Note 86 — Chapter XI · MUNICIPAL PROBLEMS OF TODAY

The unsightliness of the billboards is not their only objectionable feature. Unless they are firmly anchored in the ground they are often blown down by heavy winds; they afford places of concealment for footpads; and they become the nucleus of a rubbish heap. Land is rented for billboard space which otherwise would be improved and built upon. Billboard space is given over very largely to the advertising of non-essentials. If you will make a survey of say fifty billboards in your own community, you will find that by far the greater portion of the space is given to advertising luxuries. Local merchants use billboard advertising very little. Outside concerns take most of their surface.