ROADSIDE CONTROL 257 



unique because you can't stop things from growing there. But I am 

 concerned with more than billboards. I am concerned with plant- 

 ing and beautification. But as a member of the U.S. Senate, I am 

 going to do everything I can, and I need your help, to see that this 

 scourge of billboards along our highways is done away with. 



Mrs. MARNIE. There are no commercial billboards in Hawaii. 

 The absence of billboards and the opposition to them is a publicly 

 accepted island tradition and custom. Visitors are impressed and 

 many inquire how this was accomplished. 



This enviable position has only been attained and maintained 

 through the support of civic-minded citizens, businessmen, local 

 newspapers, responsible government officials, and through the hard 

 work and constant vigilance of the Outdoor Circle. 



The Outdoor Circle is a 50-year-old women's organization dedi- 

 cated to the preservation and enhancement of Hawaii's natural 

 beauty. This group of dedicated volunteers promotes a broad pro- 

 gram of city beautification. Today, Hawaii is reaping the benefits 

 of the early work of this group of women. 



One of the projects undertaken by the Outdoor Circle, in 1913, 

 was to rid the city of billboards completely. It is difficult to 

 visualize that billboards formerly disfigured the highways of Hono- 

 lulu, the slopes of Diamond Head, the slopes of Punchbowl, which 

 today is the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and, even 

 the famous scenic site, Nuuanu Pali. 



The elimination of billboards in Hawaii is part of our State's his- 

 tory. More than 14 years of hard, uphill work were required to 

 convince local and mainland merchants that billboards were not 

 going to permanently deface the landscape of Hawaii. The final 

 outcome was that members of the Outdoor Circle bought out the 

 local billboard company with money which they raised these 

 women owned a business which they promptly scrapped. 



The only real weapon the Circle had was the overwhelming sup- 

 port of public opinion. 



Alert to the need of legislative control, the Outdoor Circle, in 1927, 

 proposed a bill regulating billboards. That bill passed both houses 

 of the legislature and was signed by the governor. 



A major part of the Circle's efforts in promoting city beautifi- 

 cation has been devoted to sign control. The Honolulu city and 

 county sign ordinance was the joint endeavor of the city, the 

 Outdoor Circle, the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, Honolulu 



