MISSION SAN XAVIER DEL BAC NEAR TUCSON Mission Snn Xavier del Bnc, 9 mi. south of Tucson, apparently founded 1G92 or 1700. The structure is one of the greatest of the missions; the date of erection is not known. It laid in ruins for GO years, now restored. An impressive picture out of tlie desert. highway construction are proud that the soul of the crusaders is not dead. Two illustrations, one from California and one from Florida, will show the enthusiasms of the early efforts, and of the pluck with which the groups fought their battles when they found that enthusiasm alone was not sufficient. One of the first “triumphs” was celebrated in Florida with bands and barbecue when $55,000 was gotten together for a vital bridge. That bridge, over the Apalachicola River, was not opened until many years later, and then the cost stood at over $800,000. In passing let me say that many eastern bridges and causeways were “financed” early for sums that then seemed fabulous, and were completed five to seven years later at costs that ran into millions. San Diego had those sand hills and the Mountain Springs trail. When San Diegans carried lumber to those sand hills and built that plank road back in the early days they too were welding enthusiasms and pluck into a spirit that could not be defeated. So also when they passed the hat in San Diego to blast a trail through granite mountains, and again to help build east of Yuma, Arizona. They kept the way open and held fast until their primitive trails were paved by skilled engineers and an open corridor permanently laid to San Diego’s doors. It was this crusading spirit in a half of the counties across the continent that has now opened this automobile artery along the trails and through the lands of the Spanish crusaders of past centuries. May I say that California leaders need now to watch lest the leaders in the East who have opened the new world around the Gulf of Mexico and down