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

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Address by Honorable William C. Redfield,

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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 is, and whether, as I believe, the particular form that concerns you is a natural outgrowth of all that has gone before. If it is so it is