dishonest advertising is as evil as stuffing the ballot box. Perhaps the advertising people who have allowed their talents to be prostituted for this villainy are too naïve to understand the complexity of the issues. The United States is almost the only country which allows political candidates to buy commercial time. In England, France and other democracies, the networks allot free time to serious discussion of the issues. Could political commercials be banned in the United States? Not without violating the US Constitution. Could they be regulated, like every other kind of advertising? That too would be illegal. Can you imagine Abraham Lincoln hiring an agency to produce 30- second commercials about slavery? Down with billboards Highways with billboards have three times as many accidents as highways without billboards. President Eisenhower said, ‘I am against those billboards that mar our scenery, but I don’t know what I can do about it.’ In California, Governor Pat Brown said, ‘When a man throws an empty cigarette package from an automobile, he is liable to a fine of $50. When a man throws a billboard across a view, he is richly rewarded.’ Bob Moses, the illustrious Parks Commissioner of New York State, said that ‘effrontery and impudence can go no further. The time for compromise with these stubborn and ruthless people is over.’ But the majority of legislators are still ready to compromise with them. Here is how a State Senator explains it: ‘The billboard lobby shrewdly puts many legislators in its debt by giving them free space during election time. The lobby is savage against the legislator who dares oppose it by favoring anti-billboard laws. It subsidizes his opposition, foments political trouble in his home district, donates billboards to his opponents and sends agents to spread rumours among his constituents.’ Says the New York Times, ‘the forces of uglification are rampant. The Illinois Democrat and the Florida Republican are united in their determination to protect the financial welfare of the billboard industry