Address by Honorable William C. Redfield, Secretary of Commerce at Conference of Regional Chairmen

Address by Honorable William C.
Redfield,

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Redfield, Secretary of Commerce at Conference of Regional Chairmen
of the Highway Transport Committee Council of National Defence, by
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Title: Address by Honorable William C. Redfield, Secretary of
Commerce at Conference of Regional Chairmen of the Highway
Transport Committee Council of National Defence Highway Transport
Commitee, Council of National Defence, Bulletin 4
Author: US Government
Release Date: November 11, 2006 [EBook #19758]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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OCTOBER 15, 1918
BULLETIN NO. 4
ADDRESS BY HONORABLE WILLIAM C. REDFIELD
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
AT CONFERENCE OF REGIONAL CHAIRMEN OF THE
HIGHWAYS TRANSPORT COMMITTEE COUNCIL OF
NATIONAL DEFENSE WASHINGTON, D.C. SEPTEMBER 19,
1918
[Illustration]
RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL
DEFENSE
"The Council of National Defense approves the widest possible use of
the motor truck as a transportation agency, and requests the State
Councils of Defense and other State authorities to take all necessary
steps to facilitate such means of transportation, removing any
regulations that tend to restrict and discourage such use."
WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1918
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING REGIONAL AREAS Highways
Transport Committee Council of National Defense]
Recognizing the national value of our highways in relation to, and
properly coordinated with, other existing transportation mediums, and
more particularly the necessity for their immediate development that
they might carry their share of the war burden, the Highways

Transport Committee was appointed by, and forms a part of, the
Council of National Defense.
The object of the committee is to increase and render more effective all
transportation over the highways as one of the means of strengthening
the Nation's transportation system and relieving the railroads of part of
the heavy short-haul freight traffic burden.
National policies are directed from the headquarters of the national
committee in Washington to the highways transport committees of the
several State Councils of Defense. These State organizations, which by
proper subdivisions reach down through the counties to the
communities, are grouped together into 11 regional areas, as shown by
the map used above. The State committees of the different areas are
assisted by and are under the direct supervision of the 11 regional
chairmen of the Highways Transport Committee, Council of National
Defense.

COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE. HIGHWAYS TRANSPORT
COMMITTEE. WASHINGTON, D.C.
ADDRESS BY HON. WILLIAM C. REDFIELD, SECRETARY OF
COMMERCE, BEFORE THE REGIONAL CHAIRMEN OF THE
HIGHWAYS TRANSPORT COMMITTEE, THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER 19, 1918.
MR. CHAPIN AND GENTLEMEN: It would be a truism to say that I
have always been interested in transportation. It has always been a
subject of keen interest to me, I presume, because I was born with it.
By the fortune of birth I came to live in a region where transportation
has been through every one of its stages in this country. If you go back
into the history of the Colonies, you will find the two first lines of
through transportation in America were east and west--the St.
Lawrence River and the Lakes--while for over a century the one great
central north and south line was the Hudson River, Lake George, and
Lake Champlain. In that entire length from the St. Lawrence to New

York Harbor there was but about 13 miles that could not be traveled by
water with such boats as they used. You will recall that great historic
events of our early history centered about this transportation line.
Burgoyne's surrender, Arnold's treason, the great contests of the French
wars, Macdonough's victory on Lake Champlain were all associated
with this water route. Such names as Montcalm, Schuyler, and
Champlain are linked to it. Historically, it is true both for war and
peace that transportation has been formative and controlling in our
national life. One of the early evidences of the growth of transportation
in this country, and therefore of our national progress, was the act of
connecting the Great Lakes by the Erie Canal with the Hudson River.
The largest number of railroad tracks paralleling any navigable stream
follows to-day the line of the Hudson. There are six much of the
way--four tracks on one side and two on the other. I am going to make
that historical line of water and rail transportation the basis for a little
study with you, to see what the normal development of transportation