lions, wholly subscribed by the government, to buy and sell grain. Later (October), by Presidential proclamation, important and inclusive classes of foods were brought under Federal control, including virtually the whole machinery of their manufacture and distribution. The Shipping Board Soon Emergency ration As in the case of the Council of National Defense and Reserve Bank system, so, too, in the Shipping Board, we had an agency formed in pre-war days of great value, and quite ready for service. This Board (created by an Act of September 7, 1916) consisted of five members with broad powers to advise and regulate the rates and practices of water carriers in domestic commerce. To it came, naturally, gigantic and vital tasks upon the outbreak of the war, for it was to our resources in shipping that our Allies looked for America's first important contribution to the great cause. after war was declared the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation was formed as the agency of the Shipping Board, with a capital of fifty millions, also subscribed by the government. This agency contracted for, and managed the construction of, new ships and completed the construction of the commandeered ships then building. Such was the energy displayed that, by December, 1918, the Board had under construction on its own contracts 884 ships and was bringing to completion 426 others which were building in this country on private or foreign account. These ships had a total tonnage of three million tons. The Board's program called for the completion of ten million tons of new vessels by 1919. Likewise the Federal Trade Commission (1914), previously mentioned, came to have exceedingly important powers as the war broke out, since its duty of investigating prices and costs of such products as steel, oil, and coal determined what the government should pay for munitions and supplies. istrator Again, under the Food and Fuel Control Act, President Garfield of Williams College was appointed Fuel Administrator. Many complications arose in administrating suc Federal Trade Fuel Admin cessfully this highly important office, but the coöperation of every fuel consumer was invoked, the wasting of fuel was curtailed, and some relief from the great demand for coal, and the consequent pressure on the nation's transportation facilities, was secured. Government control of All of these efforts toward putting the country on an efficient war basis, however, would have been of slight value but for the intelligent handling of the transportation problem. Fortunately the railway men of Amertransportation ica were of an exceptionally high caliber and were inspired by a superb type of patriotism. In December the government took over the control and management of the railroads; they were put in charge of a Director General of Railroads, William G. McAdoo. The lines remained in the hands of their former operators, however, but these formed at once a loyal army of a million and three quarters of men to operate the 693 lines under their charge with no thought but for victory. A Transportation and Communication Committee of one, consisting of Daniel E. Willard, as sisted by a committee on national defense of the American Railway Association, worked out a program of marked efficiency in reducing unnecessary freight and passenger traffic and in devoting all railroad facilities to war problems. In achieving this efficiency a real factor was the Priority Act (August 6). The administration of this act forbade the use of cars for unessential freight and employed wise discrimination in allowing certain freights prior right of way as necessity, the seasons, and other considerations of exigency demanded.1 Priority Act But the war called for a mobilization of the intellectual, moral, and religious resources of the nation as well as the material. Various governmental and semi-governmental Public Infor agencies supplied this need. The Committee on Committee on Public Information, consisting of three Cabinet mation members and a civilian chairman, was established by executive order (April 14) as an official channel of information concerning the purposes and conduct of the war. Sixteen subsidiary committees assisted in this work and, so far as the committee took the public into its confidence, its work was a success. New acts making plain to the blindest where lay the path of patriotism were passed by Congress. The Espionage Act (June 15) warned people not to pass on to the enemy information which should give the latter "comfort"; and the "Trading with the Enemy Act" (October 6) increased the President's powers, beyond the limit set by the "Espionage Act," in dealing with persons of criminal intent. These powers, by executive order, the President passed on to various committees. Such semi-official organizations as the Red Cross, Young Men's Christian Association, Salvation Army, Espionage Act 1We saw, in the case of the Civil War, that the North waged the struggle (until its last year) without proper centralization of power (p. 340). In the Great War that failing was not present. To illustrate how efficiently centralization was secured the following lines are quoted from one of Mr. McAdoo's letters to the president of a great railway system: “. . . I speak thus frankly because I feel that you ought to know that a change in the management of the are speedily obtained." Railroad will be inevitable unless better results and Knights of Columbus were given an enormous backing by the American people, as is indicated by the success of the "drives" conducted to raise money for their support. While the call thus went out to men and women of every class and in every line of industry to become "soldiers for freedom," organized labor, under the leadership of Samuel Gompers, rallied patriotically to the country's cause. The American Federation of Labor (November 19) voted (21,579 to 402) for the energetic and whole-hearted prosecution of the war. Under the direction of the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense a The patriotism of organized labor Committee on Labor was formed, which, in turn, appointed eight national subcommittees to strive for the health, welfare, and efficiency of all workers in those vital industries upon which the success of the great adventure into world war depended. Thus, in briefest outline, the people of the United States arose to the occasion and furnished, as we shall see, a mighty army for the Allied cause. The brain-power and executive ability of the nation could never, under any circumstances, have offered itself more readily and heartily to a national undertaking. Nor could the country have found many leaders better fitted to inspire a whole people to its duty and its opportunity than President Wilson seemed to be. This should be recognized now because, in the politics of peace and reconstruction of the world, many differed with him in policy and lost confidence in him. In no crisis of our country's history has a chief executive ever reflected in public addresses and State papers more perfectly the spirit and purpose of our nation. If it seems from the accounts written by those close to him that the Cabinet was compelled to urge President Wilson forward in the crucial days of 1917, it is also clear that most of the agencies that brought us success in the war were being created in those days of waiting and anxiety. READING LIST Seymour, Chaps. 6 and 7; F. L. Paxson, "The American War Government," American Historical Review, October, 1920; Bassett, Chaps. 5-9; Handbook of Economic Agencies for the War of 1917 (Monograph No. 3 of Hist. Branch, War Plans Div.); Paxson, Chaps. 48-53. QUERY AND DISCUSSION Compare the centralization of governmental power 1917-1918 to that which occurred 1861-1865. Compare the economic conditions in the North in Civil War days to those prevailing in our country in 1917-1918. Why in war times is the criticism of the administration party highly objectionable? Why was President Wilson's advice to voters in 1920 to keep the Democratic party in power considered bad taste by many? What national agencies most successfully furthered America's getting on a war basis? What work did non-combatants do in your city or section? Explain the exact service of the Federal Reserve system at this time. Section 65. "Old Glory" in France The task of raising armies The task of raising armies fit to meet the crisis in Europe and transport them thither in safety now confronted our Nation. The energy displayed-despite our inexperience with war as it was then being fought abroad— was typically American; the quality of privates who carried "Old Glory" to new glories on the battlefields of France and Italy proved that the American soldier of 1917 was the equal of any adversary-and more. Fortunately the Spanish-American War had taught us some last few lessons needed in the matter of army organization. In |