Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-28
.BILLBOARDS MUST
GO, THEIR SLOGAN
CLUB WOMEN ARE AFTER UN'
SLIGHTLY POSTERS
Leaders In Campaign for Beautifying
City Point Out the Evils of
Present Disflgure-
nent

| Machine politics. received a knock
out blow yesterday at the anti-bill-
board convention held in the Ebell club
house, a new and royal road to the
| chair of the chief executive of Los
Angeles being pointed out by one
speaker, who said, "Well make him
mayor when the billboards are down."
referring to that official who shall be
so happy as to be the instrument for
removing this civic sore from the face
of the city beautiful.
If the anti billboard committee of
the Civic association of Los Angeles
has ever labored under the nightmare
| that 1t rs an humble, obscure and alto
gether unimportant body and that it's
proceedings are attracting little or no
attention, that deusion was surely
swept away at yesterdays session, for
about one-third of the audience was
composed of opponents of the move
ment, among whom was the local agent
| for Varney & Green, the billboard nrm
| of San Francisco.
| The meeting was of interest not only
as an initiative movement, but also as
showing what has been accomplishing
by the anti-billboard movement in ana
about Los Angeles, and revealing also
| how the very community Is menaced by
the germ collecting and germ propa-
eating qualities of the paste that Is
| dropped on the sidewalk and left there
| by careless bill posters. Another Dan
ger--this time to the morals of the
| city--is the mischief that goes on back
of the boards, many of them In certain
districts requiring regular police sur
VIGILANCE.
Reports were heard from civic sec
lions in different clubs. among them
the Friday Morning club, which, with
its 1000 members, has entered into the
fight, and Is devoting its strength to
territory outside the city.
Some weeks ago Mrs. Kanst dis
tricted the city and asked Individual
members to collect certain data re-
garding the district assigned. AS the
time was limited yesterday, few reports
were heard but among them was that
of Mrs. r. ]. Waters. chairman OF the
civic section of the Ebell, who reported
on the board running three sides OF
the block included between Eighteenth,
Twenty-first and washington streets,
on which she had counted sixty-eight
separate advertisements, some OF them
duplicated several times. Mrs. Waters
also read letter from the Hamburger
store written in reply to one of her
own saying that the firm had taken
steps to discontinue their billboard
ads In one locality in the residential
section of the city.
Pledges Support
DR.. w. A. Lamb pledging his sup
port to the convention, said: THE bill
board has got to go, and 1t might as
we'll be now as a little later. 1t Is so
easy to achieve great reforms where
each one does a little, and this move
ment Is sure to be success II each
does his share"
DR.. Lamb, who is an ardent advocate
of the city beautiful. also spoke against
| the proposed river franchise and advo-
Gated an esplanade on either SIDE OF
| the stream and the erection OF arcnes
and statuary and the building OF boule-
wards, unadorned with Diilooaros
| throughout the city.
Rev. e. J. Harper, city forester, pre-
scented arguments for the abolition or
| the billboard, taking for his text the
announcement that has appeared upon
the billboards for few days relative
to the convention Of yesterday Inc
legend was this: 1.-THE anti-billboard
convention is to be held at the Ebell
club house Wednesday at 10 o'clock.
There is $70,000,000 invested In bill
boards in the United States. Here Is
food for thought" Mr.. Harper agreed
thought, in that the consumer pays
that $70,O00,000 as an additional tax on
the articles advertised. He said that
the saying that nothing succeeds like
success is false; that nothing succeeds
like truth, and that nothing lie settled
till 1t Is settled by truth, and protested
against the argument advanced that II
SO. 0o0, 900 be invested in a certain en-
terprise that that line is OF necessity TO
be protested Let this vast sum be
diverted into other modes OF advertis-
inc that shall not be an offense TO the
aesthetic sense of the community"
~E. r. Allen, city billboard inspector.
gave an impartial statement OF the
situation as viewed from his once ano
that of the city prosecutor and spoke
Of the great difficulty in securing
jury who would agree that any SAID
the ordinance prohibiting immoral pic
lures and those depicting crime the
speaker said he had known of no VIOLA
ton of the ordinance and the only COM
plants received had been regarding
them as a shelter for crime.
Mrs. Kanst presented a resolution,
which was passed, to the effect that a
netition be presented to the council
asking that the present tax or one
quarter of a cent tax per foot on bill
boards be raised to one cent.
Among the opponents of the anti |
billboard movement present was Mrs.
c. H. Ritchie, president OF the Crescent
Bay club of Ocean Park, who asked
permission to speak on the other side
of the question, and on motion of Mrs. |
Florence Collins Porter was granted
Ave minutes. She stated that her living
and that of others is dependent upon
the billboards and pleaded the injustice
of her sister clubwomen who would de-
prive her of her means of livelihood.
Mrs. Porter, who followed her In a
brief address, said that she and others
interested in the proposed reform rec
ognize that there are two sides of the
situation, and one is confronted anew
with the old question of prohibition or
abstinence.
Mrs. Willoughby Rodman, chairman
of the Civic association. presided and
introduced Mrs. J., F. Kanst, chairman
of the anti-billboard committee, as the
first speaker, who gave an interesting |
account of the history of the work up
to date and asserted her belief that
| .billboards are on the rum" The ordi-
nance recently passed by the councill
was declared only an entering wedge
and the prophecy made that the time
will come when this form of advertising |
will spell utter defeat for those firms
who employ 1t.
"There are 300 billboards on the |
short line between here and Pasadena |
alone" said Mrs. Kanst. "a route con-
SANITY traversed by the tourists who |
visit Southern California, each year.