Address by Honorable Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior at Conference of Regional Chairmen of the Highways Transport Committee Council of National Defense

Address by Honorable Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior at Conference of Regional Chairmen of the Highways Transport Committee Council of National Defense, by the United States Council of National Defense, Highways Transport Committee, offers a vivid 1918 call to action for America's roads and wartime logistics. Franklin K. Lane's address—delivered in Washington, D.C., and issued shortly after World War I—argues for the widest possible use of the motor truck, immediate development of highways, and coordinated policy to relieve railroads of short-haul freight. The speech outlines the Highways Transport Committee’s structure, the role of State Councils of Defense, and the eleven regional areas tasked with implementing national directives. Themes include applied transportation science, infrastructure planning, regulatory reform, and the interplay of technology and public policy during a national emergency. Presented within the Science genre as a primary-source study of early 20th-century transportation logistics, this audiobook appeals to historians, civil engineers, policy makers, transportation planners, and students of military logistics. Listen to understand how scientific thinking and administrative organization shaped U.S. infrastructure strategy at a pivotal moment in modern transport history.