The War Industries Board Aka (WIB) established in 1917 organized in 1918 by Bernard M. Baruch Used to help regulate the economy Encouraged companies to use mass production techniques Encouraged companies to eliminate waste Ex. (5 typewriter colors instead of 150) Industrial production increased 20% Could not regulate retail prices so they went up really high Railroad Administration also attempted to control economy (w/ RR’s0) Fuel Administration monitored coal supplies and rationed gas and heating oil “gasless Sundays” and “lightless nights”
Economy in War Wages went up 20% in some areas (metal, shipbuilding, and meatpacking) Household income suffered still because of rise in prices of goods Corporations were still making a ton of money Inequality between owners and employees, child labor, and long working hours led to an increase in Unions again Wilson est. National War Labor Board in 1918 Anyone who disobeyed the boards decisions would lose their draft exemptions (work of fight) Board does improve work hours, enacted safety inspections, and enforced child labor ban
Food Administration Need to preserve resources Rations were not given, instead government asked the people to take part in “Meatless Mondays, Sweetless Saturdays, Wheatless Wednesdays, Porkless Tuesdays” Restaurants no longer provide sugar, and bread only after the 1 st course “Victory Gardens” in peoples backyards Food shipments to Allies triple Farmers increase their income as well
War Financing U.S. spent $35.5 billion on the war effort 1/3 rd of this amount came from taxes Progressive income tax War Profits tax Excise tax (tax on luxuries) War bonds were sold Guilted into buying them, “only a friend of Germany wouldn’t buy a bond”
Propaganda Committee on Public Information (CPI), countries first propaganda agency George Creel, muckraker was the head of the agency Paintings, posters, cartoons, and sculptures “Four Minute Men” summed up support of the war Boy Scouts helped spread propaganda Promoted patriotism Also violated civil liberties of those involved in the war
Anti-Immigrant Hysteria Germans lost their jobs Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms were not played German named towns changed their names German authors pulled from libraries German language no longer taught in schools Hamburger (named after German town) called Salisbury steak/ liberty sandwich Sauerkraut becomes liberty cabbages
Espionage and Sedition Acts Person could be fined $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for interfering with the war efforts, being disloyal, saying anything bad on war Violate the 1 st amendment Over 2000 were prosecuted Newspapers and Magazines lost their mailing subscriptions
African Americans and the Great Migration W.E.B. Du Bois believed in supporting the war Believed support in war would call for racial justice Eugene V. Debbs against war Others like him said those who are victims of racism should not support a racist country Great Migration: Southern Blacks moving to the cities in the North for work Started to escape the Jim Crow South Escape racial discrimination Cotton fields were ruined More job opportunities Increased racial tensions
Women in the War Became RR workers, cooks, bricklayers, ship builders, coal miners Traditional roles played as well (nurses, teachers, and clerks) Volunteered at Red Cross centers No equal pay Did support public opinion of women suffrage
Flu Epidemic 1/4 th of the U.S. got the flu Terrible effect on the economy Schools and businesses shut down Ran short on coffins, some would lay unburied for a week + Soldiers caught it as well even in Germany 500,000 Americans die by 1919