Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-01-22
PAINT AND POSIES.

Did You ever stop 70 think what
an asset z few dollars worth Of paint
IS? Did you ever notice hoE an old.
shabby looking house, with neglected
surroundings, could be transformed
for few dollars and z little work
into a place OF credit 70 the neigh
bOrhoOd and Of pride 10 the owner?
Many man has got rich simply BY
buying neglected and apparently de-
erepit houses with neglected yards.
unkempt lawns, untrimmed tres and
broken fences and By the expenditure
Of little paint and paper on the
house, together with a little work
directed, BY good taste, on the yards
and lawns. made them 50 attractive
that they sold at good price.
Every neat home in any town IS
an added asset to every other home
in the town. This is true in any
town, but it is especially true in
Ashland. With the coming Of the
Pacific Highway and the develop
ment Of the Ashland mineral waters
will come a host of people vho are
vell-to-do. il not wealthy. and they
will be people OF taste who will ap-
preciate fine places and who will be
disgusted with a town where places
are not kept mp.
Ashland has retrograded in this
respect in the last two or three years.
With the building Of the many new
bungalows has come a shifting OF the
more beauty-loying people from the
older and poorer houses, and the re-
suit is that the city Is afflicted with
a number OF unsightIy places. Some
Of these need merely TO have the
yards cleaned up and kept watered
in summer. but many OF them need
the reiuvenation OF a coat OF paint.
IL costs comparatively little 10 paint
a house, yet If two houses are va
can't 90 out Of every 100 persons.
either men or women. will move into
the neat-lookihg home, even il the
ether is better located and better ar
ranged inside.
This alone should lead 10 the
Frightening mp OF every unsightly
house in Ashland which is kept for
rent. Many say. IF can rent my
house ! will paint and paper It. d"
This is like a merchant saying, AT
ter have sold my goods / will order
them" Few like to wait. and few
have the imagination to see how a
house will look after II is painted.
Nor is the matter of rental all
6nless a man Is a practical painter
or builder he will almost invariably
buy the house that looks in the best
condition on the outside. Occasion
ally the far-seeing man will buy a
shabby-looking house. knowing that
it is well built and can be success
fully remodeled. and will surprise
the community by making a fine
home OF IL at comparatively little
expense. The man who sold 1t often
feels as II he had sold II too cheap.
And he did. perhaps. simply because
he could not foresee the result OF a
little paint.
Next to paint and a well-trimmed
lawn there is nothing that can add
more 20 the looks OF city than
flowers. Medford has awakened to
this fact and the Medford schools
have had a dahlia day and a rose
day. each OF which resulted In the
planting OF hundreds OF these flow
ers. Ashland has long been premier
in the beauty OF her places. but she
must look 10 her laurels or she will
be outdone.
Every property owner owes II TO
himself as well as 10 his community
20 brighten up any old-looking build
ings with a coat OF paint and to fix
MP his yard in the neatest possible
way with lawn and flowers.
Ashland is working, almost all her
citizens agree, along the right lines
IN the development OF her resources
as a home and az a resort town, and
many. especially Of the home owners
and those without any amount OF
capital 20 invest, feel that they have
little to do In the work. This Is not
80. Every property owner. every
tenant has work to do. II consists
in making his individual property
look as well as any other In the city.
This is a work which the Civic I'm.
provement Club took up a few years
ago and In which they did a good
work. and they need the assistance