William Cox Redfield to Woodrow Wilson

Personal and Confidential.

The following is written in the belief that either through acceptance of our terms of armistice or through military collapse the war with Germany must end in the near future and that we shall then have to turn our thoughts to the problem of readjustment to peace conditions.

Uncertainty, of course, exists in the minds both of the business world and in labor circles as to the immediate effects of peace. Questions have arisen of the employment of labor and of the opportunity for business. So far as uncertainty exists it is in itself hurtful to both capital and labor and it would seem our duty to remove it as far as we can. Any suggestion that would point toward the provision of employment on a considerable scale would steady the whole situation, would tend to stabilize labor, and to remove uncertainty from the minds of employers.

I suggest for your consideration the wisdom of letting it be known that the administration would approve of proceeding as promptly as may be convenient after the close of hostilities with deferred public improvements especially such as are of a productive character. I have in mind highways, bridges, docks and the like and others which would affect local communities all over the country. It might include the building of school houses and of other deferred public buildings. If the government itself is to consider the construction of publicly owned buildings in Washington to replace rented ones and is to acquire the Cape Cod Canal and enlarge it and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and possibly build the new Delaware and Raritan Canal (steps which are recommended in my report to the Senate of recent date) it would seem a fitting time to take up work of this character, together with such river and harbor improvements and other public works as are already authorized.

My thought is that the knowledge that work of this character -- national, state, municipal and corporate -- was to be undertaken in the near future would itself go far to clarify a confused situation and to furnish an element of certainty at a time when it is greatly needed. I venture to think that the war has taught the importance of the government control and enlargement of the intracoastal canals and that the public would approve steps in this direction, as it would the resumption of work as soon as possible upon other improvements of a similar but lesser kind all over the country.

I offer no suggestion as to the method of bringing the matter before the public mind. If, as I venture to hope, you may have a message to bring before the meeting of the Associated War Service Committees under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States at their meeting at Atlantic City in early December, that might be an appropriate occasion. Other and perhaps more desirable methods will occur to you.

I realize that the whole subject is vast and that this touches but a corner of it, yet it is a phase of nearly or quite country-wide application and in its working out would affect industries of many kinds. It would set in motion causes that would go far to prevent a slump and which would take up the slack that otherwise may arise from the cancellation of war orders. It would probably employ productively less capital than it was expected would during the next year be employed in war and would make less rather than more demand upon the credit facilities of the nation than has been estimated.

There are other phases of governmental action respecting readjustment to peace conditions on which I shall be glad to offer suggestions if and when it shall appear that peace is definitely coming.Yours very truly,

The President,
The White House,
Washington, DC