Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-14
RESTRICTING ADVERTISING.
Defacing Landscape with BiIIboards
Becoming Less Obnoxious.

| Becoming Less Obnoxious.
| Advertising has never attained tn.
| development that one sees today in the
! United States. With the progress OF
| electricity, aerial announcements
| pretty name for a very villainous thins
have become plague in our large
cities. where. in the evening, dominat.
| ing the hotels and places most fire.
| quented. they form a garing proof OF
the neglect and the mercantile ten
denotes of our municipalities In Lon
| don these extravagances are forbidden
| and business is none the worse But
| | will not dwell upon this point, with
which l entertained you last year
| 1t is more interesting to occupy
| ones self with the efforts made to re-
| strict the science of advertising within
| the limits of good taste. Audit is a
| pleasure TO record it-these efforts
| manifest themselves at the present
hour in all directions with an energy
of which the public in general has no
doubt and which is a revelation to
strangers. convinced that in America
advertising knows no bounds In
| reality. = state of war has existed for
IL ioliS tliiV DtlNttll tnt duNtTtlStTS
represented by the very powerful Bill
posters Association and society. de-
Tended by the legislatures Of various
states, by some municipalities and
above all. by certain private institu-
lions which work without noise. but
without rest. each in a different sphere
of action, to impede the march of the
enemy. The Municipal Art League Of
Chicago, the American Park and Out
door Art Association of Pennsylvania
the American Scenic and Historic
Preservation Society of New 1ork and
the Architectural League Of America
whose members are widely distributed,
| II appears, over a great extent of ter
ritory, rival one another in zeal and
alcrtness. And it is principally this
| latter quality which is necessary to be
prepared against, an evil which as
sumes the most unexpected forms.
1t is necessary to have travelled the
United States in every sense to realize
the invasion of the advertisement I'M
| der the most eXaSperating forms
wherever the gaze of the traveller is
able to turn. But already one recog-
| niZeS progress due to the persever-
! ance of the societies above mentioned.
The redoubtable Billposters' Associa-
ton has at last abandoned the odious
project of painting advertisements on
natural objects. such as rocks. grot-
toes and the giant trees of California.
That is an important point gained.
However. the advertisers have no
hesitation in utilizing these same OBJ
jects in fastening placards upon them.
! In I'd fn ,x-hi oil no
the main thoroughflres, have become
| so many supports for advertisements,
the states of Massachusetts and New
| Hampshire have recently taken severe
measures. Elsewhere. Pennsylvania
| and Boston have attacked, the former
advertisements on public monuments.
| the latter the display of glazing posters
| in the neighborhood of parks and
public gardens. And Chicago, Buffalo
| and Rochester have limited the dimen-
sions of placards.
Nevertheless, there vet remains much
| to do, above all along the railroads, be-
cause the advertisers find ready accom-
pliceS in the bordering farmers, always
ready to sell space in their fields or
even their buildings entire. So great
! is the shamelessness Of this class Of
| advertisements that on certain lines, if
you attempt to view the country from
| the car window. you Immediately give
| it up. shocked to see unrolled before
your eyes an inter'ninable succession
Of billboards celebrating the virtues Of
soap la mode, and Of barns mOtleyed
with the most glaring colors. The
complaints of tourists. Joined with the
| influence Of the anti-poster leagues,
have recently succeeded in inducing
| certain railroads to plant hedges and
trees along their roads to discourage
| the too enterprising billposters.
1t is hoped in another direction to
check the compIaisance Of farmers to-
ward this sort Of vandalism by making
them understand through the medium
of the press or their conventions, that
| these advertisements. displayed on
their premises are, in effect an indica-
ton of poverty-to employ the forcible
expression of M. c. Robinson, in the
Atlantic Monthly-in other terms, the
indication of a pecuniary condition not
very fiourishing. That is a skilful
policy. and will succeed. perhaps, in
deriving the Billposters' Association
Of its most dangerous auxiliaries.
For the moment the evil is yet seri-
Gus chiefly in the west. where certain
municipalities themselves have re-
course to the process Of advertising
around the stations, to attract the at
tention of travellers to the wonderful
advantages of the locality from all
points of view--and allure the capital
| list to search for investment.
THEIR EAvORl1E DISHES.