Speech #850039465

Or shall we erect billboard canyons and ribbon slums. hemmed in with blatant advertisements of pink pills for pale people and 57 kinds of beer. interspersed with pinboard carnivals and hotdog stands? The question involves not only the safety of the individual but the. safety of the Nation. Rear Adm. Neill Phillips testified before a congressional committee that the restriction of billboards along our superhighways is necessary for national defense. He said billboards would impede movement of troops and refugees in emergencies and interfere with directional signs vitally important in civil- defense operations. He contended that billboards would distract drivers and present fire and splinter hazards to civil defense. He insisted that the Government properly can protect aesthetic values by controlling the nuisance characteristics of billboards.