Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08

which seems little gro
tesque to the hard-boiled modern gen.
Grafton, We went in for reform. Various
movements" were at bud or in blossom
moral like the war on demon rum;
political, like the agitation against the
trusts or in favor of woman suffrage;
social, like the half-serious assault Of
the comic papers against the feminine
custom of wearing picture hats in the
theater.
AS I look back find that every one
of these movements has at least been
given a trial Some, like prohibition
and woman suffrage, stand as the law
of the land. Some, like trust busting,
have had their day in court and proved
unSound.
But the history of reform in America
proves the old, casual American boast
that we're willing to try anything once.
With a single exception. Turn back
to the files of Puck, Judge or Lie
during the mauve decade and you md
their best cartoonists and humorlstS
welding wit, sarcasm and irony against
the ugly American custom Of disf1gur-
ing our scenic beauties with advertising
signs. That agitation began soon after
the Civil War, when patent medicine
men conceived the idea of renting barn
roofs to advertise in three-foot letters
the magic curative value OF Perlmans
Purple Pills or Langham'S Lotion. II
has gone on desultorily ever since. 1t
has accomplished a few results. When
the Government took over our most ia
nous beauty spots, such as the Yellow
stone for national parks. 1t forbade
the advertising sign in such territory.
Here and there county or state. exer-
cising its right of ownership. has forolu-
den billboards on the fringes OF It's
ighways-though neither county nor
State has. authority over private prop
erty few feet beyond.
Highways Advertising Mediums.
But in the meantime the automobile
has arrived Nearly every American
family owns car and takes most OF tne
vacations touring. Any main road has
a hundred wayfarers now to one IN 1871.
In the language of the trade, our nigh
vays have achieved real advertising
value. And this long war of esthetic-
ism and common right against militant
commercialism ended in total defeat. In
this year of grace 1929, the scenic beau
ties of the United States resemble venus
with rash.
Being a veteran motor tourist ,, i
sneak feelinely and with conviction. 1t
the country, like Niagara Falls and the
Grand Canyon, have been kept, through
one device or another, free from the
disease. However, show places anord
only a minor part of the pleasure In
automobile touring. This United states,
as f1ivver tourist from Oklahoma once
remarked to me, is a mighty pretty
country. If you are looking Tor the
beauty created by man. you must still
- that respect
we have ourselves improved great deal
Of late. If YOU are looking for natural
beauties, YOU do best to tour at nome
Baedeckers United States, with Ger
manic bluntness, says just exactly tnat.
the way of scenery, we have every
thing-tender, pretty little mountains
like the Green range IN vermont OF tne
ing mountains like the Rockies and the
Sierras: lush, green country of many
waters like Western New York; primeval
forests like those of Maine and upper
Michigan; every kind of desert; every
kind of finished, domestic beauty.
Signs Hide Beauty Spots.
Now the persons who select the sites
for advertising billboards seem to be
artists in their own way. They have
faculty of selecting not the points at
which no one cares to look, but the Ut
tie wayside gems of scenery. Gong
back in memory, 1t seems to me tnat
four times out of five my view OF an
engaging wayside bit-like venerable
New England homestead, brook oreaK-
ing through fern out of forest, pas
ture lot golden with buttercups or pop
pies-naS included a splash OF garlsn
color advertising somebody's cigarettes,
tires or gasoline. Almost has it come
to be the price of admission. If France
festooned her Gothic cathedrals Win
rosters advertising liquors and tires,
italy plastered her Roman ruins WIN
encomiums for local garages and NOTES.
they would behave not one plb more
barbarically or illogically.
So much for beauty; which is tne
main point. But the custom mas so
grown in recent years as 10 increase
both the dangers and the discomforts
of motoring. In certain States and
road districts where the advertising
sign runs riot, one finds huge billboards
obscuring the approach to unguardeo
railroad crossings-veritable death traps.
NV own narroWest escape at grade
crossing occurred in Missouri. The
highway turned, and just beyond lay
an invisible, sunken, unguarded ranroao
track. On the left it ran into cut,
so that hill concealed the approaches.
the trap complete, a line of high sign
boards blanketed the view. Some IN
stinct made me come to a stop-Just
as a limited train flashed by at 10 miles
an hour!
Highway Markings Hidden.
AS for the confusion wrought by our
modern notion that our highways be-
long to the advertisers, let me cite an
s-.@A fF~fAiTnO Il
was driving last Summer down an I'M
familiar main road in an Eastern State.
Guiding myself by the map, l was Try
inc IN follow Route II. / came 10
point where the road forked in T-shape,
and though I stopped and TOOK long
look, there was no sign to snow Wnlcn
fork was Road IT and which Eoao A;
/ turned on a venture 10 tne llsnS
and ran a quarter OF mile Delole !
saw the number al" on telegrspL'
mole I turned back. AS approached
The crossroads. I perceived the number
"7n on a telegraph pole OF the otner
fork That was a new complication!
stoned, got out, investigated. over
the route number on that pole, some one
had hung a sign advertising fresh eggs.
The number was really 1T" But Une
sign conceded it utterly from q driver
coming down the stem Of the IT, ano
concealed the first digit from the driver
approaching on the other fork!
THOSE charged with the task OF num-
herring and signing our roads select con-
spicuous spots for their designat lions
and warnings. So do the advertisers;
That quick, raking glance, which Is az
the driver has to spare Wnen ne Is
going 40 or as miles an hour, must
eften wander through q kaleidoscope OF
cisshing color before 1t picks up the
inconspicuous sign that warns OF dan
True. in many States this proceeding
&c AGAINST the law. But I have just
finished a motor tour which TOOK me
Through Is States; and l can tesuiy