Woodrow Wilson to William Cox Redfield

I want presently to have a conference with you, the Secretary of State and Doctor John R. Mott for the purpose of seeing if we can't between us organize an original kind of relief expedition for Russia. I know that you have been interested in the matter of organizing what I may call barter commerce with Russia, the only sort that is just now feasible, and I am writing this to suggest that by way of getting all the light possible on the subject of conditions in Russia before we meet, you seek out Mr. Henry W. Anderson, the Red Cross Commissioner to Roumania who has just returned to Washington, and Mr. S. P. Elliott, who can be reached in care of W. R. Grace & Company, Hanover Square, New York City, who has also just returned from Russia, and who I am told knows thoroughly the trading situation there.