Evening star., 1930-12-17
EXPERT FINDS CAPITAL MARRIED
BY IT'S UNSIGT1TLY ENTR RANGES
Verdict Given After Coverinu
$4,000 Miles of High
ways in U. S.
Mrs. W. |. LaWton Surveys
BiIIboards and Other Road
side NuiSanCeS.

During seven years of relentless cam
paigning for roadside improvement,
Mrs. w. L. Lawton, chairman of the
National Council for Protection of Road
side Beauty, who has just completed an
extensive survey of conditions surround
ing Washington, probably has photo
graphed more miles of advertising bill
boards than any other woman in the
United States.
With . camera and a protector for
| lecturing purposes, Mrs. Lawton has
motored approximately $4,000 miles of
highways in conducting authorized sur
veys in half dozen States. Largely
through the cooperation Of the Amer
ican Nature Association. Of which
Arthur N. Pack of Washington is presi-
dent, Mrs. Lawton has succeeded in
carrying the campaign against COM
mercialized ugliness on the roadsides
Of the Nation to hundreds of commune
ties throughout the country.
Capital Low on List.
i. Speaking as an authority, therefore.
Mrs. Lawton said her survey of local
conditions convinces her that the en-
frances and highway approaches to the
National Capital were among the worst,
If not actually the worst, that she has
observed anywhere
Since she finished her survey in
nearby Maryland and Virginia Mrs.
Lawton has been lecturing before vari-
Gus groups in washington cooperating
with the American Civic Association,
which engaged her to do the survey, in
the campaign to remove roadside ugli-
ness before the George Washington BIZ
centennial celebration in 1882.
Seven years of campaigning have con-
vlnced Mrs. Lawton that public opinion,
once aroused, is the handiest and most
effective weapon to use against the
advertisers whose outdoor signs, stra-
logically placed along the open roads.
not only spoil the landscape for mil
lions OF motorists but also make road
travel hazardous.
When the advertiser can be shown
that billboards are causing him to
lose business because of the growing
popular sentiment that is being ex-
pressed everywhere against them. then
ne will quit using them" Mrs. Iawton
predicted. One way for the public to
show its disapproval, she said. is to
let hotels, oil companies and other users
OF the billboard know that they favor
products not advertised on the land
Scape.
Hotels Use Signs.
About half of the hotels in Wash
lngton, 81 to be exact, she said indulge
IN outdoor advertising to some extent.
But three of these, she explained
further, do about so per cent of roadside
advertising Of the hotels, chiefly THROUGH
the medium Of small signs.
Inat comparatively few firms in
washington are guilty of cluttering up
the highway approaches to the National
Capital is seen from statistics comniIed
IN conducting the survey here. Out of
ABOUT $500 firms represented in some
Il Lines Of business, she said that only
81 local firms, excluding the hotels. are
using billboards.
BnlnoardS are by no means the only
menace TO roadside landscape in and
around Washington While the oil
companies are doing much to improve
their stations in the city, the improve
ment she contends, has not been car
REQ Iar out on the highways. Until the
scores OF unsightly filing stations. hot
Dog stands and dumps are removed
OF made more slightly to the eye of the