a cost-cutting measure

Many writers felt constricted painting below the windows of cars and began to expand their pieces upward into top-to-bottoms and lengthwise into end-to-ends.

The 4th stanza is rather namby-pambical; the sentiment is much better expressed in the 5th.

It was a halcyon day, and as they neared the shore and the salt breezes scurried by, he began to picture the ocean and long, level stretches of sand and red roofs over blue sea.