8 THE -A.U DU BOWN® BU EY ei 
Conservation News and Notes 
By RAYMOND MOSTEK 
ROADSIDE STANDARDS IN ILLINOIS: No country in the world has the extensive 
highway system that we have in the United States. And no other country 
in the world has allowed its highway system to be despoiled, scourged and 
blighted by the billboard industry as has the United States. While we have 
been gaily singing “America, the Beautiful,’ the hammer and _ pastepot 
crews have been corrupting our view of sea and shore. 
The 85th Congress passed a mild Billboard Control Amendment to the 
Federal Highway Act. Several modifications have weakened a good bill. 
The standards set up by the Secretary of Commerce will have little value, 
unless enforced by strong legislation at the state level. The Illinois General 
Assembly established a Highway Billboard Commission in June of 1957. It 
was to hold public hearings and to make a report by March 31, 1959. Be- 
cause Governor Stratton has failed to appoint public members to this com- 
mission, in addition to the six legislators already serving, no hearings have 
been held up to this writing. 
It appears that Illinois has very mild interest in highway billboard con- 
trols, compared to the vast enthusiasm aroused in other states. Several 
states have organized Roadside Committees or Roadside Councils, not mere- 
ly to help regulate signboards, but to promote wider display of flowers and 
shrubs by business groups along our highway systems, and to curb the 
clutter of misspelled signs, abandoned cars, and junkyards found in so 
many areas. 
Groups and individuals who are interested in strong highway billboard 
regulations in Illinois are asked to write to: Governor William G. Stratton, 
Executive Mansion, Springfield; Speaker Paul Powell, State Capitol Bldg., 
Springfield; State Rep. Paul Elward, Jr., General Assembly; State Rep. 
Robert McClory, General Assembly; and State Senator Richard Larson, 
General Assembly, Springfield. Mr. Larson is a member of the Highway 
Billboard Commission, and Mr. Elward and Mr. McClory are two legislators 
active in promoting proper standards. 
Such organizations as the National Audubon Society, the National Parks 
Association, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Garden Club 
of America, the American Civic and Planning Association, and others have 
supported controls on a national level not only because they desire to pre- 
serve the beauty of the countryside, but because, notwithstanding the 
claims of the billboard industry, in today’s era of high speeds, signboards 
are a serious detriment to safe driving — serving to distract the vision of 
the motorist from conditions on the road. What are you doing about it? 
1a fi £ 
INDIANA SAND DUNES NATIONAL MONUMENT: The legislative battle to save 
the last 3% miles of northern Indiana shoreline is being renewed in Con- 
gress. Senator Paul Douglas and Representative Barratt O’Hara have in- 
troduced bills to preserve up to 3500 acres of land near Ogden Dunes as a 
national preserve. This may become a steel mill site, if it is not preserved. 
