the leadership of the women of the South in the move for highway beautification.
The Gulf Boulevard Conference meets in its second annual gathering. This four-state gathering, embracing the New Orleans-Pensacola section, is one of the great achievements of the Old Spanish Trail work. The cities of New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, will now be woven together for the pleasure and profit of the people of the nation. An unusual situation existed in this area that called for this method of handling, and the construction progress already in evidence proves the value of the method.
The administration of the Old Spanish Trail is both national and local. For local or natural geographical areas the OST system is divided into divisions with- a vice-president for the division and one or more directors who are elective. In the cities and towns councilors are appointed who become the official leaders of the work in their locality. Divisional meetings and divisional work are conducted under the vice-presidents and these officials. Divisional Councils are called by vice-presidents embracing the councilors and directors of the division.
Organization of the divisions henceforth should proceed more rapidly. In the past organization work has been seriously restricted by lack of finances on the one hand, and on the other by the many responsibilities imposed in workout the routing and the recognition of the highway. Now that the. routing and the recognition is so thoroughly established, the organization of the people behind the work should make better headway, and it is necessary that it should if the work is to continue, and the people and the territory well served. The marking has reached eastward as far as Lafayette, La. Tourist Loops are yet to be determined; tourist parks must be encouraged; and the sectional Service Maps which have been promised for so long, and for which a great need exists, must be financed and issued. The work can move no faster than the membership support of the people permits.
This question of financial support is one of the major problems this convention must try to solve. The administration of a work extending over 4000 miles is expensive, while the facilities for obtaining income from so extended a territory are not good. A budget plan for income and expense will be submitted but any plan adopted will depend for its success upon a more general willingness of the people back home to carry membership and to pay promptly. There is no income except from membership, and the life of the organization and the integrity of its work are at stake.
Constitutional amendments are proposed to provide close supervision of headquarters administration. The directors are scattered across the continent and their supervision, at best, is indirect. An Executive Board of five San Antonio business men now exists that meets weekly and governs affairs. It is recommended such a board be elective and a part of the directorate. The complicated question to remember and to work out, is that we must build up a national unity of interest and support, and that the responsibility of the national directors must be preserved, yet a heaquarters board should exist to help keep the administration on a sound, business basis. At the same time be initiative and freedom of the active executive must remain so that no matter where he is in this vast territory, he can act with decision. This project is still too much in the formative stage for restriction of leadership.
In conculsion, thanks are due in all directions for the co-operation that has given this Old Spanish Trail movement so much progress and recognition. Let us now at these meetings, realize we must measure up to the requirements of a national work of great responsibility. Its success will make these southern borderlands the playground of the nation and develop the country as nothing else can do.
Respectfully submitted,
HARRAL B. AYERS,
Managing Director.
Fred B. Johnston, President,
Kenneth Wimer, Chairman Executive Board.
CAUFORh,. % te,alOS ANGE1ES “X Si
SPANISH TRAIL
] O K L A /-/ O /i! TRUNKLINES AND TRIBUTARIES
^HIGHWAY1!
THE OREAT HISTORIC HIGHWAY
CONNECTING
FLORIDA-CALIFORNIA-MEXICO*
OFFICES, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAvT.
ip	*x ' c°
'AS. I I,111	COPYRIGHT	1919
FOR DETAIL CHARTS OF THIS HIGHWAY SEE LOCKES GOOD ROAD MAPS. OF LOCALS TRANSCONTINENTAL AUTOMOBILE ROUTES