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PARK AND CEMETERY 
Effective CtiecKin£( of Incorrect Advertising in Great Britain. 
By Mrs. Herman J. Hall. 
/ think that lar^e towers o*' taxation as well as other towers for the control of advertisements should be conferred on municitalities 
as a right troperly belonging to the guardia^is of the beauty and dignity of thoroughfares and Ptiblic tloces* — LORD BALFOUR. 
The house cleaning season naturally leads one’s 
thoughts towards the larger issue of city cleaning, 
and it is never possible to omit regrets over the bill- 
board, because it seems to have become omnipresent, 
as well as more obnoxious each time the snows of 
winter melt and we turn longingly for vistas of park- 
way or colonnades of trees. 
After much experience with a capricious public 
which might be symbolized by a weather-vane, that 
valiant British Society called Scapa, organized in 
1893, which has checked so many abuses in adver- 
tising, has learned one wholesome lesson, and that 
is, to attack only the worst features, leaving minor 
ones for the people to eliminate naturally as their 
tastes become elevated. In its very much alive maga- 
zine, called “A Beautiful World,” we read : 
“Scapa disclaims absolutely any wish to reduce the 
earnings or the profits of those engaged in any branch 
of poster advertising. Some of its friends are de- 
signers of wall-pictures ; others are connoisseurs, and 
devote part of their 'ample leisure’ to selecting speci- 
mens. . . . But all are agreed as to the wisdom 
of compromise. We say that there is ample room and 
verge enough for enterprise of this kind — (i) on 
hoardings that are in good faith set up for tem- 
porary use in connection with building operations, or 
(2) in the interior of railway stations and similar 
places, where a well-ordered display of good posters 
on definite spaces, bearing some reasonable relation 
to the general plan of the building, would be, from 
every point of view, a notable improvement on the 
ta.‘''teless medley which now vexes the eye. The forms 
of out-of-door puffery we aim at discouraging are 
those which compete with the work of the billposter 
— sky-signs, gigantic letters, the devices in gas or 
electric light, which threaten to extinguish town ar- 
chitecture ; the field-boards, which deprive the people 
of England of much of the pleasure which landscape 
affords. . . . Just so far as we succeed, we are 
helping those who provide the more agreeable medium 
for public announcements,” 
No matter how much clutter an individual will 
endure on a level with the buildings about him, once 
he raises his eyes in anticipation of a vision of sky, 
he promptly resents being reminded that he is sub- 
ject to headaches or that Aperients are an accompani- 
ment to his breakfast. Therefore, the sky sign was 
the easiest target for Scapanian arrows. 
Many cities are now following the example of 
London and Edinburgh in abolishing sky signs, and 
are as pleased with themselves, as we find municipali- 
ties always are when they have accomplished an act 
in civic betterment. 
The prohibition of monster lettering (as if the pub- 
lic were near-sighted) and the removal of advertising 
matter on bridges was the next step. A bridge is an 
aerial street and is, therefore, most conspicuous. It 
should be a thing of grace in line and color and un- 
broken by framed atrocities where line is unknown and 
color degraded. Scapa’s hand is again seen in the 
absence of advertising vans and sandwich men in some 
cities. When it headed off a scheme to turn young 
girls into walking advertisements of whiskies and 
cigars it merited the prayers of every matron in the 
universe. 
It is undoubtedly true that business interests would 
be benefited if some legalized restriction were enforced 
as to a decent and orderly manner of advertising, and 
if merchants could be awakened to the fact that a 
truly artistic and delightful poster made the reader 
remember the wares mentioned with pleasure instead 
of disdain and was, therefore, more conducive to a 
sale. 
The Chicago firm which advertised foodstuffs on 
