Evening star., 1932-09-20
NATION IS WARNED
OF RACKETEEREV EVIL
National Conference on Gov.
ernment Told of Loss
of Millions.
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page)
the scenic beauty OF their streets and
highways through planting. protection
of shade trees and removal Of hazard
Gus or unsightly signs and hillboards.
Pointing to Massachusetts, as State
that has made mighty strides toward
bantshing unsightly signs from the high
ways within its borders, Mrs. w. L.
Lawton. chairman National Council for
Protection Of Roadside Beauty, gave
most of the credit to a State law re-
quiring permit for every roadside sign
and State roadside patrol which an
nually removes thousands of illegal sianS
along the highways Of the Bay State.
MASSACHUSETTS," she said, has a
UNIQUE method of enforcing her sign
regulation which other States would do
Well to copy. In the Highway Depart
ment there has been created a sign pa
troll. consisting of four men with two
light trucks. The sign patrol spends its
entire time cruising the highways and
removing Illegal signs"
In some instances. she declared, the
sign patrol Is trading the farmer a
fresh coat of paint ON the side Of his
barn for the privilege of covering the
unsightly sign that is there.
There are practically no sign -plas-
tered trees in the Bay State now. she
said, becapse OF the S4 charged for C
s.gn permit The small sign is no.
worth the permit fee and consequently
Is net tackled up.
Symposium On Improve vements.
Mrs. Lawton was speaking in a sym
postum on roadside improvements at a
joint session of the American City
Planning Institute. the American Civic
Association, the American Legislators
Association and the National Council
for the protection of Roadside Beauty.
Frederic A. Delane president of the
American Civic Association. presided.
Julia D. Connor, secretary of the
Committee on Landscape Planning and
Planting of the Presidents Conference
on Home Building and Home Owner
ship, gave summary of the laws of the
various States end larger cities on road
side planting. and urged delegates to
take back to their States a constructive
program for preservation of shade tree
and the scenic beauty Of the highways
Lavinia Eng'e. member Of the Mary
land State Legislature, discussed plans
for elimination in Maryland of illegal
signs frcm trees and barns.
Outlining a generally effective bill
beard law for States, Albert s. Bard.
counsel of the National Council for
Protection of Roadside Beauty, said that
to grade crossings. intsfse ctionS of high
ways. underpa2ses and Ike places.
should be outlawed by State statute,
and that no sign should be allowed
nearer than so feet from the road. with
removal to 500 feet from the road pre-
ferab,e. All Signs of more than 600
square feet should be barred. and no
signs should be allowed in the vicinity
Of parks. Fairgrounds, and recreational
areas.
Roadside Biauty Discussed.
Earle S. Draper, chairman of the
Committee on Legislation of the Amer
ican Society of Landscape Architects.
discussed the possibility of enhancing
roadside beauty through planting and
| landscaping He discussed formal and
informal planting along the highways.
preservation of the natural scenery
through attention to unsightly char
aeteristics, types of planting adapta BILE
for different localities and the neces-
sity in every State for an organization
to foster and encourage landscape i'm
provement.
Speaking before the morning session
Of the National Municipal League. on
the general topic of Cutting Costs as
Against Elimination Of Services" George
w. Booth, chief engineer of the Ma
tional Board of Fire Underwriters CT
New York. discussed the cost of fire
protection IN American cities.
None of us" he said would for an
instant contemplate elimination Of Fire
Department service. nor would we care
to consider cutting the cost of this serv-
ice to the point where safety to life
and reasonable protection to property
are seriously open to question
Fire Protection Cost.
The greatest portion of the cost Of
fire protection, perhaps 90 per cent. is
made up of salaries OF personnel We
may save comparatively small amounts
on other items, such as the purchase of
new apparatus and the construction of
fire stations. but it is more likely that
savings in those directions are not true
economy.
The cost OF maintaining fire protec-
ton service cannot, In the light Of its
. acknowledged essential place in COM
munity operations. BE- considered ex,es-
siye, as compared to the cost of ether
activities of local government"
He suggested economies, worked out
with q careful view to maintaining the
ef:5;-ncy of the service. and the morale
of personnel. could be effected through
cutting Of salary scales and reduction
of personnel. But any reductions along
Hpn
full study. he warned.
Opposes Political Control.
A plea for removal of politicians from
, the vital regulatory Offices of municipal
| administration. such as building. ele-
vator. weights and measures. health
and fire inspection and substitution OF
trained men and women was made by
Edna Trull of the Municipal Admins
tration Service.
TOO often" she declared. these po-
sitions are regarded as soft berths for
political henchmen. and the public suf-
fers as the result"
Nowhere in our country have recre-
ational expenditures provided the es-
sentials of public recreation service for
all of our citizens declared Roy Smith
Wallace of the National Recreation As
sociation, speaking on How Much Pub
lie Recreation Is E5sential?"
He turned to figures of the White
Houee Conference on Child Heath and
Protection. which estimates that of a
total of $4,000, 600 children under IS in
the United States Cnly about 100000
are served by Fairgrounds.
"The recrsational needs Of adults,
especially young adults, aro probably
with equal inadequacy unseryed by the
public reereatienal facilities."
He declared, however, that in spite OF
their inadequacy the recreational facili-
ties of cities should bear their burden
along with other municipal activities in
economies forced by declining revenues
and the depression.
Luncheon Meeting.
At the luncheon meeting of the Ma
tional Municipal League. D. H. Sawyer.