The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-04-01
HIT OFF IN
ANOTHER Vein
JUDGE MATHEsoN HAS FOUND
AN ALLY.
PLEA FOR CLEANLINESS
Citizens Should Organize for House
\ Clearing and Give Billings
the Things Needed.
Billings, April l.

Billings, April l.
Editor Gazette: l have read with
great interest the communication OF
the Honorable j. D. Matheson in the
last issue of The Gazette, and l must
express my surprise that gentleman
who has always shown such civic
pride should have made, right out in
meeting, such a statement
Does he want us to hide our light
under a bushel?
Ever since coming to this city |
have understood that the great claim
of this valley to prominence was it's
soil. The Yellowstone valley soil, it's
crops, it's products, are deservedly
famous, and the judge himself has
before now shown his appreciation
of these advantages. Why now, then,
| soil with grass and flowers? Why does
he want us to hide from the eyes OF
all who might see, the very cause
of the wealth OF Billings?
He even wants to remove the most
striking proof of our health-the re-
suit of our invigorating air and eli
mate the piles of empty cans in our
back yards and alleys. Do they not
show conclusively that we can eat,
and eat heartily? Does not their very
number add impresslveness to argu-
4ments in this line? Are they not even
decorative, with their brilliant labels
sometimes, it must be said, little
tarnished by the weather? And trees!
Trees along the streets and in the
yards. What does the gentleman
mean? They are actually dangerous.
They drip moisture; they prevent the
enlivening rays of the sun from reach.
ing us; they are the homes OF insects
I,of all kinds; they offer strong tempta.
tions to our children to climb, and
thus risk life and limb And yet
Garden City, or ''Truck Garden
City, which shall it be?
No business man would think OF ne
glecting any part of his business; and
still our citizens have to an enormous
proportion neglected very vital part
of their business as citizens-the aes-
thetic development of the municipal
ity.. This, however, while do not
wish to condemn, rather to praise in
dividual effort, must be the work OF
the city as a whole.
Individual work and individual i'm
provement serve to throw into greater
prominence contiguous unimproved
properties whether private or public
and thus incite public interest. What
such effort, undertaken by organized
committees, is capable of doing, is
shown in the results obtained by the
several municipal improvement socie.
ties of Denver, Pittsburgh, Oakland,
Cleveland, New York, Boston, Chi
cago, Philadelphia, and numberless
other cities.
Such movements, to be successful,
must have public opinion back OF
them. The success of such an organi
zation in Billings would show that
we preferred cleanliness, sanitation
and beauty to dirt, disease and ugli
ness.
When a visitor is expected in the
J household, the house is swept, the besi
frock is donned and everything is
made as attractive and beautiful as
possible. Billings will have multi
tudes of visitors this year. Judge
Matheson enumerated quite a number
! |Lof conventions, a goodly list, indeed
: and even then he left out the K. P
, meeting and others, which will grand
. ly swell the aggregation. OF course
, we could blindfold our visitors and
, lead them to some particularly attrac
tive private property-lift the hood
, and say: Behold Billings beaty!'
Still, that procedure might possibly
prove a trifie awkward. Some o1
, our guests might, by chance, get
glimpse of portions of the city tha
) were not quite so delightfully."- clear
t and beautiful-tne Judge says tha
] there are such, and / must believt
. him.
We have every reason in the worlt