at the expense of millions of ordinary tourists who would like to see some scenery as they drive.’ When President Johnson sent the Highway Beautification Bill to Congress, the head of one billboard company claimed that ‘There are times when most people would rather look at posters than scenery.’ The Highway Beautification Act actually states that it is the purpose of Congress to promote outdoor advertising. Some departments of the Federal Government are users of billboards. The Internal Revenue Service once accepted the free gift of 4,000 empty billboards and used them to urge taxpayers to make honest returns. One day Monty Spaght, then President of Shell, asked me, ‘We get a lot of letters protesting against our use of billboards. Do we need billboards?’ I replied, ‘If you give up billboards, you can still use newspapers and magazines and radio and television. That ought to be enough.’ Shell gave up billboards. Billboards represent less than 2 per cent of total advertising in the United States. I cannot believe that the free-enterprise system would be irreparably damaged if they were abolished. Who is in favor of them? Only the people who make money out of them. What kind of people are they? When President Johnson sent the Highway Beautification Bill to Congress, the head of one billboard company protested that Johnson had ‘taken a stand in favor of an abstract concept – beauty. Some people like