Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-15
'SPURN SURRENDER
INBILLBOARD FIGHT
Pack and Bard Give Warning
Against Compromise and
Quit Joint Committee.

not yet come TO compromise WlCn the
billboard industry, two of the leading
public interest groups in the Nation
wide campaign for the preservation Of
roadside landscape have withdrawn
from the joint committee created here
early this Winter to bring about a
working agreement between the OPP
posed forces of beauty and commerce"
The cleavage which rendered futile
the second conference, held during the
past week in New York City under the
Craftsmanship of former Senator George
Wharton Pepper of Pennsylvania, was
declared to have been a proposal Tor
limited coming. urged by the billboard
industry, which the two public repre-
Sentatives refused to accept on the
ground that it would result in complete
surrender of most of our highways to
ugly and dangerous commercialiZation.
The two members of the committee who
resigned at the meeting were Arthur N.
Pack, president of the American Nature
Association, and Albert S. Bard, general
counsel for the National Council for
Protection of Roadside Beauty.
Successful efforts to work out a COM
promise, it was declared at the Wash
ington meeting called last January, de-
pended upon participation of the organ
izations which are waging war against
the billboard interests. The United
States Bureau of Public Roads, recog-
nizing no grounds for compromise, had
refused to take part in the conference
called by the outdoor Advertising AS
ISOLATION of America and the National
Association of Real Estate Boards. An
other powerful group, the American
Civic Association, also had refused, be-
lieving that cooperative discussion with
the industries which exist for the pur-
pose of exploiting the highways would
be futile.
Sought Common Ground.
The washington conference, however,
was attended by representatives of a
number of public interest organizations
which believed at the time that efforts
should be made in a cooperative way
to find some common grounds that
would serve, at least. as starting point.
At the New York meeting, Herbert
Nelson, representing the National Asso-
citation of Real Estate Boards, intro
duced plan for limited highway Soning
whereby owners Of rs per cent of the
property abutting upon any rural high
way might obtain through condemna-
ton exclusion of all billboards, gas
stations, hot-dog stands and places Of
public entertainment. This plan had
been submitted to legal counsel and
pronounced workable, but 1t was OBJ
jected to by Mr.. Pack and Mr.. Bard
as inadequate and dangerous.
Pack told the committee that the
plan, while possibly workable for q
few sections of highways in rural
regions, is nothing more than COM
plete surrender of all other highways
in the State to ugly and dangerous
commercialization. AS a model coming
law, 1t is entirely unsatisfactory" he
added, ''for proper State coming pre-
supposes the classification of all areas
within the State and must set up
for their use. AS suggested
at the Washington conference, partial
regulation through taxation of bill
boards outside the corporate limits of
cities, boroughS and villages may not
be ideally perfect, but it is at least
comprehensive in its regulative effect.
This is not" -
Mr.. Bard then presented the prin-
ciples Of a model proposal for a State
coming commission to be appointed by
the State governor. This commission,
he said, would survey all the highways
Of the State upon which State funds
had been or were to be expended and
place restrictions upon the use Of land
within public view Of these highways.
Along sections Of highways designated
as class A no outdoor advertising, with
the exception of necessary signs for
the sale Of property there located,
manufactured or grown, would be per-
mitted, ne suggested, and no gas sta
tons or food stands, etc, would be
permitted. Along sections Of highways
designated as class B the exclusion
Of outdoor advertising would be main
tanned, but rural industries serving the
travelling public would be admitted,
subject to regulation. Class C, under
Mr.. Bard's proposal, would include only
sections of highways within the cor
porate limits OF cities, boroughs or vii
these corporate limits where local zon-
ing, already In force or to be adopted,
created commercial zones.
Proposal Turned Down.
"This proposal said Bard, els based
upon the exercise of the police power
Of the State in the public interest"
Mr.. Kleiser, president Of the outdoor
Advertising Association of America,
clearly indicated that such a proposal
would not be accepted. His industry,
he said, was willing to accept restric-
ton to commercial districts only, but,
as on former occasions, he placed a
very different Interpretation on the
word commercial" Formerly, Mr..
Pack explained after his return to
Washington, the outdoor advertising
industry has taken the view that dis
tricts where food stands and gas sta
tons were permitted were, for that
reason, commercial and open to I'M
limited billboards. Recently, in re-
Spouse to awakened public opinion, the
industry receded at the Washington
conference from this point Of view.
At the New York conference, Mr..
Kleiser openly stated that he would