Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-01-14
TIPS ON TOWN BEAUTY
Backyard Cleaning First Step In
Improvement Work.
WHY ATTRACTlVENESS PAYS,
Moro Beautiful Rural Communities
Will Stem the Cityward Tide, In
crease Value Of Property and Fill
Up Vacant Houses.

According to one authority, the ini
tial step In town improvement work
should be cleaning up of back yards.
and he says that actual trial has dem
onstrated that dirty back yards may
be cleaned up q. cost ranging from 10
cents to $1.25. 1t is of course no use
to urge the cleanup of front yards II
the work is to begin in the rear, for
any one having a clean and orderly
back yard may be depended upon to
have front yard that is somewhat
attractive. A campaign of back yard
cleaning would remove many Of our
cities and towns from the charge that
American premises generally have
Queen Anne fronts. and Mary Ann
rearS.
Make the country towns more beau
tiful and the desire to leave them for
the great cities will not be so great.
In springtime the jewellers in the cities
turn with longing to the country and
the country town. They long for green
fields and singing birds, and happy the
suburban town whose people have
made its streets shady. its appearance
attractive. for to such will come peo-
pie who add to the community's life
and prosperity. From an economic
view village improvement pays, says
the Los Angeles Times. 1t fills up va
cant houses, it increases the value Of
your property, it educates your boy
and girl, and it will make this world
y,1no n ~ nile <l,ov
The cities. great and small are do
ing their whole duty in providing
parks. but the villages and small
towns seem to think that parks are
luxuries beyond them. We hear politi-
cal economists bewailing the fact that
the cities are growing faster than the
country, and they ask why 1t Is
Parks, boulevards. libraries, added to
the other attractions Of the cities, are
sure to cntice the country youth from
the humdrum life in frouzy hamlet.
We should have beautiful country dis
tricts along smooth and well improved
highways as well as beautiful trees.
towns and cities. They are all impOr-
tant in the life Of our people. but with
all this improvement do not overlook
rural and town parks of sufficient at
Effectiveness that young people will
choose them as places to spend Sun
days and holidays. Good roads lead to
cities, but roadside attractions may be
made strong enough to stem the city
ward tide.
1t is particularly exasperating to the
promoters of public enterprises look
ing to civic improvements to note how
quickly the desecrative billboard fol-
lows all sorts of civic improvement.
No sooner has fine highway been
finished wherefrom all users may
drink in the natural and acquired
beauties of the landscape than the
hills become blotted with all sorts Of
billboards. Every kind of means should
be taken by improvement societies to
drive billboard users out of business.
Those places large enough to have
municipal government should pass Or
dinances restricting the dumping OF
rubbish and compelling owners to
keep their premises clean. The fol-
lowing IS a good model in part. for 1t
is only the first three sections of a ten
section ordinance passed last summer,
but these three explain the intent and
purpose of the whole:
Section 1. Any weeds or rubbish on any
lands or lots or on the sidewalk space in
front thereof in the city Of Riverside.
Cal, are hereby declared to be a null
sance.
Sec. 2. 1t shall be unlawful for own
ers or occupants OF any vacant land,
yard or premises to allow the same to be
overgrown or overrun with weeds OF q
noxious or useless character to allow
the sidewalk in front of such premises to
be overrun or overgrown with such nox-
lous or useless weeds. growth or vegeta-
ton.
Sec. g. No person shall dump or throw
rubbish Of any kind upon any lot or
tract OF land upon any street. alley.
tane court or place or sidewalk within
the city Of Riverside except by the writ
ten permission of the mayor OF said city.
Nor shall any occupant or owner OF any
premises in said city place or allow to be
placed or allow to remain upon any OF
said premises such rubbish without the
written permission OF the mayor OF said
city.
An American woman went to live IN
a Canadian town She, with her hus-
band, occupied one Of half dozen
houses on fine terrace surrounded
by private grounds. Behind was the
courthouse, with the usual collection
Of county buildings. its grounds, too,
surrounded with the terrace and a
dense untrimmed growth of trees and
shrubs which We're menace to the
eye and the health Of the community.
The American woman began to trim
her trees and plant vines around her
house. Nasturtiums and geraniums
were planted, but the alley in the rear
Of the house, through which n private
road passed, had long been dumping
ground and eyesore. This attempt to
beautify induced every one In the
block to follow suit Unsightly fences
vanished, weeds disappeared and
lawns were kept shaven until now
they look like velvet. The trees and
shrubs around the county buildings
were trimmed, and now pavements are
being laid all over the city, and great
improvement Is to be noted wherever
they have been laid. What was once
almost an eyesore has become one OF