Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume XII : $b The Great Results of the War
History
Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume XII : $b The Great Results of the War
League of Nations; Treaty of Versailles (1919 June 28); World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Economic aspects; World War, 1914-1918 -- Finance
It has been asked why a coalition government was not formed to wage the
war. That very thing was in effect done by the Council, though we were
all too busy to point it out at the time. A majority of the Advisory
Commission was made up of Republicans. Certainly Republicans were in the
huge preponderance in the Committee and Boards of the Council and
Advisory Commission. Speaking as one who was not affiliated with the
politics of the Administration of Woodrow Wilson, the writer never
perceived a trace of political flavor in the organization and operation
of the Council from first to last. Never did the six Democratic cabinet
officers forming the Council itself so much as inquire into the politics
of the hundreds of business men and experts nominated to them for
appointment. It was an amazing demonstration of non-partisanship in a
national crisis. The Council was an organization of specialists from
beginning to end, and the work was everywhere carried forward on the
most impersonal basis. The writer attributes this state of affairs to
the breadth of view, and the very genuine passion for national service,
of Secretary of War Baker, Chairman of the Council.
It should be plainly stated that, utilizing in the main dollar-a-year
experts, the Council made the preliminary mobilization of industry to
July 1, 1917, at the grotesquely small sum of $127,000. To May 1, 1919,
its total expenditures, including the operation of the war industries
for nearly a year, amounted to but $1,500,000, and this comprehended the
expenditure of $225,000 for the erection of a building. I doubt if there
is anything in governmental or commercial history to match those
figures, squared with results. The savings of the Council and Advisory
Commission to the Government and the people mounted literally into the
billions, as careful analysis of pre-war and war-time prices on certain
commodities will demonstrate. It was made possible by the Council's
course in commandeering to its side the business men of the United
States.
SOME RESULTS OF COÖPERATION
One of the practical results of voluntary coöperation was the agreement
made by Mr. Baruch and Mr. Ryan with the largest copper producers of the
country to furnish the Navy 20,000,000 pounds of copper and the Army
25,510,000 pounds at 16-2/3¢ a pound when the market price was 35¢ a
pound. This meant saving to the Government close to $10,000,000. The
copper men made this offer notwithstanding their increased cost for
labor, materials, etc., because, as they said: "We believe it to be our
duty to furnish the requirements of the Government in preparing the
nation for war with no more profit than we receive from our regular
production in normal times."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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