DEFACED COUNTRYSIDE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 151, 23 December 1929, Page 19

DEFACED COUNTRYSIDE

AMERICAN COMPLAINT

CALIFORNIA'S IDEA

For many years efforts havo been in progress to beautify the American roadside; but it must bo confessed that thus far these endeavours have been singularly unsuccessful (writes tho New York correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian.") The motorist who drives along the average American highway finds on either side an unending succession of hugh advertising "billboards." These are often offensive in themselves, and they almost invariably interfere with tho view. Many arc electrically lighted, so that they are as unpleasant by night as by day. Perhaps even worse than these large signs, which arc professionally erected and maintained, are the equally numerous small amateur efforts; every "hot-dog" stand, wayside hostelry, garage, or village shop feels it desirable to dot the landscape for miles around with blatant announcements of its wares or services. HIDEOUS STRTJCTTTRES. In most cases the wayside vendor of merchandise also damages the beauty of tho countryside with his place of business, which is, as a rule, a rough structure of unpainted boards. So hideous are these that one art-loving lady, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, jun., has contributed a large sum of money from which an. annual prize is given for the best, most artistic design for a wayside "hot-dog" stand. The prizewinning drawing is circulated widely in the hope that here and there someone may be moved to substitute it for one of the present monstrosities; but these expectations are very infrequently realised. The wayside petrol pump was formerly a thing of little beauty, which certainly contributed nothing to the aesthetic pleasures of motoring; but in recent years the rivalry of tho big producing companies has expressed itself partly in the creation of better-looking "filling stations." Little has been done about the pump itself, which is usually painted bright red or yellow, but the building which houses its attendants, and stores the reserve supplies, is in many cases a well-proportioned and dignified edifice. Many of these

stations are miniature cottages, in Dutch, Colonial, or early English style. "SCENIC RESERVES" IN CALIFORNIA. The fight against roadside advertising signs has been conducted in the main by the newspapers, which, as the billboard interests have not failed to point out, have an ulterior motive, since they constitute an alternative advertising medium, and it may be supposed that money not spent erecting wayside signs would go, at least in part, into the journalistic coffers. In few parts of the country have these efforts been sufficiently successful to have any noticeable effect. In- one State. Nevada, it is a serious offence to destroy any sign which gives information as to the distance or direction of the nearest town. Nevada is almost entirely a desert, and in the early days when this law was passed the presence or absence of a sign might easily be a matter of life or death. Nowadays commercial advertisers take advantage of this statute They put a few words of information in an odd corner and then claim immunity for their whole message about baked beans or motor tires.

The most striking development in roadside beautifieation in recent years has eomo from California. Under a new State law any section of any highway wliich overlooks a flue landscape may fee declared "a scenic reserve," along whiftx it is illegal to erect any sort of advertising sign. The local pride of Californians is such that nearly every foot of every boulevard seems to them touched with- magic beauty, and therefore the time is doubtless not far distant when these scenic reseives will be almost continuous along the main highways.

From California comes another charming idea, which has been in sue cessful operation for a decade. In the southern part of the State the authorities have undertaken to plant roses along either side of many miles of highway. Flowers bloom almost all the year round in this semi-tropical climate, and the result is a glorious mass of colour every few hundred yards.