THE WAR AT HOME ★^747Walter Lippmann and Herbert Croly, AFL head Samuel Gompers, socialist writ-
ers like Upton Sinclair, and prominent reformers including Florence Kelley and
Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In The New Republic, Dewey urged Progressives to
recognize the “social possibilities of war.” The crisis, he wrote, offered the pros-
pect of attacking the “immense inequality of power” within the United States,
thus laying the foundation for Americans to enjoy “effective freedom.”
The Wartime State
Like the Civil War, World War I created, albeit temporarily, a national state with
unprecedented powers and a sharply increased presence in Americans’ every-
day lives. Under the Selective Service Act of May 1917, 24 million men were
required to register with the draft, and the army soon swelled from 120,000
to 5 million men. The war seemed to bring into being the New Nationalist
state Theodore Roosevelt and so many Progressives had desired. New federal
agencies moved to regulate industry, transportation, labor relations, and agri-
culture. Headed by Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch, the War Industries
Board presided over all elements of war production from the distribution of
raw materials to the prices of manufactured goods. To spur efficiency, it estab-
lished standardized specifications for everything from automobile tires to shoe
colors (three were permitted— black, brown, and white). The Railroad Adminis-
tration took control of the nation’s transportation system, and the Fuel Agency
rationed coal and oil. The Food Administration instructed farmers on modern
methods of cultivation and promoted the more efficient preparation of meals.
Its director, Herbert Hoover, mobilized the shipment of American food to the
war- devastated Allies, popularizing the slogan “Food will win the war.”
These agencies generally saw themselves as partners of business as much
as regulators. They guaranteed government suppliers a high rate of profit and
encouraged cooperation among former business rivals by suspending antitrust
laws. At the same time, however, the War Labor Board, which included rep-
resentatives of government, industry, and the American Federation of Labor,
pressed for the establishment of a minimum wage, eight- hour workday, and
the right to form unions. During the war, wages rose substantially, working
conditions in many industries improved, and union membership doubled. To
finance the war, corporate and individual income taxes rose enormously. By
1918, the wealthiest Americans were paying 60 percent of their income in taxes.
Tens of millions of Americans answered the call to demonstrate their patriotism
by purchasing Liberty bonds. Once peace arrived, the wartime state quickly with-
ered away. But for a time, the federal government seemed well on its way to ful-
filling the Progressive vision of promoting economic rationalization, industrial
justice, and a sense of common national purpose.
How did the United States mobilize resources and public opinion for the war effort?