Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-29
TOABATE A NUISANCE
A New Ordinance to Regulate the
Distribution of Handbills.
HOW THE BILL POsTERsREGARD IT.
It Recalls Whole Batch of Dead-Letter
Municipal Laws,
WHICH COULD ALL BE MADE USEFUL

The ordinance offered by Councilman
Keating in Councils on Monday for the
regulation of the distribution of handbills,
dodgers, ETC., provides that sit shall not be
lawful for any person, or persons, to dis
tribute by throwing any handbills, dodgers
or other advertising devices" from wagons
or in any other manner SO that they shall
litter the street. According to the original
draft of Mr.. Keating's ordinance, the inten-
tion was to prohibit the distribution of this
kind of literature altogether among pedes-
trians, but the ordinance was pruned in
committee. The bill, as pruned, is now in
the hands of the Committee on Public
Works.
The ordinance is of more importance than
most people would learn at glance. Not
only are the streets made unsightly by the
litter caused by such distribution, but
when the wind is blowing these papers fly
and there is scarcely anything more likely
to make nervous horses run away, to the
imminent danger of thousands of people.
THE TROUBLE
is that while thousands of people daily
see the ordinance against throwing banana
skins on sidewalks violated, no one seems
to want to take the trouble to enforce it.
Perhaps if the informant were to get half
the fine there might be some move made.
When Gus Brown was in control the wheel
barrow wheeling nuisance on the sidewalks
was suppressed in a large measure, but the
provision against it is now dead letter.
For that matter most of such ordinances
only cumber the statute books. People are
not allowed to wash their windows on the
outside with hose, or their pavements
either, during business hours, but they do
and ladies are not only splashed with filth
in consequence as they pass but are forced
to lift their skirts every few
minutes in order to keep their
dresses in presentable condition.
A business man on Fifth avenue calls the
attention of the authorities to the practice of
allowing nails to lie on the streets. Pointed
wire nails are especially dangerous, as they
may penetrate horses boots and cause lock-
jaw, and a suit for damages is a poor relief
to the owner and none to the suffering horse.
These things may appear small, but emf
nent authorities on the subject Of moral
philosophy measure the civilization of
community by the care it takes of human
life and to prevent suffering of all kinds.
BILL POSTERS COMMENTS.
The gentleman in charge of j. B. Muir
rays Office states that bill posters will not
be much affected by the ordinance, should
it pass, as they do not distribute bills ex-
cept by pasting them up or delivering to
houses. He thought such law was in
force already, as be said that some years
ago when billing circus contract objection
was made to some pastors scattering bills,
though they were not supposed to be doing
SO by the firm. Clerk Boothe could not find
any law on the subject.
The distribution of handbills on the
street is a general nuisance, even if no
harm follow from the litter and the fright
ening OF horses. Even men, let alone
women, are badgered by the persistence
with which their attention is called to the
merits Of all sorts of wares from soft soap to
diamonds "of purest ray serene" In :the
crowded portion Of Pittsburg, anyhow,
more people viii, generally be found keep
ing to the left than to the right, and SO het-
erogeneously do they travel that if you are
in hurry to reach train you will be made
to believe that no matter which side OF the
street you take your way is more impeded
than if you took the other.