User:Qasaur/sandbox
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | July 8, 1917 |
| Dissolved | January 1, 1919 |
| Agency executive |
|
The War Industries Board (WIB) was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917 to coordinate the purchase and production of material required .[1] The organization encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products. The board set production quotas and allocated raw materials. It also conducted psychological testing to help people find the right jobs.
The board was led initially by Frank A. Scott, who had previously been head of the General Munitions Board. He was replaced in November by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad president Daniel Willard. Finally in January 1918, the board was reorganized under the leadership of financier Bernard M. Baruch.
The WIB dealt with labor-management disputes resulting from increased demand for products during World War I. The government could not negotiate prices and could not handle worker strikes, so the War Industries Board regulated the two to decrease tensions by stopping strikes with wage increases to prevent a shortage of supplies going to the war in Europe.
Under the War Industries Board, industrial production in the U.S. increased 20 percent, however the vast majority of the war material was produced too late to do any good.[2] The War Industries Board was decommissioned by an executive order on January 1, 1919.
With the war mobilization conducted under the supervision of the War Industries Board unprecedented fortunes fell upon war producers and certain holders of raw materials and patents. Hearings in 1934 by the Nye Committee led by U.S. Senator Gerald Nye were intended to hold war profiteers to account.
Background[edit]
Prior to the American entry into World War 1, private U.S industry had already been supplying the Allies with war materials, but the possibility of a U.S. entry created the need for a body to coordinate and manage American industry in an efficient manner in order to prevent bottlenecks and a general shortage of materials. Preparations for a comprehensive scheme of American industrial management began in 1916, prior to the start of World War I, with the Naval Consulting Board initiating a survey of over 18,000 industrial facilities in an attempt to list, describe, and classify important American industrial infrastructure. In addition to the survey, an important foundation to the War Industries Board was the establishment of the Council of National Defense on October 11, 1916. The role of the council was limited to an advisory one, but it was among others tasked with the "coordination of industries and resources for the national security and welfare", and was primarily concerned with the facilitation and expansion of relations between the U.S. government and American industry.[3] The organization was mostly composed of members who worked without compensation and was lead by seven commissioners, each of whom were responsible for a specific field such as transportation or engineering.[4]
When the United States government commenced the buying of suppliers and materials for the war, shortages, in addition to shortages created by previous Allied demand, began to appear in several industries; additionally, price increases and price fluctuations and in goods which were in unusual high demand began to appear. The severity of the issue spawned an advisory commission under the Council of National Defense composed of a large amount of committees who in turn were composed of producers and manufacturers of essential materials in the war.[5] Tasked with being a facilitator of information between the government and industry, the size of the organization grew rapidly and organizational and structural issues began to arise, prompting the creation of the War Industries Board on July 29, 1917 and imposed the following as its duties:
The Board will act as a clearing house for the war industry needs of the Government, determine the most effective ways of meeting them and the best means and methods of increasing production, including the creation or extension of industries demanded by the emergency, the sequence and relative urgency of the needs of the different Government services, and consider price factors, and in the first instance the industrial and labor aspects of the problems involved and the general questions affecting the purchase of commodities. [6]
Members of the War Industries Board[edit]
The original seven members of the War Industries Board were:
- Al M. Boolock
- Cheyenne T. Wade
- General Palmer E. Pierce
- Admiral Frank F. Fletcher
- Bernard M. Baruch
- Robert S. Brookings, head of the Cupples Co., a distribution firm
- Robert S. Lovett, President of Union Pacific Railroad
- Hugh Frayne, of the American Federation of Labor and former president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO
Other later members included:
- Clarence Dillon, partner in Dillon, Read & Co.
- Hugh S. Johnson[7]
- George Cameron Stone, head of Non-Ferrous Metal section
- Eugene Meyer, Special Advisor to the War Industries Board on Non-Ferrous Metals
- Edward Stettinius, Sr., partner in J.P. Morgan & Co.
- Walter D. Stewart
Charles H. Conner, Private Investor, New York, NY
- John Millard, Privites Investor, Toyko, Missouri
Notes[edit]
- ^ "War Purchase Board of Three proposed". The New York Times. July 11, 1917.
- ^ Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 12-13, 77, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
- ^ Baruch 1921, p. 19.
- ^ Baruch 1921, p. 20.
- ^ Baruch 1921, p. 21.
- ^ Baruch 1921, p. 22.
- ^ "Appoint Committee on Steel Situation." New York Times. May 18, 1918; Johnson, Paul. Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the Nineties. Rev. ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN 0-06-093550-2 p. 16.
References[edit]
- Baruch, Bernard M. (1921). American Industry in the War. Washington: Government Printing Office.
External links[edit]
Category:Military history of the United States Category:World War I Category:Defunct agencies of the United States government