The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-05-03
Time to Spruce-Up.

AAAO w foPA wv ~ r.
The first robin has been on the Job
for couple of weeks and it is sug-
gested that it is time for Kenosha to
spruce-up and get ready for the sum-
mer. The usual publicity agent is out
with the suggestion of the " cleanup
campaign He has quit calling it a
cleanup week. on account of the
fact that lot Of towns like Kenosha
are just naturally SO dirty and unkempt
at the time Of the winter months, that
it would be a task something similar to
that which Hercules took upon himself
to get the work done in week.
Make it a month in Kenosha and
take more time for it if necessary, but
let s cleanup. just walk about Keno
sha and take a look 1t is worth while
for you will find more ittered-up back
yards, more dirty, unsightly, unsanitary
rubbish heaps, more forgotten garbage
cans than were ever left in any real
town as souvenir of hard winter
If these are the conditions exposed to
view OuluUOiS, Al UHo oi0 pOoo D01
that the indoor conditions are just
about as bad.
To get Kenosha ready for healthful
summer, we have to have cleaning of
the interiors as we'll as the exteriors.
The object of the cleanup is not to
sell paint and powder, nor to give jobs
for garbage wagons, many Of which
fail to cleanup themselves, but to make
things more beautiful and create bet
ter living and working conditions for
everyone.
Of course if hundred dull and
grimy buildings in Kenosha can be
given coat of paint, we do not
begrudge the man who sells the paint
the profit on it. IF lot of lost re-
sources in back yards can We converted
into gardens where the high cost of
living can be successfully fought and
the quack grass plot changed into a
garden of blooming flowers, we do not
want f. be envious of the man who
sells the seed.
What we want, is movement for
the "city beautiful the "home beau
full, - but above both of them, the city
sanitary. The movement should be
one to promote cleanliness, thrift and
civic pride and it should appeal to
every public spirited citizen. 1t should
be a step along the forward movement
in fire prevention and along the move
ments now being made for community
betterment. 1t is going to mean lot
to KenOsha In more wholesome and
more healthful conditions. Tt is bound
to rid homes and factories of the win
ter's accumulation of rubbish which,
liable as it is to start fires, is a real
menace to the community and to the
lives of the people. Out in Kansas a
fellow has figured out thai the loss
from failure of the property owners to
properly paint their homes is greater
than the property loss from fire.
1t does not make great deal of diff
ference what real civic body gets behind
the movement. 1t is real movement
for the Chamber of Commerce, the Civ
ic Club, the Retailers Association or
the Woman s Club. What is really i'm
portant, is to have the people of the
city know that cleaning up a town is
one Of the worth while things. 1t is
really worthy of proclamation from
the mayor AM it is lot more i'm
portant than the clamping down of the
lid on straw hats or the lifting of the
ban on Easter bonnets.
This year the cleanup movement is
more interesting than ever before. 1t
is going to teach the lesson of thrift
more than ever before. It is a time
when the movement may properly ap-
peal for the enthusiastic support Of the
people. Of course it is one Of those big
movements that go with cooperation
and without this element falls fat and
amount to nothing. It must have Off
cial cooperation from city depart
ments. The city must help to haul
away the rubbish and the health de-
partment must put some pep into the
enforcement of sanitary laws to make
the man who would rather be dirty
than clean quit being menace to his
neighbors and the whole community.
In fact, it is one big municipal and
community joe. The cleanup move
ment is just an example of how good