After intensive discussion, debating, and planning, the Joint Board submitted a mostly finalized proposal to the new Secretary of Agriculture, William M. Jardine, on October 26, 1925. The new system would use signs in the form of a white shield with black outlines, displaying the name of the state in which the highway was traveling through, the letters "U.S." to symbolize the highway system being an interstate numbering system rather than a regional state system, and the number of the route below the letters "U.S." on the shield. The highways would also be numbered in an organized fashion with the highest numbers being in the northeastern United States and lowest being in the southwest. Even-numbered routes would travel east to west while odd-numbered routes would travel north to south. The major north–south routes would end with the number "1" as the last digit, while major transcontinental east–west routes would utilize the number "0" as the last digit. This proposed system would come to be known as the United States Numbered Highway System.