World's War Events, Vol. II

by Unknown

Field of priorities in transportation and supplies.

With the declaration of a state of war, however, the usefulness of the Council of National Defense became instantly more obvious. The peace-time activities and interests of our people throughout the country surged toward Washington in an effort to assimilate themselves into the new scheme of things which, it was recognized, would call for widespread changes of occupation and interest. The Council of National Defense was the only national agency at all equipped to receive and direct this aroused spirit seeking appropriate modes of action, and it was admirably adapted to the task because among the members of the council were those Cabinet officers whose normal activities brought them into constant contact with all the varied peace-time activities of the people and who were, therefore, best qualified to judge the most useful opportunities in the new state of things for men and interests of which they respectively knew the normal relations. For the more specialized problems of the national defense, notably those dealing with the production of war materials, the council authorized the organization of subordinate bodies of experts, and the General Munitions Board grew naturally out of the necessities of the War and Navy Departments, which required not only the maximum production of existing munition-making industries in the country, but the creation of new capacity for production and its correlation with similar needs on the part of the foreign governments. The work done by the General Munitions Board was highly effective, but it was soon seen that its problem carried over into the field of transportation, that it was bound up with the question of priorities, and that it was itself divisible into the great and separate fields of raw material supply and the production of finished goods. With the growth of its necessary interests and the constant discovery of new relations it became necessary so to reorganize the General Munitions Board as both to enlarge its view and more definitely recognize its widespread relations.

The War Industries Board.

Knowledge of war needs of the United States and Allies.

The Council of National Defense a natural center.

Upon the advice of the Council of National Defense, the General Munitions Board was replaced by the War Industries Board, which consists of a chairman, a representative of the Army, a representative of the Navy, a representative of labor and the three members of the Allied Purchasing Commission through whom, under arrangements made with foreign Governments by the Secretary of the Treasury, the purchasing of allied goods in the United States is effected. This purchasing commission consists of three chairmen—one of priorities, one of raw materials, and one of finished products. By the presence of Army and Navy representatives, the needs of our own Government are brought to the common council table of the War Industries Board. The board is thus enabled to know all the war needs of our Government and the nations associated with us in war, to measure their effect upon the industry of the country, to assign relative priorities in the order of serviceableness to the common cause, and to forecast both the supply of raw material and our capacity for completing its manufacture in such a way as to coordinate our entire industrial capacity, both with a view to its maximum efficiency and to its permanent effect upon the industrial condition of the country. Under legislation enacted by Congress, the President has committed certain definite problems to special agencies. The food administration, the fuel administration, and the shipping problem being each in the hands of experts specially selected under appropriate enactments. In large part, these activities are separable from the general questions considered by the Council of National Defense and the War Industries Board, but there are necessary relations between them which it has been found quite simple to arrange by conference and consultation, and the Council of National Defense, with the Secretary of the Treasury added as an important councilor, has seemed the natural center around which to group these agencies so far as any common activity among them is desirable.

The War Department indebted to the council.

Unremunerated service of able citizens.

Business confidence in the Government.

In the meantime the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense and the council itself have continued to perform the original advisory functions committed to them by the National Defense Act. The War Department is glad to acknowledge its debt to the council and the commission. I refrain from specific enumeration of the services which the department has received through these agencies only because their number is infinite and their value obvious. The various supply committees created by the Supply Commission, the scientific resources placed at the disposal of the department, the organization of the medical profession, the cooperation of the transportation interests of the country, the splendid harmony which has been established in the field of labor, are all fruits of the actions of these bodies and notably of the Advisory Commission. It has been especially in connection with the activities of the council and the commission that we have been helped by the unremunerated service of citizens who bore no official relation to the Government but had expert knowledge of and experience with the industries of the country which it was necessary rapidly to summon into new uses. Through their influence, the trade rivalries and commercial competitions, stimulating and helpful in times of peace, have been subordinated to the paramount purpose of national service and the common good. They have not only created helpful relations for the present emergency but have established a new confidence in the Government on the part of business and perhaps have led to clearer judgments on the part of the Government in its dealings with the great organizations, both of labor and of capital, which form the industrial and commercial fabric of our society. The large temporary gain thus manifest is supplemented by permanent good; and in the reorganizations which take place when the war is over there will doubtless be a more conscious national purpose in business and a more conscious helpfulness toward business on the part of the Government.