During 1920's controversy about the expansion of advertising, Senator Pepper argued for a "nationwide code of regulation," as pronounced in a 1929 speech to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. He pointed out that in preserving natural beauty, no national economic benefit was lost-- real estate values and related figures would increase without the addition of billboards. Pepper represented what was, at the time, the general popular will: that if billboards became mainstream, this would signal advertising becoming too obtrusive, too aggressive in its campaign to persuade the public.