September, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



189 



Civic Betterment 



Ways to Help: The Body Politic 



FTER the individual the organization; after 

 the organization the body politic. The suc- 

 cession is logical and right. And just as the 

 organization can do more than the indi- 

 vidual, so the body politic can accomplish 

 more than either. For by the body politic 

 is meant the governing body. Its importance in all work for 

 civic betterment is very obvious. Civic betterment means 

 public betterment, the improvement of a neighborhood or a 

 whole city or town. Such work can not be done by the indi- 

 vidual citizen, nor by the mere aggregation of individuals; 

 it requires definite civic authority in the accomplishment of 

 results, and in most instances it needs the wealth of the 

 public purse in bringing about adequate reforms. 



The body politic is, therefore, the most important factor in 

 all work of a public nature. It could, were it so minded, ac- 

 complish every possible civic betterment that is good that 

 comes before it. It has direct charge of sanitation; it con- 

 trols the streets ; it fixes the building laws ; it can do every- 

 thing but instil good taste into the minds of citizens who do 

 not know what this means, and who, even when its purpose 

 is made plain to them, are calmly and deliberately indifferent. 

 But the average body politic does not accomplish public 

 betterments of its own volition. Governmental bodies do not 

 do things merely because they are worth doing. They move 

 in a slow and deliberate way; they will balk at cost, and they 

 will hem and haw at expense ; they will hesitate at doing just 

 a little more, when often enough it is that additional fraction 

 which will do the most of all. 



The body politic, however, must be brought into the work 

 of civic betterment. It not only can not be ignored, but it 



must be consulted at every step, its permission obtained, its 

 approval solicited. The public-spirited citizen can not make 

 a contribution to the betterment of his town without first ob- 

 taining the approval and consent of the city fathers. 



It is obvious that the chief work to be done here is one 

 of education. If the governing body does not understand 

 civic betterment nor appreciate it, it must be taught to do so. 

 We get back, therefore, to the individual and the organiza- 

 tion, for both these forces must labor with the governing 

 body, labor night and day, in season and out, if permanent 

 results are to be obtained. 



The work the body politic has to do in civic betterment is 

 becoming more and more appreciated, and is yearly bringing 

 fruitful results. Comprehensive schemes for the improve- 

 ment of an entire city have already been brought forward in 

 many localities, and while the direct results as yet assured are 

 small, the first essential steps have been taken. Plans pro- 

 posed for Washington, New York, Cleveland and other 

 cities have aroused great public interest, not only among the 

 individual citizens, but among the governing authorities. 

 Whether realized or not, these plans are indicative of good, 

 and point to something accomplished. They mean the body 

 politic is being aroused, that statesmen whose time was for- 

 merly concerned with the granting of railroad franchises and 

 the renaming of streets are looking toward public art. They 

 mean a positive and great extension of the movement for 

 civic betterment, for they mean that the last of the three 

 great elements which must help in this work has awakened 

 to its value. This at least was necessary before anything 

 could be accomplished. The next step will be realization. 

 This is the end of all movements for civic betterment. 



Is the Billboard to Go? 



Why should it remain? This is the more pertinent ques- 

 tion, and one much more difficult to answer than the more 

 general one as to whether the billboard shall go. The argu- 

 ments for the retention of the billboard are of the weakest 

 possible sort. Its single merit is its obtrusiveness. If it did 

 not catch the eye it would have no commercial value, and if 

 it had no commercial value it would quickly disappear. 



The billboard is, of course, an advertising proposition, and 

 all advertising propositions depend on their commercial value. 

 If it did not pay to advertise no one would do so, and the 

 very great use of the billboard as an advertising medium is 

 fine testimony to its paying qualities, or to the eloquence with 

 which its merits are presented by its advocates. 



The commercial value of the billboard depends on its 

 conspicuousness. No one ever sees a billboard in a back alley 

 or in spots remote from where people congregate. They 

 nourish in the conspicuous places, and they flourish conspicu- 

 ously, with vast signs, glaring colors, " taking " designs, with 

 all the showy eye-catching devices that advertising ingenuity 

 can suggest and advertising experience propose. 



Now, the real value of this overwhelming display to the 

 community is very small. There are less obtrusive ways of 

 bringing one's wares before the public than in painting them 

 on a fence or in thrusting them into the foreground of a 

 beautiful scene. The advertiser deprived of his billboard is 

 not pushed out of business, but has simply to find other means, 

 and less offensive means, of reaching the public. 



For the billboard is offensive, glaring, staring, horrible. 

 Individually a specific advertisement may have merit, and 

 great merit — may, indeed, be a genuine artistic effort; but 

 taking the billboard as a mass it is a studied offense to good 

 taste, flourishing mostly where it is not needed, seen when it 

 is not wanted to be seen, demanding attention when one 

 would rather think of other things. 



The agitation against the billboard as a municipal dis- 

 figurement has already reached goodly proportions, and the 

 campaign is as yet in its infancy. Some efforts, and well 

 meant efforts, have been made to improve them, partly by 

 designing the billboard itself and partly by improving the 

 designs of the signs. Nothing has, however, yet been ac- 

 complished that amounts to definite and general improve- 

 ment, and hence it is pertinent to inquire if the billboard 

 is to go? 



One of the most obvious steps in municipal betterment is 

 to do away with unnecessary, unsightly objects. The bill- 

 board has been unsightly so long that many people regard it 

 as permanently evil. At all events, it is clear that if it is to 

 remain it can only do so under much better conditions than 

 now obtain, and it must be supported on broader grounds 

 than the fact that a handsome advertising business has grown 

 up through its promotion. No business can be successfully 

 promoted by improper means; the billboard, glaring and star- 

 ing at every point, approaches the limit beyond which busi- 

 ness should not go. Its misfortune has been injudicious use. 



