paid, for someone to lose or this organization to come clean. No agreements or definite understandings exist with field men, and tangles are the result.'The men were ’hot bonded as required by regulations. They were allowed to indorse or convert checks to their own use, altho regulations and printed receipts required all checks to be made payable to the Association and remitted to the office. No proper accounts are kept altho complete and accurate books were in existence when the Managing director left for the East. Proofs and balances cannot be obtained, and all figures are given subject to these uncertainties'. .
Only a twisted mentality would attempt to justify the receipt and expenditure' of these thousands of dollars 'without paying the creditors and workers whose service had preserved the very existence cf the organization, and without providing the maps and service for which so much of the money was subscribed.
In justice to the men still employed it should be said the faults And failures are largely chargeable to the management.
President Asked to Resign
These conditions were quickly evident and prompt measures might have been taken to repair the damages, but the President and D. E. Colp the man left in charge of the Texas affairs, were well pleased with the control in Texas they had ■ cstkbjishcd. Greatness was being .achieved by them. Ten days after the Managing Director’s return he appointed a committe of five independent business men, and placed at their command the public accountants and the law firm that have always served the OST. and asked that all business methods ;and accounts be thoroly investigated, and that they report solely with regard to the welfare of the Old Spanish Trail. The President accepted this committee as satisfactory, and agreed to abide by its decisions. After a month of full aiid open inquiry this committee decided unanimously that the President should resign—the President failed to resign, thereby violating his pledged word. : and disrespecting, the conclusions of his fellow-citizens.
A President, no matter how incompetent, still has the powers inherent in the office. Many delays have followed, this effort at orderly and constructive correction of conditions. This committee was appointed- August 17th; its report was ready September 18th. To stop further destructive activities an Executive Committee of five was agreed upon, and the President agreed to sign papers conferring upon this committee his powers of administration. In this the Managing Director joined, for a board of -business men, like any chamber of commerce or club, with power to function in close relation to the work, was necessary to prevent personal exploitation. The directors are scattered across the continent. When the next convention meets principles must be worked out so that the Board of Directors and a local Executive Committe can function together under constitutional provisions and maintain a clean administration., This Executive Committee was installed October 23d, consisting of the same men as the investigating committee, with one change. To this writing this committee has. failed. For one thing the President does not attend meetings.
- • Practices That Must Stop
When the Managing Director appointed this investigating committee, all. field men were called in. Their testimony was submitted ■ to the auditors, and a continuance of the work under existing agreements and lack
of regulation washcondemned. In the period these citizens have been endeavoring to find means to assure good administration Mess'rs. Johnston and Colp sent these field 'men out again and gathered in (August 17 to November 1) about #3,500.00 more money, and it too is gone—and these faithful creditors and friends are still ignored; the West was exposed to a bad check operator and OST friends left to carry the losses; and the eastern states, where various works were in progress and people voluntarily offering funds for its continuance, have suffered three months of neglect.
One of the men sent out had some sort of a roving commission. This man was recalled from East Texas and Louisiana. He misused OST friends by leaving unpaid personal accounts and bad checks. This would have cautioned any intelligent executive, but this man then went westward and general letters were prepared and signed by the President asking support for him. Finally a check for $200.00 was; cashed for him by OST friends, and he disappeared. The check was returned unpaid.
Another man, collecting advertising for the travel service maps, is paid a commission of 75 per cent and given the OST car. Since March he has collected nearly $4,500.00. This printing is not issued and no money is reserved to issue it. 10,000 booklets (an advertising curiosity of no real value) were printed for the San Antonio-Orange section, and condemned because they were such a mass of errors and stupidity their circulation would be a reproach. This service-map work was planned in December. The main line of the OST in Texas should have been supplied with this service for the summer travel, and distribution thruout the United States was intended for winter tourist service. The people who paid are complaining, of course, but this collector was put out again on a 75 per cent basis. He is not bonded. He was allowed to convert checks and funds to himself on the road, remitting approximately 25 per cent. Official receipt books were in stock; machine numbered, printed in triplicate, and with protective features. These were not checked back against the solicitor by the office. The auditors made five pages of analyses of this man’s accounts, and they don’t yet prove up. The audits show a hundred or more dollars over-paid on the 75 percent commissions, after the best possible attempt to adjust the bad checks, commission rebates, future payments, advertisements in trade, car repair trades, collections retained, etc., etc. There appears no proper compilation of tlie travel information intended. Mr. Colp says the solicitor was to pay half the cost of printing the 30,000 maps and information; the solicitor said he wasn’t. Now he says he will, and if this is correct he owes these printing costs and his commission overdrafts.
For this 75 per cent he was also to mark the highway where still unmarked, and touch up defective marking. The OST marking system was planned by skilled men. Careful specifications exist as to dimensions, brands of. paint, methods of application, sizes of stencils, etc. The marking done by this man, where inspected, is in careless disregard of these specifications and of the ideals and standards that have been adopted for this Old Spanish Trail movement.
Another man, collecting advertising like the first, was given 33 1/3 per cent commission, and allowed car mileage. In three weeks in poor territory he averaged a hundred dollars a week for himself. This man was bonded, following the Managing Director’s return. The man -drawing 75 J).er dent ho,wever was sent out again,-aiftl the man drawing 33 1/3 per cent was sent to