The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-08-23
THE SIGNBOARD NUISANCE
4 REFORM IN WHICH BUF-
 FALO LEADS
And All the Other Cities Should
 Follow.

And All the Other Cities Should
 Follow.
 There are several cities and towns scattered throughout the country in which the question of advertising, or the best manner of advertising, is be- ing agitated among business men. All seem to agree, with unanimous accord, that in order to succeed in business 1t is necessary to give publicity to the merits and qualities of the article or products they want to dispose of. Hid ing ones light under a bushel does not attract attention. There is nothing to be gained by it. The light might as well be out, so far as practical results are concerned. The consensus Of opin- ions on the subject from men whose opinions are valuable because their merits have been tested in the mill Of experience, seems to be that the news papers are the only true mediums by which the best results can be accom- plished. By that it is not meant that every printed sheet that starts out and masquerades as a newspaper should
  the vast amount of money that is spent annually in advertising. Not by any means. Money spent in that direc- ton is as useless as that which is ex- pended in fancy and highly colored printing to advertise the excellence of some particular product, and which finds publicity after it leaves the print ing office and passes into the b1llpost- ter's hands in elaborate display in dark alleys. unfrequented street, fences Of vacant lots, and on the blank walls Of the highways and byways of American cities, towns and villages.
 Just now the billboard nuisance is at tracting attention. From the four quarters of the compass the news keeps flowing in steadily, that men who are anxious to improve and increase tnelr business are weighing up the sup1ect' l and the trend of their thoughts does not run in the direction of fancy print ing displays on dead walls or fenced-ln vacant lots, To be sure, there is some pretty printing on the walls at times hut one good shower of rain plays the mischief with it's beauty, if it does no, entirely wash away the art Work ol the printer and the skill of the bill noster. who pasted it for the benefit oi those who glance at it as they pass oy
 The good city of energetic Buffalo IS making a display of strenuosity Tn the billboard direction just at present which is watched with 1nteres throughout the town. Every little toWr and hamlet, as we'll as the large cities are watching the progress of the merr! war going on in Buffalo between thos' who seek to rescue the city from threatened disfiguration in every man
 ner, shape, size, penny plain and tup
 pence colored, paper device of th'
 Iithographer and printer for advertls
 ing purposes on dead walls, fences
 garbage barrels and waste paper cans
 While referring to Buffalo's strenuou labor in this direction it may be a
 well to say it is one of the best adver tisenaents the good city has ever had.
 TO make the town more presentabf
 in it's general appearance-and Buffal
 is capable of being made a most al
 tractive city--is worthy of the highes
 endeavor. It is a better advertisement for it than the Pan-American exh1bi
 tion was. and it will be more lasting
 The French capital was at one tim much disfigured by loud printing i the shape of billposting, and it grew be such a nuisance that the authoritie had to call a halt and regulate tn practice. It was the same way in Lon don at no distant period, but the linn was eventually reached, Other place might be called up as witnesses to tes < tify to the extent to which the disfis uration of a city or town can be cal ried by the unrestrained license of UT ! bridled bi!lposting. One well conceiy \ ed, well written and we'll displayed ad \ vertisement in a newspaper of goo \ circulation is worth miles of billboard \ in unfrequented streets or fenced-i \ vacant lots.
 \ Ever since the court of appeals IT x held the city ordinance which prohibi E building signboards more than seve E feet high, the powers that be in Buffa are making things lively for those WI would bid defiance to decency ar laugh at the law. This time the laughed the wrong way. The fire boar notified the owners to take down u signs. The owners paid no attention the notification. A brief period elapse ! after which the chief of the fire depar ] ment started out corps of hook ar
 ladder men, furnished with axes ar
 the fire laddies in quick order to | down 15,OO0 scuare feet of sign board | Now the sign owners realize the al N s,o 1Act
 business when the department sent O it's notification.
 l As before stated, the eyes of u - country are directed toward BuffaI
 watching the progress of events in tf