War Industries Board
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The War Industries Board (WIB) was an organization established by the United States on July 28, 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch. It encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products. The WIB set production quotas and allocated raw materials. It also conducted psychological testing to help people find the right jobs.
Under the WIB industrial production in the U.S. increased 20 percent. However, the WIB applied price controls only at wholesale level. As a result, retail prices soared, and in 1918 they were almost double what they were before the war.
Reference
- Robert D. Cuff, The War Industries Board (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973)
External link
- Records of the WIB at the National Archives (http://www.archives.gov/research_room/federal_records_guide/war_industries_board_rg061.html)