Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1908-04-29
HAS JOINED THE A. C. A.

The Village improvement society OF
Ellsworth has joined the American Clvlc
association, national organization whose
work is on the general lines of village i'm
provement.
The president of the association, j.
Horace Mcfarland, of Philadelphia, in
recent interview, said: "The association
is distinguished by its Willingness to take
up anything at any time which will carry
out its great purpose of making America
a more beautiful and better place to live
in.
1.-THE president has spoken in something
over seventy cities desiring to have some
one or several of the things which make
city life decent, including pure water, bet
ter sewers. Fairgrounds and parks, chit
dren's gardens, decent street trees, clean
back yards, grouping of public buildings.
and in general something else than ugli-
ness and i'll health. You will notice that
in this there is no hint Of administrative
reform. We do not take part in politics.
'sThe association has been active in re-
lation to numerous problems OF general
Importance, notably the proceeding spoli-
alton of Niagara Falls. When the emer-
gency appeared, we moved at once and in
force, and succeeded in having established
national control of the falls by legal en-
actment of the fifty ninth Congress.
president Roosevelt, who is an honor
airy life member of the associations ac-
eepted our request to mention Niagara
conditions in his message of two years
ago. He turned down dangerous rec
omendation OF the international water
ways commission upon our protest. Con-
gresham Burton redrew his bill for Nj
agara preservation to suit the showing we
made, and our members deluged Congress
with the appeals that forced the passage
of the Burton bill.
.'At once we went into the fight to re-
. 1t 60
power purposes, under the Burton bill,
and Secretary Taft gave heed to us. One
of our members, Frederick Law Olmsted,
ir., was the leading spirit in the commits
sion, appointed by Secretary Taft, which
has forced one of the power companies at
Niagara to begin the expenditure of 500
900 in cleaning up its back yards.
SAD of the power companies, after first
aiding the people of Niagara Falls in call
us knaves, fools and other unpleasant
things, have come to realize that their
own security rests upon the principles we
represent, and at our nota BILE annual meet
ing at Providence in November, three of
the four large interests were completely
represented in an appeal to be let in. We
are now working on the basis of making
Niagara national park. under plan sub
mitted by Mr.. Olmsted, by which the
power now in use be continued and yet
natural conditions restored.
The association has fifteen Depart
ments, each headed by live man or
woman who does things. To our offices
there come daily numerous inquiries for
help, ranging from the request of a woman
in a Florida town as to how she may
keep pigs off the street, to request from
Daniel Fl. Burnham, the foremost city
making expert of the world, for more in
formation on city plans than he has.
"You ask what we have in prospect?
We propose to make billboards a subject
of proper restriction and taxation, and
want eventually to bring about the prac
tical extinguishment of the billboard
horror. We are getting together inform
alton, judicial decisions and plans with
which, as we are provided with funds, we
will move on the country. Indeed, we are
now moving, and there is much to show
for what we are doing in the campaign
against billboards.
Just now we are preparing a model
billboard law, going as far as judicial de-
cisions will permit, to be introduced with
in the next month in eight or ten states.
We hope to get billboards in the big cities
down 10 the condition they are in among
European cities. We hope to clear rail-
road rights of-way of their proximity.