Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-03
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BY PENNSYLVANIA
Fight Against BiIIboards
Similar to That Resulting
in New Jersey Law.

fragrant disregard or public spinsan
on the part of the organized billboard
industry which is under fire in many
sections Of the country, has prompted
civic-minded people in PENNSYLVANIA to
continue their relentless Campaign for
the protection OF roadside scenery by
sponsoring a bill taxing the industry
similar to that recently enacted in New
Jersey.
The long-sought opportunity to fol-
low up efforts which already have re-
suited in the removal of IS 900 advertis-
ing signs from rural highways and
private property was presented to the
pennsylvania Legislature last week in
the form of a bill which has the sup
port OF the Garden Club Federation of
pennsylvania, the Council for the Pres
ervation of Natural Beauty and other
organizations in the State.
pennsylvania has long been held up
as model in campaigns to eliminate
so-called illegal signs from the high
ways, and the public interests which
SO effectively cleaned up great areas
In the State are now directing their
energies toward the removal and real
location of the boosted scenic panels"
OF the organized industry.
Would Require License.
The Pennsylvania bill, which has the
same object as legislation introduced
IN the Maryland Legislature, provides
that after January l, 1882, any person
or agency engaged in the business of
outdoor advertising must obtain an
annual license, costing 500, from the
department of revenue. No billboard
may be erected without a permit from
the department and the payment of an
annual excise tax of 3 cents a square
foot in surface used. The department
may refuse to issue a permit when in
It's Judgment the billboard would be
injurious to property or to any public
interest or when such signs are pro-
hibited by municipal ordinance.
The bill also provides that no sign
may be erected within 500 feet of a
highway, trolley or railway intersection.
This provision is imperative, it was
said, for the protection of the safety
of travellers.
The progress of curbing what the
Philadelphia Public Ledger calls "land-
scape leprosy" in New Jersey, has been
watched with interest all over the coun-
try. Weeks before the law went into
effect on January /, about so billboards
which tnterferred with scenery or con-
stituted a menace to travel had been
removed, while $50 firms had given no.
tice that they would discontinue out
door advertising.
Three States Act.
The movement to abate this form of
landscape leprosy" has gained mo-
mentum in the Eastern State with a re-
suit that regulatory legislation has been
enacted in Connecticut, New York, Vir-
GINA and Is pending in the District
OF Columbia and Maryland.
The license and tax charges in the
Pennsylvania bill are declared by the
Public Ledger to be exceedingly mild in
comparison with the billboard fees in
France, which range from $24 to slI6
per 80 square inches. Even so, bitter
opposition to the enactment of this
measure is expected. The billboard in
dustry claims that the smaller signs
escape with a paltry tax, while the large
posters used by the industry must pay
more heavily.
The Pennsylvania Department Of
Highways. despite its limited powers,
aided in the removal of thousands of IL
legal signs during cleanup campaign
last Fall in cooperation with civic
forces. But these results are small in
comparison with those which can be
obtained through adequate State regu-
lation.
Says Regulation Necessary.
Gov. Buck of Delaware has pointed
out that the only real solution of the
outdoor advertising problem lies in eff
fective State regulation. In a recent
statement the Delaware executive said:
THE rapidity with which this class Of
advertising is increasing in our State
demands that the business, which en-
tirely derives its life and subsistence
from the public's investment in mo-
torized highways, be subjected to State
regulation If our main thoroughfarss
are not to become avenues of artificial
scenery"
"All arguments for this form of reg
ulation apply with especial force to
Pennsylvania, with it's thousands of
miles of fine roads and abundance of
lovely scenery, which is suffering from
the increasing encroachment of road
side signs" says the Public Ledger.
Billboard regulation is overdue in
Pennsylvania, and the present Legisla-
ture must be made to realize that taxa
ton and restriction on roadside adver-
Using are imperative for the preserva-
ton of the States scenery and the pro-
lection Of its travellers"