ITEMS OF INTEREST December 7, 1907 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

In England bill-boards are coming to be regarded as a nuisance, and the sentiment is also growing apace in this country that offenses to the eye are as proper subjects for control as those to hearing and smell. A decision recently rendered in a suit at equity at East San Jose, Cal., upheld the ordinance forbidding the maintenance of bill-boards, the judge holding that a "glaring bill-board set opposite a man's house in a vacant lot bordering upon a public highway in a country town devoted to homes, was just as offensive to the immediate residents as would be the maintenance of a pig-sty giving forth offensive odors, or the maintenance of a stone-breaking machine." Two other notable advances in the crusade are the agreement of some three hundred advertisers on bill-boards in Cincinnati not to renew their contracts, under pressure from the Municipal Arts Committee of the Business Men's Club of that city, and the attempt of the assessors of a township near New Brunswick, N. J.. to put a proper valuation for tax purposes upon some of the glaring signs within their territorial bounds. The State Board of Equalization of Taxes upheld the assessors, ruling that the signboards are personal property and thus fully subject to taxation. The attorney for the sign-erecting company gave notice that he would appeal to the Supreme Court.

The National Drainage Association, the delegates representing more than a score of States, held a three-days session at Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, last week. The object of the association is to get people interested in the reclamation of swamp lands and to induce the National Government to advance money enough to start the work. A bill providing for this is now before Congress and has been favorably reported in the Senate. There are eighty million acres of swamp land in the country, distributed over thirty-seven States, the reclamation of which, according to drainage experts, would not only add to the wealth of the Nation about two million dollars annually, but would greatly improve sanitary conditions as well. Major J. Dappray, U. S. A., discussed the drainage question from a military viewpoint. George Otis Smith, director of the United States Geological Survey, presented a paper detailing the relation of his department to the work. Other papers were on "The Status and Need of Agricultural Drainage," "Drainage as a Commercial Asset," "Drainage and the Public Health," "The Wet Lands of Minnesota," "Drainage from a Labor Standpoint."

A noteworthy gathering in the interest of the science of city government convened in Providence. R. I., Nov. 19-22, for the annual meetings of the National Municipal League and the American Civic Association. Among the general subjects discussed were municipal and railroad topics. Some of the papers related to "Municipal Adornment and Parks," "Bill-boards," "Parks and Public Reservations," "The Smoke Nuisance of Locomotives," "The Railroad as a Factor in Civic Improvement." Nearly a score of papers were presented on different phases of taxation. There was a round table on "Definite Work for Small Communities," and a "Niagara" evening.

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