H Fifteen Corporations Agree to Abolish Poster Advertising. New York, March 20.—Fifteen corporations have agreed to abolish highway billboard and poster advertising which has disfigured highways and marred scenery, it was auuounccd last night by Mrs. W. L. Lawton, chairman of the National Committee for Restriction of Outdoor Advertising. Among the fifteen are some of the largest users of outdoor advertising, the latest to agree being the Standard Oil Company of New York, which announced -that it also will present architects’ plans for model filling stations to concessionaries. President Herbert L. Pratt of the company, urged that unsightly refreshment stands also he removed. Other companies include: Kirk- man and Son, soap manufacturers; Kelly Springfield Tire; Piilsbury Flour Mills; Washburn Crosby Flour; Standard Oil of California; Champion Snark Plug; B. F. Goodrich Tire; Sun Oil; Hood Lubber; Ajax Lubber; Ward Baking: Dodge Brothers, Automobiles; Gulf Lcfining Oil. and T'Jeischmann Yeast, The Texas Compauy has partially endorsed the proposal, said Mrs. Law-ton, and Ernest Hopkinsoii. vice president of the United States Tire Company, is quoted as saying the action taken “might prove to be a good lead.” wa, the ma i'----------------------------------- uepaYimeuf. On that date the .aw became effective. Work has) progressed steadily on all of the; State’s arterial roads by highway; patrolmen and it was announced Mon- • day that all of the offending billboards have been removed. Owners of the signs were notified through the newspapers that they might sa.vage their own property ii they desired. Many tons of mcta.s and lumber were removed by owners as a result. Text of ilia Law. The biliboard law was proposed to! the Legislature by the various good* roads association, State publicity bodies and ibe highway department of Minnesota. The law provides as follows : “See. 11. Obstruction of or damage to highways. Any person who in any manner places any advertisement within the limits of a public highway, or who in any manner paints. | prints, places, puts or affixes any nd-vertisomnt on or to any stone, tree, fence, stump, pole, mile board, mile stone, danger sign, danger signal, guide sign, guide post, billboard.- building or other object within the limits ! of a public highway, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, however, that none of the provisions of this ?.ct shall prohibit the placing of public notices on billboards erected to t,,oi purpose by authority of the gov. ing body of a municipn.ity. Any ! v'-riisomont in or upon a public h j way in violation of the provisions of. } this law may be taken down, removed ; or destroyed by direction or authority ■ of the commissioner of highways in the case of State trunk highways, by the county board in the case of county and State aid roads and by the town bonvd in the case of town roads.” Signs that have been torn down will remain in piles along the highways for two weeks at the end of which time they will be destroyed if still unclaimed by owners. Trail markings of registered trails or highways by associations formed to promote them have been permitted to remain in place where they do not conflict with «.f lit wl 8”i an wc in; 00 be: op fig to pr— Mi tui eri "°V ao: wt of- rmC’ I till Taxing Billboards Massachusetts will hereafter put a tax ou the highway signs even though erected on private prop-orty. The contention 13 that the value of thej sign is derived from Hie public highway, not from' the private property on which it is located and that the first obligation is to tho public who owns! 4:1.. 1-S-*- . ... |.uvuv miu U«U3 the highway and gives tho sign an advertising value. Permission from tho land-owners is a secondary matter. It would bo well for other Legis- i-.ii.—- *- —" *-* (Highway News) • ( No matter how good the road surface, the scenery cannot be considered' enjoyable if interrupted and- confused in the eye of the beholder by a succession of vividly painted advertising signs. The movement to beautify high-1 ways by elimination of sign advertising gathers force, but meets strenuous re-f sistance from those who contend that a man has the right to rent the land he owns for the erection of a sign, thq rent of which will pay his taxes. Regulation, rather than elimination is the compromise favored by adverj rising companies which secure sign rights to roadside property and resell the space to advertisers. They contend, that the signs cannot be eliminated le ways.—Good Loads Magazine, gaily but can be regulated as to sizej color, distance -and beauty. In this connection, it is interesting to observe that Kansas City, Mo., in preparing for the convention of a hundred thousand Shriners next June, started an anti-sign movement sponsored by the Merchants’ Association. Nearly .all of its members signed the petition. Many other business men enlisted and some of the largest and most offensive signs already have been taken down voluntarily. The proposed ordinance may include street clocks, barber poles, news and shoeshinc stands, and other sidewalk obstructions. ___ it vm jvi uiucr Ialures to extend the Massachusetts idea and give the iughway authorities some control over all signs erected on privato property that in .any way derive their value from their location as regards a public highway. This is tho only way that the highway officials can keep any control over the sign and billboard nuisances along the public high- n'ore -- ^--■* •*’ ’ a tv thus escaping the penalties of the law. The idea to free State highways from wnlTs of signs got its inception in the Minnerirn State Hi"hwnv Do-oartr'ent and momentum for its mn-teria7i"arion grew bv leal's and bounds throu"hout the State. Aside f”om the n^sthetin v^hm of law it is pointed out by hi Ml wav department offices that it embodies g <:nfAtv provision. “Tn various perrons of the State.” said Ted Lifter of the Highway Denar t*-" on t, “it was found that ?i°ns Md been rlaeed on ruvves. screening f'e view of motorists. Tn sonm peaces signs obscured rai’road T’wks and ’’enresented a real Tnznvd to tin* motorist, who was not familiar with the road. . “Although there is no direct evidence of the b’Rboords being the O’MiPC of necidenls. it is the opinion of many that P'ev did not a'M to the safety of driving over / Minnesota roads.” Few Signs Leuaircd. 'The danger of collision with other automobiles and railroad trains on curves was accompanied by the danger of high winds* blowing the signs onto automobiles or into their paths, fj The Highwnv Department could find q hue little evidence of the signs bavin" been repaired during the last 10 3 years. Following a campaign against the billboards by newsnaners of the f^tate. jt T-Ierhort U. Nelson, secretary of th-' ,j Minneapolis Real Estate^ Board, who is now secretary of ihe Nnrionnl Real Estate Association, waged war against iho preefice of Wotting out the scenic sights of tl»e State. It was brought out by Mr. Nelson ouuilar laws had been enacted by Massachusetts and Michigan. “In the last analysis,” said Mr. Nelson, “it is a business proposition. We have epeut millions of dollars annually for the hist decade in the building of a great system of high ways and one of the things we ex-. pect to accomplish is the bringing into the State of hundreds of thousands of tourists every year for the scenic attractions we have to otter. “These seenic attractions would cease to attract, as they ought, if they were not protected by some such , regulation ns the States of Massachus-‘ cits and Michigan have found it nec-t essary and profitable to adopt.” No Billboards in 10 Miles, i Mr. Nelson declared that before the iaw became operative there were nearly 100 billboards and signs on Minnetonka Boulevard on a stretch of .10 miles as an example of tho abuse. This boulevard is one of several that connects Minneapolis with Lake Minnetonka. “The time simply came,” be continued, “when the people of Minnesota grew so resentful to those who spattered our landscapes with advertisements. big and little, that legislation had to follow.” A Minnesiia newspaper, before enactment of the law, said editorially: “Some of us already have acquired a vigorous and permanent determination never to patronize those institutions which have so little regard for the interests of the community and the preservation of the natural beauties of our scenic highways as to thrust into the foreground continually some imperiinenr and generally unsightly reminder of somebody’s wares.” nuu cm i*»v