The hero ts a man who has not been’ on a. teaia since billboards were introduced, an who has never apparently been awak- ened to the awfulness of signs in his city. He takes a train for anywhere at all, joyfully expecting to rejuvenare his soul by a panorama of bosky groves, verdant fields, and other phases of na- ture in the rough.’ But he is in for a shock, Instead of green and white farm- ds slipping past him, there come iegated boards extolling the merits of “Won’t-Run Hairs Dye,” “Safety First Suspenders,” and 'Getsum Rat Riscuit."" The gentle-faced cows which | he had looked forward to seeing do in- deed flash past at frequent intervals, but they are painted cows on signs urging him to remember that milk from Happyland dairies is pure. Injure Real Estate Values. The artistic offenses of the billboard | are more apt to be noticed when Y to look at a row of them every day. That people do object to signs near their homes on aesthetic grounds is testified to by real estate men. Property facing a. signboard ts almost sure to ¢ in value. The Immediate neighborhood deteriorates, and in_the end the man who allowed the sigr®to be put up finds that his property has gone down with that of his neighbors. ae Because of protests of residents and difficulty of renting houses near bil'- boards, as wel as for aesthetic reasons, a number of cities haye enacted zoning ordinances. New York is one of these. For some years Riverside Drive, Cen- tral Park, and other sections of New York were made beautiful by the cit only to have their attractiveness mar- ste spreciate | again being attacked as ‘an evil of the modern commercial! added its name to: the list of community improvement and agreeing to the restrictions imposed. They stin } claim, however, that outdoor advertising | is a legitimate and highly efficient metn- 04 of business promotion. They point to thé undeniably artistic signs painted } by Maxfield Parrish asa sample of what.a thing of beauty the billboard can be. They ignore the fact that Mr. Parrish has painted only a few ads out of thousands displayed. But though the cities frown at them, the bill-posters can afford to be cheer- ful, for rural districts still offer them unlimited opportunities for educating the public. The railroads have not yet been completely encased in boards, and even when that little job is done, there are all the roads where automobiles travel to be decorated. Joseph Pennell, or any other admirer of scenery, may well shiver when he thinks the whole countryside going to billboards and scarcely a reformer on the horizon. } J. S. ILROAD ARTILLERY TRAIN ING ISSION.—The Forty-second U. S. United States on a train of ninety cars guns are attached tothe train mounted used red by rows, of double decker signs on their borders. Finally a commission | was appointed and the ‘hoards were re-| moved by ordinance from the city's ges: | dential sections. | When outdoor advertising was first | attacked by local regulations the “bill- board trust” raised the question of | legality of such restrictions, ‘The New | York courts then held that “aesthetic considerations aro a matter of luxury | and indulgence rather than of neces- and similar rulings were. handed j nm where their ugliness was the main } reason for legislation against street | signs. t Civie associations objected that this | attitude of the courts was iMogical. A buzzing sawmill or a smelly sulphur: works would not be permitted by law in the midst of a residential section, Why, then, should a tax-paying citizen have to look out at a bum artist's idea | i) of a college boy radiating joy because he is attired in a near-panama hat— sold at Bill Bros.,-Main and Carter Sts.? Such an outlook, {t was claimed, is as xasperating to the average person as living next to an offensive factory, and some of the courts have come to agree. Often Cause Fires. Besides the generally admitted fact that they are a blot ‘on the landscape. hoardings are considered an evil in more tangible ways. When they are not strongly supported there is always dan- rer of their falling over in storms. Un- less “they are fireproof material thev nre easily inflammable and often serve to carry fire from one building to an- other. If the boards are not raised sev- eral feet from the ground, the space hack of them almost invariably becomes a dump for refuse and a convenient place for criminals to hide. Signboards nearly always shut out frome sunlight and air, To prevent this ng much as possible. some cities limit the height and width of the boards. The importance of breathing space around a building is recognized by a rember of our millionaires, notably John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who is said to have bourht three houses so as to insure himself against tall buildines be- ine erected on:either side of his home. Onr most procressive towns yearly all domanded safety and sanita- tion in bithoard eonestruction. and a number of ninces limit the eens to hivet. neag districts, or else require the writ- ten caneont of a matority of the nrans erty owners before a sien can be in- flietad en a residential block, The Hiknard companies have faneht reform stresnousiv civic aeensiations elaim that fhev have Aefente” Jerisiation: in others. put into effect which would not reetrict nee of hoards ta anv extent settled the question. Now that them, some of the, bill-nostine mae nates seem to be falling into line with) al have | Tn same stotas, | it wan anid thet thev tried to heave ordinances but which would make it apnear thatthe town had | the courts are deserting | 2 ° ¢ By CARL control over her own body. who from the outset are doomed words without even a chance of lives.” : Luise Zeitz, independent ~ socialist, who will make the introductory reich- stag speech for the bill cancelling the law againsi criminal operations, so ex- pressed her reasons for backing this proposal when interviewed by the United Press. Frau Zeitz is known as one of the most fiery orators in the rei¢hstag and holds no brief for criminal operations per se, but regards the present system as hyprecritical and unfair, permitting rich mothers to bring children into the world or hdve an operation, while poor mothers are punished for either course they take—too many children to take TOURING COUNTRY.ON RECRUIT- Railroad Artillery, is now. touring the Three -8-inch HUNS FIGHT FOR BIRTH CON BABIES STARVING, PEOPLE CLAIM D. GROAT. : (United Press Staff Correspondent) . BERLIN (By Mail).—‘Every woman ought to have the right of As it is now ‘thousands of women are forced to bring children into the world—undernourished, sickly babies to poverty and ill health, in other growing up to happy and useful care of or prison for the operation. She pointed out that while the rich are able to get the best treatment and advice and their secret is kept from gossiping mouths, the poor site forced to consult cheap, untrain md so-called wise women and are often found out if the operation fails. — ‘The bill, which proposes to abolish the famous paragraph 218, will be 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30, 8:00 and 9:30. a liner for South Africa. ona recruiting mission. on railway carriages. | for artillery firing exhibitions atthe various stops, The guns are TROL: | independent socialists who bbliéve they will later obtain sup- port. of the majority socialists. The first consideration of the bill will prob- ably be in September. Under paragrabn 218, known to every German, the law provides for up to ten years’~ imprisonment for performance of criminal dperations, or for up to five years’ imprisonment for attempting to perform one. One case is on record in Bertin where’a girl drank a preparation of sugar water thinking to rid herself ofa child. She was sent to prison for five years, although her method of at- tempt was regarded as harmless. Many prominent persons and organi- gations are back of the movement to fidolish the paragraph. Among them is the League for Mothers, whose chief aim is to protect the vast numbers of gnwedded mothers in Germany. AMERICANS CARRY DRY GOSPEL TO JAMAICANS JAMAICA—(By _Mail)— backed by the Iris Theater 6 j A ee . ? pril Folly From the Famous Story of Cynthia Stockley, author of “Poppy”. Co-Starring Beautiful Marion Davies AND N Handsome Conway Tearle Come and see a band of crooks and the god of love serve enough thrills and romance for twenty: pictures. AL ST. JOHN x soO—— Continuous Every Day STARTING TIME—1 :00, 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30, 8:00, 9:30 General Admission 30c, Including War Tax __ —-TOMORROW——. CUP OF FURY’ FROM STORY BY RUPERT HUGHES His latest special comedy of laughs, stunts, giggles Latest Current Events and Iris Concert Orchestra Every, Day ts | American prohiljitionists, aided by a od many likAntentioned persons in this island, are maintaining a strong {ana well sustéIned campaign to make Jamaica dry, ] tev, E. H. Curtis of Ohio has just concluded a four months whirlwind \fight for prohibition; and on leaving, gives it as his opinion that in ten years the sale of drink will be rejluced ‘to pfactically nil in this colony. He'did jnot mince words at his last lecture in felling the men of the middle and up- \per classes here how disgusted he was at the general low standard of morality he had found amongst them. Gover- nor Probyn is in favor of restriction of liquor selling, and there are many peo- ple in the island who are dry advo- cates. But there is plenty of money in- vested in the liquor industry, and they are preparing plans for a fight to the finish. Prof. Ralf E. Danforth, a professor of zoology and anatomy at Rutgers col- liege, New Jersey, is in ‘the island for a two months’ study of its agricultural possibilities and:the living conditions, {from the social point of view. His in- vestigations are.with the object of prov- ing that the tropics are the ideal home for northern races, and that they would ONLY c ‘ The ‘National Event In which our'store is participating. We invite your inspec- tion of this week’s special display of new fall patterns New combinations, prettier than ever, in fast colors and no higher prices. 27-inch Toile de Nords, per yard... ..50c 32-inch Zephyr, per yard...........65¢ Telephones: 13 and 14}'| 1s ; tter con-. live jh the torrid zone under be’ ditions than in the temperate, The only drawback which he sees is mala- ria, which can be got over if tackled correctly. He is also a prohibitionist. 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