Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-20
GREATER CAPITAL DRIVE BRINGS
s. CONVENTIONS HERE IN YEAR
Better Care for Visitors Is
One of Main Activities OF
Committee.
CITY Given Publicity Through
Press Releases, Pictures
and NeWSreelS-

SLIGHTLY less than year ago group
of serious-minded public-spirited WASH
inrtonians assembled around q confer
ence table In the Board of Trade Of
lces and sought to devise ways and
means Of promoting the welfare OF
their National Capital.
The process and the wherewithal to
accomplish their ends-to bring more
conventions, more visitors, more per-
manent residents to the city-were
among obstacles which beset their
path, and the success Of their enter
prise, they realized at the outset, rested
on the cooperation and support Of the
people Of Washington.
Out of that grave and sober discus
sion grew the Greater National Capital
/ Committee, made up Of influential and
| far-seeing civic leaders, who pledged
| themselves to the raising OF fund TO
! establish and conduct city develop
ment program which would extend into
] future years. A city-wide campaign
/ raised $4,000 with which to set the
plan in motion.
Brings S. Conventions.
Robert j. Cottrell, executive secre-
| tary of the board, and Curtis Hodges,
! director Of the committee, explain that
of the more than 200 national conven-
lions acquired for the Capital this year
the Greater National Capital Commit
tee brought, on its own initiative, % OF
/ them.
One Of the principal activities Of the
committee has been to give better care
to both the conventions and tourists,
and in this connection it Is servicing
at the present time all of the 200 and
more conventions scheduled to meet
here In 1882.
As part OF the Observation-Disclosures
| work incident to the conventions, the
| committee already has sent out l50,OOo
letters contracting delegates, and had
| edited and published IL revisions OF a
60-page illustrated convention pros
pectus of Washington.
Visitors TO conventions held in cities
all down the Atlantic Seaboard are
| communicated with and invited TO
make side trips to the National Capt.
| tai, according to Hodges. Arrange
ments are made to display Washington
posters and literature around conven-
ton halls and other meeting places.
Maps and Booklets Sent Out
Bent on acquiring full share Of the
annual $4,000, 900, 900 tourist trade in
| America, the Greater National Capital
/ Committee has gone to great pains to
contact thousands of tourists all over
the country. In its department devoted
! to the entertainment and care Of tour
| lists, the committee reports IL sends out
| from so to 100 letters daily and has a
| wide distribution of maps, booklets and
posters for the ediflcation Of the touring
public.
From its tourist information booths
established on the principal highways
leading into Washington, the commit
tee has serviced more than 10000 vist-
tors during the brief period since its
| inception.
The committee, through its publicity
unit. has distributed news releases over
a 200-mile radius of the Capital that
| resulted in material increases in at
tendance at peak celebrations of the
| year, Notwithstanding the depression
Attendance at the Fourth of July fes-
| tiyities, In spite Of Indictment weather
represented an increase Of 10 per cent
| over the year before, the committee
points out. Other attendance in
creases were noted on Labor day, 10
per cent, and Memorial day, 80 per
cent.
| Other activities of the publicity de-
| partment included distribution of l.
SOC, 900 words Of publicity to $50 metro
politan newspapers, having a total cir
culation Of 100000. In addition
several hundred photographs Of beauty
spots Of the Capital were sent to the
rotogravure sections of so newspapers,
read by o total Of 6.750,o00 persons.
City Publicized Aboard Liners.
Through the efforts of the committee,
the National Capital is now being pub
lictzed aboard ocean liners en- route to
the United States by means of motion
| pictures, and the committee also sue
| ceeded in having sound pictures of the
| city made BY neYsreel cnmnanies for