Simultaneously with issuing the suspension requests, the procurement bureaus in Washington began making out what were known as termination schedules. These were detailed statements of proposed reductions in war work compiled by individual contracts, by manufacturing projects, by entire commodities that were being consumed by the Army, and by entire production programs. These schedules were first sent for approval to the Director of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic, who also secured the approval of the War Industries Board and the Department of Labor. The approved schedules were then sent back to the bureaus for action, except that the bureaus were instructed to terminate the production gradually so as not to disturb industry in any particular localities. The terminations, of course, were made by agreement with the producers, the agreements embodying the terms under which the manufacturing ceased. So expeditiously was this work started that the first termination schedules reached the Director of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic on November 12, and the schedules poured in upon him every day thereafter. Within a few days the prepared schedules involved the termination of a billion dollars’ worth of work. Each schedule was the product of a comprehensive study of the industries affected, made by the production bureaus, which were in intimate touch with those industries. On December 5 the terminations and reductions reached a total of $2,500,000,000. A large part of the war industry had been reduced or terminated without serious detriment to the condition of business and employment. Consequently, it was decided that no such precautions as were being taken were longer necessary, and a change in the liquidation system went into effect. Thereafter the stoppage of war industry was placed entirely in the hands of the district production officers of the War Department. These men were to consult with the local officers of the Department of Labor as to the effect of terminations upon employment, and were also to make frequent regular reports to the Director of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic. For the rest, they were free to act according to their own best judgment.