The activities of these men and their hundreds of colleagues, nearly all dollar-a-year workers and men whose time could not be bought, as a rule, in days of peace, reached out and touched almost every town and village in almost every part of the United States. They were moved and stimulated by the philosophy of voluntary coöperation, which was first and in a very daring way thrust into the consciousness of the nation by the Council of National Defense. It was the policy that won the war. One distinct benefit which the Government received from calling the industrial intelligence of the country to its aid was the breadth of view which industrial leaders possess. Their habit of mind to survey the field as a whole, to take a bird's-eye view of the problem to be solved, enabled the Government agencies to obtain a proper comprehension of the task of building the war machine. The country will probably never know the debt that it owes to these men and their like who came to Washington and bent their backs throughout the hot Southern summer during a series of endeavors in which absolutely no paths were charted.
NON-PARTISAN REPRESENTATION
It has been asked why a coalition government was not formed to wage the war. That very thing was in effect done by the Council, though we were all too busy to point it out at the time. A majority of the Advisory Commission was made up of Republicans. Certainly Republicans were in the huge preponderance in the Committee and Boards of the Council and Advisory Commission. Speaking as one who was not affiliated with the politics of the Administration of Woodrow Wilson, the writer never perceived a trace of political flavor in the organization and operation of the Council from first to last. Never did the six Democratic cabinet officers forming the Council itself so much as inquire into the politics of the hundreds of business men and experts nominated to them for appointment. It was an amazing demonstration of non-partisanship in a national crisis. The Council was an organization of specialists from beginning to end, and the work was everywhere carried forward on the most impersonal basis. The writer attributes this state of affairs to the breadth of view, and the very genuine passion for national service, of Secretary of War Baker, Chairman of the Council.
It should be plainly stated that, utilizing in the main dollar-a-year experts, the Council made the preliminary mobilization of industry to July 1, 1917, at the grotesquely small sum of $127,000. To May 1, 1919, its total expenditures, including the operation of the war industries for nearly a year, amounted to but $1,500,000, and this comprehended the expenditure of $225,000 for the erection of a building. I doubt if there is anything in governmental or commercial history to match those figures, squared with results. The savings of the Council and Advisory Commission to the Government and the people mounted literally into the billions, as careful analysis of pre-war and war-time prices on certain commodities will demonstrate. It was made possible by the Council's course in commandeering to its side the business men of the United States.
SOME RESULTS OF COÖPERATION
One of the practical results of voluntary coöperation was the agreement made by Mr. Baruch and Mr. Ryan with the largest copper producers of the country to furnish the Navy 20,000,000 pounds of copper and the Army 25,510,000 pounds at 162/3¢. a pound when the market price was 35¢. a pound. This meant saving to the Government close to $10,000,000. The copper men made this offer notwithstanding their increased cost for labor, materials, etc., because, as they said: "We believe it to be our duty to furnish the requirements of the Government in preparing the nation for war with no more profit than we receive from our regular production in normal times."
In the same way the steel makers of the country, represented in the Steel Institute, agreed to furnish steel to the Government at the basic price of 2.9¢. per pound as compared with the then market price of from 5¢. to 7¢. a pound. This represented an approximate saving to the Government of $18,000,000.
THE FIELD DIVISION
The tremendous effort of the Council to mobilize and coalesce into a fluid and powerful whole the industrial, economic and scientific forces, was supplemented and to a great extent made possible by the Council's Section on Coöperation with States, later known as the Field Division. Through this subordinate body was created, guided and coördinated the 185,000 units of the state, county, community and municipal councils of defense, which literally unified the citizenship of America for war. If production was to win the war, it was elementary that the civilian morale must be brought to the highest pitch of coöperation and efficiency—and it was accomplished. In this vital task a noble part was played by the Woman's Committee of the Council, which in the most thorough-going and swift manner brought the services of the women of the country to the Government. The director of this committee, Miss Hannah J. Patterson, received the Distinguished Service Medal.