0.3 Great war (part ii)  (Page 4/16)

The Food Administration asked Americans to grow their own vegetables (called “Victory Gardens”) and to pledge to follow the call to preserve, consume less, and grow more in order to ensure that sufficient meat, wheat, fats, and sugars make it to the US troops and American allies. The Milwaukee Journal , the largest daily in Wisconsin, proclaimed that 100% of their citizens took the pledge to eat less and preserve more. Wisconsin had more German immigrants than any other state. Wisconsin also had an active Socialist movement and thus it was psychologically important for the owners of that newspaper to advertise a claim that was more than merely improbable. The publishers of Good Housekeeping urged its readers to support the government efforts believing that:

“its large circle of earnest, patriotic women readers will respond gladly to a call to service at home. It is a tremendous task—this one of conservation and elimination of waste. Every woman is urged to do her part. It can best be done through close cooperation with the government. Enlist now and pledge yourself to do your share.”

Finally, the War Industries Board (WIB), created in the mid-summer of 1917, was another federal agency tasked with ensuring that Americans at home and abroad had access to acceptably priced merchandise and equipment. The WIB was led by Bernard Baruch, a friend of Wilson’s in academia and business. A graduate of City College of New York, Baruch made his first million by his thirtieth birthday (1900) as a Wall Street trader and financier. Baruch was a major financial donor as well as unpaid adviser to the Democratic Party for most of his adult life. As part of Wilson’s “War Cabinet,” Baruch worked closely with Hoover. While Hoover’s emphasis was on agriculture, Baruch focused on American industry. The WIB was ordered into a series of divisions that oversaw all aspects of war needs from distribution of raw resources to control of prices on the finished goods to include chemical, steel, textile, rubber, and leather goods.

Secretary of Labor, William B. Wilson, created the National War Labor Board (NWLB) in 1918. While the WIB consisted of military personnel and public servants, the NWLB was composed of civilians, mainly from labor unions, industrial management, and the general public. This group was tasked with settling labor issues, disputes, and other issues that otherwise might negatively affect this country’s wartime production.

Wartime Diplomacy

Woodrow Wilson envisioned a quick war. A combination of coordination among the US and its allies in food production, equipment needs, and communications was facilitated by the various government programs and agencies that fell under the rubric of Wilson’s War Cabinet such as the War Industries Board, the Fuel Administration, and the Food Administration. International “cooperation” among the Allies was evident through the creation of the Supreme War Council. The US representative to this group was Wilson’s Army Chief of Staff, Tasker H. Bliss. Initially, the Council was tasked with coordinating allied military action. Ultimately, the Council will prove to be more effective as a space where the allies discussed diplomatic endeavors to include how to bring an end to the war, and what should be included in the peace treaty. Wilson’s outlined his goals for how the war will end as well as for how Europe (and the world) will be rebuilt in a speech he gave on January 8 ^th , 1918.