The Washington times., 1901-10-14
Street Advertising.

| The nuisance of street posters and
painted signs on dead walls seems TO
be growing in this country, and 1t is
to be hoped that it will speedily in
crease until it becomes so intolerable
a Disagreement to the landscape that
it will be suppressed by law. In Eng
land, Scotland, France, and Belgium,
this matter is regulated by municipal
authority. London, Glasgow, Manches-
| ter, and most other British cities limit
the size of all trsnsparencies cleo
tric flash signs, sky signs, and letters
used in posters. In France and Bei-
| eium street signs are taxed. and in the
| latter country the most artistic adver-
| tisement secures a prize. America is
| the only country in which this sort of
| thing is allowed to become an eyesore,
with no restriction whatever.
There are some modern inventions
which can be forgiven for spelling the
scenery, because they minister to human
convenience or welfare. The trolley car
may not be a thing of beauty in itself
and the deep cuts through which the
track runs may disfigure the face of
the country, but the suburban railways
enable thousands of persons of moder-
ate means to have homes in the coun-
try, and the beauty of health, due to
fresh air and sanitary conditions, is
more to be sought than beautiful sur
roundings. Moreover, the ugliness Of
partial development does not matter so
much, because beauty will follow in
time. The cuts will be graded down or
covered with green growth, unsiShtly
sand piles will disappear. and the
crudeness of new buildings will be re-
placed by the picturesqueness Of age
or by more artistic dwellings. But in
the case of bill posters and painted
signs on fences there is no such allevi-
alton. They are not useful, their ugli-
ness is not in the least necessary, and
they are put in places where they spoil
the beauty of a charming scene or en-
hance the dreariness of desolation. II
ones front windows must look out upon
a vacant lot, it does not make that view
more alluring to read upon a fence six
feet high that Shoddy & Co. keep a
Great Family Shoe House, or that
Currents pills are warranted to relieve
liver complaint. But it is, If possible,
more heart-breaking to see an exquis-
lite bit of natural scenery defaced by
billboard, which volunteers the infor-
nation that a certain kind of soap is
the best in the market
Nobody can reasonably claim that the
sales OF the commodities in question
are increased by this sort OF advertis-
ing. There may have been a time when
II was profitable, but nowadays, with
the immense circulation of newspapers
and magazines, firms which wish to at
tract the attention OF people with
money to spend would much better put
their names on paper than on the side
of a mountain. As for theatrical post
ers, theatregoers usually keep them
selves informed about the current at
fractions without the aid of blank walls
and board fences. and people who do
not often see plays are not likely to be
Influenced by posters. In short, the
poster and paint advertisement is, like
some other nuisances, more due to tra-
dition than to any real need of it. 1t
exists because some people think it
profitable and there is not as yet
enough opposition to make it distinct
ly unprofitable.