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English: On April 11, 1917, five days after the United States entered the World War, representatives of practically all the railroads in the country assembled in Washington in response to an invitation from the Council of National Defense, extended through Daniel Willard, chairman of the Advisory Commission, and unanimously adopted the following resolution:

"That the railroads of the United States, acting through their chief executive officers here and now assembled, and stirred by a high sense of their opportunity to be of the greatest service to their country in the present national crisis, do hereby pledge themselves, with the Government of the United States, with the Governments of the several states, and one with another, that during the present war they will coordinate their operations in a continental railway system, merging during such period all their merely individual and competitive activities in the effort to produce a maximum of national transportation efficiency. To this end they hereby agree to create an organization which shall have general authority to formulate in detail and from time to time a policy of operation of all or any of the railways, which policy, when and as announced by such temporary organization, shall be accepted and earnestly made effective by the several managements of the individual railroad companies here represented."

To carry this pledge into effect the following executive committee was that day appointed with headquarters in Washington.

Fairfax Harrison, Chairman President, Southern Railway

Samuel Rea, President, Pennsylvania Railroad

Julius Kruttschnitt, Chairman, Southern Pacific Lines

Howard Elliott, President, New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad

Edgar E. Clark, Member of the Interstate Commerce Commission (Ex-Officio)

Hale Holden, President, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad

Daniel Willard, Chairman, Advisory Commission, Council of National Defense (Ex-Officio)

This action, the first of its kind taken by any industry in the United States, proved of inestimable value as an example of voluntary co-ordination of corporate interests for the public welfare.

Because of the co-operation thus established, the railroads moved more freight and passengers in 1917 than in any previous year.

Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, speaking of this achievement said: "It strikingly illustrates the patriotic co-operation of American railroads with the government, and also their tremendous capacity."

Erected by the Association of American Railroads, April 11, 1940