1. World War I Hits the Homefront
Ch 19, Section 3

2. Congress Gives Power to Wilson
Entire U.S. economy had to be refocused on the war effort.
Too complicated and important for private industry.
Congress gives President Wilson direct control over the economy – including power to fix prices and regulate certain industries.

3. POWER OF GOVERNMENT WAS GREATLY EXPANDED

4. War Industries Board Est. 1917. Reorganized 1918 under Bernard Baruch.
Encouraged efficiency in industry.
U.S. industrial production increased by 20 percent.
Applied price controls at wholesale level.

5. Other Government Agencies Regulate Economy
Railroads administration monitored railroads and Fuel Administration monitored use of coal, gasoline, heating oil.

6. Gasless Sundays NO

7. Lightless Nights

8. Daylight Savings Time Fuel Administration introduced in 1918.
First suggested by Benjamin Franklin in the 1770s as a way to take advantage of longer summer days.

9. War Economy
Wages rose
Household income was undercut by rising food prices and housing costs
Long work hours, child labor, and faster working conditions led to union strikes

10. National War Labor Board
Est. by Wilson in 1918.
Chaired by former President Taft
Workers who refused to obey could lose draft exempt status.
Pushed for shorter workday, safety inspections, and enforced a ban on child labor.

11. Food Administration Wilson selects Herbert Hoover to lead.
Certain days:
“meatless”
“sweetless”
“porkless”
“wheatless”

12. Victory Gardens Families planted “Victory Gardens”
Food shipments to allies tripled
More land cultivated
Farmers’ profits rose

13. Espionage and Sedition Acts
Espionage Act – passed 1917
Gave postal officials authority to ban newspapers and magazines
Obstructing draft could cause $10,000 fine and 20 yrs in jail

14. Sedition Act
Passed 1918
made it a federal offense to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the Constitution, the government, the American uniform, or the flag
2,100 prosecuted

15. Eugene Debs A. Mitchell Palmer recommended clemency to Wilson
Proposed pardon based on health – denied by Wilson – Treaty debate?
Sentence commuted by Harding Christmas 1921

16. Schenck v. United States (1919)
1919 Supreme Court decision upholding the Espionage Act of 1917.
Limited free speech based on “clear and present danger” precedent.