Priorities Division.— The functions of this division were to determine, whenever necessary, priorities of production and delivery and the proportions of any given article which were to be made acces.sible to the various and varying demands for it. The division formulated gen eral plans for the co-ordination of the military program, as presented by the military authori ties, and the industrial program, in so far as such programs called for priorities. It deter mined policies and designated agencies to carry such policies out It defined those activities which are accorded preferential treatment be cause of their war or civilian importance and certified its classifications to the Fuel Adminis tration, the Railroad Administration, the United States Employment Service and the Industrial Advisers of the District Draft Boards for their respective uses and guidance in distributing fuel,. furnishing transportation and labor and passmg upon cases of industrial and occupa tional deferment All government and other agencies were governed by its decisions and rulings in all matters pertaining to priorities.
Price-fixing Division.— Statutory authority to fix prices was extended to ffie government with reference only to food, wheat and fuel — coal and coke. However, it had authority to conunandeer, and this power, coupled with its power to determine priorities, enabled it in many cases to fix prices by agreement with producers. The prices fixed by it were of two kinds — prices which the government only paid and prices which were paid by the government, the Allies and the public. Prices for the govern ment alone were fixed whenever such price fixing was necessary to prevent it from being charged more than a reasonable and fair price for its needs and when the government pur chases were not such as to disturb market con ditions. When the needs of the government ab sorbed so large a portion of a product as to change normal economic conditions, then prices for the public also were fixed. Among the commodities, the prices of which were fixed, were aluminum, cement, copper, cotton fabrics, cotton linters, hides and leather, hemp, lumber, platinum, rags, sand, gravel, crushed stone, steel, wool and zinc. In each case, maximum prices only were fixed.
Controlled Industries Division.— Govem ment control of an industry, in so far as dis tribution is concerned, results when its entire output is allocated. That control becomes abso lute when, in addition to alb:Mating the indus try's output, the government also fixes the price therefor. The principal commodities for which prices were fixed by the War Indus tries Board already have been named. In some cases the entire supply of the commodities was allocated also. With respect to certain other commodities the output was allocated though the prices were not fixed. The priucipal com modities with respect to which the entire out put was allocated were chlorine, copper, cotton ducic goods, cotton linters, felts, hides and skins, manganese and chrome, military optical glasses, nitrate of soda, platinum, steel and pig iron, sulphur, toluol (the essential ingredient of T.N.T.), turbines, wood chemicals and wool.
Purchasing for the Allies Division.— Un der an agreement between the United States and the Allies all purchases of supplies made by the latter had to be submitted to and ap proved by the Allied Purchasing Commission of the War Industries Commission It was the duty of that commission to secine the best prices and the best terms, of delivery possible and submit thezn to the Allied governments. In practice the purchase of food and feed was made by the Food Administrator. The Allied governments had to agree among themselves as to.then several requirements and as to the pri orities. of delivery. In cases where prices had been fixed by the Price-fixing Commission, such prices applied to purchases made by the Allies. In other cases, the prices were approved by the Allied Purchasing Commission. However, the
purchases actually were made by representatives of the Allied governments within limitations im posed by the Allied Purchasing Coinmission.
Labor Division.— The activities of this di vision were devoted to: (1) Securing co-operation of the govern ment and organizations in reclaiming man power and waste materials.
(2) Utilization of prison labor —war, civil and disciplinary.
(3) Re-education by vocational training of crippled soldiers, sailors and persons injured in industry so as to make them self-sustaining.
(4) National waste reclamation system.
(5) Standardization of industries and oc cupations in penal institutions for producing materials.
(6) National road work system for pris oners.
(7) Development of war prisoners' divi sion in the army.
(8) Induction into industry and agricul ture of discharged or paroled prisoners, (9) A.rmy and navy waste reclamation.
(10) Development of camp gardens.
(11) Aiding in work of securing legislation to make this work permanent.
Conservation Division.— This division took over the work of the Commercial Economy Board of the Council of National Defense. Its functions were the studious conservation of re sources and facilities by means of scientific, conunercial and industrial economies. It de termined in the case of each industry what labor, materials, equipment and capital could be dispensed with in order that these facilities might be put to more essential uses. In other words, its primary object was to eliminate waste and unnecessary uses of all kinds and to put the labor, materials or capital thus saved into businesses essential to war needs. The results of its efforts to conserve the wool supply of the country afford an excellent example of what it accomplished. Soon after taking up its duties it ascertained that substantial economies could be effected by reducing the number of designs of wool fabrics the maaufacturers were putting out, and also by reducing the nutnber of models of garments, eliminating the use of cloth for needless adornments md by reducing the size of sampke. It waa learned, for instance, that a fabric manufacturer would get out, say 1,000 designs for a season, of which perhaps not more than 200 would be sold in commercial quantities. The labor and material used in making the other 800 deeigns were wasted. •Fabric manufacturers, therefore, were requested to reduce the number of their designs and thereby large savings were effected. Wholesale tailors were persuaded to reduce the size of the samples sent out by them, and a.s a result, 450, 000 yards of cloth were saved in this way in die spring season of 1918 alone. The matter was taken up with other branches of the industry and a total saving of between 3,000,000 and 4,000,-, 000.yards of cloth was the result. Even larger savings were effected by persuading clothing manufacturers to eliminate useless adonunents such as belts, plaits, cuffs on sleeves and the like. Extensive savings in leather were brought about by getting shoe manufacturers to eliminate styles involving excessive and wasteful uses of material.. Manufacturers of pneumatic tires for automobiles were induced to reduce the num ber of type-s and sizes they were putting out from 287 to 33 with a promise of a further re duction to nine types and sizes in two years. Similar economies were effected with reference to agricultural implements, paints and varnishes, stoves and furnaces, davenports and metal bed.s, tinware and sample trunks, buggies and spring wagons. Considerable labor was saved by per suading department stores to reduce their de livery services, this labor being released for more essential occupations. Taking all of these things into consideration the probabilities are that none of the various boards created for the purpose of helping tite United States and the Allies to win the war rendered more efficient service.