PARK AND CEMETERY 
15 
| IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS 
j CONDUCTED BY 
MRS. FRANCES COPLEY SEAVEY. 
i — «i 
THE CRUSADE AGAINST THE BILLBOARD 
NUISANCE. 
In beginning the fourth year of the existence of this 
Department, we think that we can do no better service 
to Outdoor Art, to the public, or to our readers, than to 
set before them an example of improvement work on a 
large scale that is being undertaken and vigorously 
pushed by the American Park and Outdoor Art Asso- 
ciation through its president and other officers, and 
equally through its public spirited members in various 
parts of the country. This crusade was commenced in 
1901 under the leadership of the then president, Mr. 
E. J. Parker of Quincy, 111., through whom a bill di- 
rected against the abuse of public advertising and its 
flagrant sins against good taste and beauty, was intro- 
duced and passed! by the Illinois legislature and is 
now being enforced in Quincy, if nowhere else, 
pared for introduction into the State legislatures to prevent the 
pasting, painting, branding, stamping, or placing of advertise- 
ments on any building, fence, bridge, gate or other object upon 
the grounds of any of the State institutions; or of those of a 
private citizen or corporation without the written consent of 
the owner or tenant. Such a bill has been introduced into the 
Pennsylvania Legislature by the Hon. Leslie Yates, of Phila- 
delphia, at the request of the Association. 
The general adoption of such ordinances and law will tend 
to do away with the present disfigurement of the landscape 
and to give greater encouragement to those individuals and 
corporations disposed to aid in the artistic development of our 
urban and rural life. The Association has likewise taken up 
the question with the Federal Government with a view to hav- 
ing Congress enact similar legislation. In pursuance of the 
same general plan, the Association addressed a letter to the 
president and officers of the railroads of the country, calling 
their attention to the steady development of landscape work 
in parks, cemeteries and private grounds, growing out of a 
more intelligent and cultivated taste in such matters, and sug- 
gesting that the railroad managers of the country consider the 
question of beautifying the grounds, buildings and bridges 
about the stations and terminals by careful planting. In its 
letter, the Association said : 
“Many roads have already begun such improvements. We 
might mention a dozen companies whose station grounds and 
bridges have been improved by ornamental planting and that 
TWO EXAMPLES OF THE BILLBOARD NUISANCE. 
This one is on the main approach to a cemetery. This one shuts off a magnificent river view. 
through city ordinance No. 2 , of which we have before 
spoken. 
In continuance of this good work, President Wood- 
ruff has prepared the text of a similar bill to be intro- 
duced in the Pennsylvania legislature — the final draft 
of which is appended, together with text of a circular 
by the same hand, that is being disseminated by its 
writer. The circular is as follows ; 
The use of buildings, landscapes and fences, especially along 
the lines of railroads and in our larger cities for advertising 
purposes, seems to be on the increase and to be degenerating 
into an abuse. The American Park and Outdoor Art Associa- 
tion has inaugurated a movement to check the tendency. Cit- 
ies and towns are being urged to adopt ordinances imposing 
fines for advertising on electric light, telegraph, telephone and 
street car poles, trees and tree boxes. Laws have been pre- 
encourage their employees to make the property of the road 
as pleasant as possible to the public eye. Unsightly buildings 
and sheds can, in time, be entirely obscured and the grounds 
about the station can easily be made attractive and artistic at 
small expense by the planting of native trees and flowering 
shrubs.” 
We feel convinced that a vigorous effort on the part of all 
who may be interested in a more beautiful outdoor life will 
prove effective, and we confidently ask your active aid at this 
time. 
Clinton Rogers Woodruff, President. 
Final draft of Act (prepared by Mr. Clinton Rog- 
ers Woodruff, President of the American Park and 
Outdoor Art Association) to be introduced in the 
Pennsylvania Legislature. The Bill is a little broader 
than the one prepared for the Illinois Legislature. 
