Lancaster High School - Mirage Yearbook (Lancaster, OH)

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14 MIRAGE but it seems necessary just to make men realize that attractive country and town beauty are true economy. Which community attracts a population of a permanent and desirable character? Isn’t it the one with the tree lined streets, offering an inducement for wholesome, out door life, rather than the factory town, whose ugliness drives its citizens into the saloons? What is there in our town to impress a stranger? Do loo3e papers litter our streets and parks? Have the signmen been per- mitted to tack upon our fences, trees and houses their ugly an- nouncements? Look at the entrances to our city by railroad and drive. Are they pleasing, or do they show to the stranger the worst of our community? There wras once a time, when in the radius of ten or fifteen miles of Lancaster one could drive and see an unmarred picture of nature, which was a delight to the eye and a rest for the mind. We can’t say this today. Everywhere our eyes meet offensive signs, offensive especially because they obscure nature. The Earl of Balcarries says: ‘‘What we claim is that the land- scape does not belong to the man who chooses to pay a few shillings for it per annual, but it is an asset of the people at large. The same principal applies to open space and places.” After such a statement, do we not feel that we owe it to the sense of our city pride to blot out the extravagant and offensive pos- ters spread over our fences and walls? As wre walk through our wide streets and admire the beautiful homes with their surrounding lawns, w'e feel indeed that we have something to be proud of until wre come to an unsightly signboard inserted between two of these well kept homes. This is probably erected before a vacant lot and usually to obscure that which .s behind it. Why not clean up and beautify these vacant lots and not merely conceal what we are ashamed of by no less objectionable bill boards? Besides these wre have other obnoxious signs. Until recently, even Mount Pleasant, the standing stone of the Red Men, has failed to escape, and its noble front has been marred by a blot of black and w'hite paint. Then our beautiful drives, for which the county is noted. We start out forgetting the sordid side of life and are admiring the beauties of nature. Here is a green meadow, dotted over with stately trees, through it flows a brook, and beyond are grazing cattle, and still in a most prominent place, a wooden man carrying a suit case, hurrying to some store for bargains. How our thoughts drop to the

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MIRAGE 13 ADVERTISING. Luaretta Harbison. I B—......... -7-..... E WE have all read during the last few years in various maga- zines of the “Beautiful American Crusade” against offensive advertising. The thought was originated by the American Civic Association for the purpose of fighting the defacements of our landscapes and thus beautifying America. Beauty, we know in many parts of the world is an asset of very highest value. Switzer- land has become rich, not because of its soil, but because of its landscapes. A country can make no better and surer investment than to secure beauty of arrangement and environment and also ample grounds for pleasure and recreation. This obnoxious method of advertising of which I have spoken, is objected to by anyone who has given it a second thought. It is objected to by the police officials, who say that bill boards are a menace to the li fe, health and proper- ty of the country. They are also unsanitary because behind these one usually finds rubbish of all kinds. (One city Memphis, made it a law that all bill boards should be built three feet above ground.) Value of real estate is often decreased because of these offensive boards. Moral agencies object to them because they are used to adver- tise sensational plays, liquor, tobacco, etc. They are also objected lo because they obscure the beautiful scenery and detract from the beauties of nature. It is said that advertising in this manner is merely a habit, as far as the advertisor is concerned. He is persuaded by the sign man and yields to his persuasion. One advertising agent says: “Bill board advertising is of the poorest quality as far as the results are concerned and no critical advertisers who require tests to show value, continue to use the signs along the railroads, and in other so called good locations. I believe sign money is money wasted.” Why not. take this money that is probably wasted in such a manner and ad- vertise through the papers and mails, which in the long run, is much more reasonable and profitable? What of Lancaster and this county? What of our business men and their attitude toward this proposition? Why not beautify our town and join this crusade against ugliness? Surely Lancaster could not be better situated, surrounded as it is with its beautiful hills and fertile valley. Ours is a great opportunity

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MIRAGE 15 commercial side of life and what a pity to have our landscape so marred. On the Sugar Grove road, which is a favorite drive for us all, stands a particularly stately rock, which was once covered with little ferns and mosses, but the last time we saw our old friend these sturdy little plants had given place to an unsightly sign. We see our fine and productive farms with their palatial homes, fine buildings and beautiful fields marred by a great sign taking up the most prominent side of the barn and detracting so much from its beauty. We wonder that one who takes such pride and spends so much time in beautifying his home, would see it marred by such ugly blots. Let us determine a way to rid ourselves of these nuisances. First we might erect a town bulletin board upon which proper signs and notices could be posted. In beginning an effort for bill board removal it is best first to make a courteous request to the owner of the prop- erty upon which the sign exists. Tell him of the general growing feeling that they are offensive to good taste, poor advertising and the purpose. This method has been used in many cities and has been a great success. If bill hoards were licensed, it would bring greater revenue to the city and probably reduce the number of those wh'ch disfigure some of the most attractive parts. Get an attorney to prepare an ordinance or town law taxing bill boards and placing them under city control. These ideas can be carried out in our city as successfully as in any other. The bill board is being attacked on every side, by the police officials, sanitarian, business man and lover of civic beauty, but one must not think that objectionable bill boards and offensive bill postings will quietly retire from the field, for their owners are leaving no stone unturned to protect and advance their interests. The fight when undertaken, will be a bitter one. Do you not think it is our duty as progressive citizens, to do as other cities are doing and abolish these destroyers of beauty? Our citizens should join this crusade and have civic pride enough to improve our town and make it really “Beautiful Lancaster.” p.o Lancaster,