July 20, 1913 – The Chicago Daily Tribune’s art critic, Harriet Moore, writes an
opinion piece in which she supports the City Club in its campaign against billboards. Her argument begins with a single question,
one she asked at a previous hearing in which a City Council committee was
listening to testimony from both advocates and opponents of the signs, “Is it
your opinion that beauty has neither health value nor financial value in a
modern metropolis?” [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 20, 1913] She then answers the question with three
separate responses: that beauty is a
health producer (“Hideous objects and
harsh sounds, assaulting eyes and ears in a manner not to be escaped, destroy
the harmony of life by introducing discords, and reduce the joy of life by
insulting the senses with ugliness.”); that beauty is a commercial asset in
any community (“Without beauty a city is
merely a place to make money in and get away from.”); and, beauty is a
great investment (“Why does the whole
world flock to Italy, spending there millions every year? Because, a few centuries ago a few hundred
artists builded and carved and painted beautifully.”) Moore concludes, “Chicago has the opportunity
to become one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The lake, the long stretch of park which is
to border it, Michigan avenue widened to the river and adequately connected
with the Lake Shore drive, the widened Twelfth street, the new railway
terminals, the enlarged business district—these and other conditions and
projects will create a beautiful metropolis.
Along with these large plans for civic beauty should go eternal
vigilance against all kinds of defacement and in favor of all kinds of minor
improvements. The fight against
billboards is an important detail of the general campaign.”
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