After the armistice the first step in the liquidation of the quartermaster war business and of the other enterprises conducted by the Director of Purchase in the United States was to terminate the industry and to settle with the contractors, of whom, as is indicated above, there were approximately 15,900—parties to agreements which committed the United States to purchase supplies to the value of more than $7,800,000,000. A large part of these were quartermaster supplies, but they also included motor vehicles and engineering, medical, signal corps, and general supplies, the procurement of which, under the reorganization of the War Department, was placed in the hands of the Director of Purchase.
Photo by Signal Corps
A. E. F. SUPPLY TRAIN ON WAY TO RATION DUMP
Photo by Signal Corps
A. E. F. FLOUR ON WAY TO STARVING AUSTRIA
The immediate result of the armistice was to silence the activity in these thousands of factories. The Director of Purchase sent broadcast by telegraph a general request to suspend all production while the War Department could estimate its position. After a few days the mills were permitted to resume production. Subsequently about 5,000 of the contracts were allowed to go through to completion. The remaining 11,000 were terminated either abruptly, as with those under which no production had started, or by graduation, when that was advantageous either to the Government or to the industrial situation.
Photo by Signal Corps