Signboards

Herbert L. Pratt, President of the Standard Oil Company of New York, announced that his company will assist the National Committee for Restriction of Outdoor Advertising and similar organizations in their efforts to remove the unsightly billboards that mar the U. S. landscape.

Paragraphs from a letter by Mr. Pratt:

"Our company did not originate this method of advertising, but has been obliged in self-protection to follow the lead of other companies and, as these billboards are owned by advertising companies and rented, our ceasing to use them would only mean that other advertisements would take the place of ours.

"The fact is that in individual cases where a signboard containing our advertising was especially offensive to some good friend of ours and we have given up the space, the subsequent advertisement on the board was acknowledged to be very much worse than ours. . . .

"It seems clear that if the evil is to be entirely removed there must come some help through legislation, as it is not likely all companies can be induced voluntarily to abandon the practice, but we intend to do what we can to eliminate the objectionable features so far as our company is concerned."