Created by an act of Congress in the late summer of 1916, the Council of National Defense was not fully organized until March, 1917, when our entrance into the war had become inevitable. In the creating act the Council was charged with the “coördination of industries and resources for the national security and welfare.” It was to consist of the Secretaries of War, the Navy, the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor and it was directed to nominate to the President an Advisory Commission of seven persons, each having special knowledge of some industry, public utility or natural resources, or being otherwise specially qualified to give aid and counsel in the stimulation, development and coördination of national activities and “the creation of relations which would render possible in time of need the immediate concentration and utilization of all the resources of the nation.” Primarily the Council of National Defense was an organizing machinery. It took into its hands the universal eagerness to serve of all the millions of the American people in civilian life and created for them the emergency means by which each and all could join the vast and immediate mobilization of resources and of effort that was necessary. At once it summoned to Washington for conference and the starting of coöperative effort the leaders in science, engineering, industry and other phases of national life. Under this exchange of ideas there was a rapid evolution of plans that were quickly put into operation under its auspices. As they proved workable and grew in importance some were turned over to existing agencies for administration and others developed into separate organizations. But all were so interlocked that they marched forward with harmonious step, each coöperating with and aiding the others.