WAR OF THE NATIONS 



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WAR OF THE NATIONS 



built ten "towns" of warehouses to shelter sup- 

 plies. This is but a mere outline of what was 

 accomplished in France in a material way. 



Preparations for War in the Air. The War 

 of the Nations developed new and startling de- 

 vices of offense and defense. The most feared 

 of these were the improved and enlarged sub- 

 marines; the most spectacular and one of the 

 most valuable was the flying machine. Su- 

 premacy in the air might decide the European 

 contest. The allies were fast reaching a decided 

 superiority over the Germans in this depart- 

 ment; in order that the supremacy might be 

 overwhelming the United States was urged to 

 build a vast fleet of machines for air fighting. 

 The story of the flying machine in the war is 

 told in the subheading War in the Air, on a pre- 

 ceding page. 



The "Citizen Soldiers at Home." The Amer- 

 ican people gave themselves energetically to 

 the prosecution of all enterprises which were 

 needed to support their soldiers overseas and to 

 give needed assistance to the allied nations. 



Ship-Building. The submarine menace threat- 

 ened the whole world. Ships were being sunk 

 more rapidly than they could be built, and 

 superhuman efforts were put forth in Great 

 Britain and the United States to produce new 

 Is. The American nation in 1914 had little 

 overseas shipping. Scores of shipyards were 

 hastily provided, both steel and wooden vessels 

 were built, and gradually the need for boats was 

 met. As the sinkings by submarines decreased 

 and production was stimulated, the danger 



At the time of the armistice there were 

 within the jurisdiction of the shipping board of 

 the United States 2,185 seagoing vessels, total- 

 ing over 9,500,000 tons dead weight; of these 

 more than 6,600,000 tons were American owned. 

 Eighteen months before that date the country 

 had only 2,750,000 tons of shipping. 



Food Administration. Herbert C. Hoover, 

 who had achieved a reputation as chairman of 

 the Belgian Relief Commission, was named as 

 food controller; later his committee was called 

 the United States Food Administration Board. 

 The gigantic task devolving upon Mr. Hoover 

 was to order such conservation and distribution 

 of America's food supply that there might be 

 sufficient food for every American and enough 

 to supply vast quantities imperatively needed 

 by suffering Europe. 



Red Cross Activities. American Red Cross 

 workers during the war knitted 14,089,000 gar- 

 ments for the army and navy. In addition, the 



workers turned out 253,196,000 surgical dress- 

 ings, 22,255,000 hospital garments and 1,464,000 

 refugee garments. The work was done under 

 the direction of 3,870 chapters of the Red Cross, 

 with more than 31,000 branches and auxiliaries, 

 embracing more than 8,000,000 workers. 



Bond Issues. To secure the vast sums re- 

 quired to finance the war government bonds 

 called Liberty Bonds were sold among the peo- 

 ple. Nearly $20,000,000,000 of bonds were ab- 

 sorbed in four issues during the war, as follows : 



LOAN ASKED FOR SUBSCRIBED 



First $2,000,000,000 $3,035,226 850 



Second 3,000,000,000 4,617,532,300 



Third 3,000,000,000 4,158,599,100 



Fourth 6,000,000,000 6,954,875,200 



After the armistice was signed a fifth loan, 

 called the Victory Loan, was floated. The total 

 amount was limited to $4,500,000,000, and it was 

 easily subscribed. The first loan was issued at 

 3% per cent interest; the second, at 4 per cent; 

 the remaining loans, at 4 J /4 per cent. Various 

 taxing reservations made the net income from 

 all practically the same to purchasers. 



The strong appeal made to the people to pur- 

 chase bonds met with such generous response 

 that it was found that over one-fifth of the 

 inhabitants were investors. Millions of people 

 had begun a career of saving for the first time 

 in their lives. In addition to the regular bond 

 issues, many million dollars' worth of Thrift 

 Stamps were sold. 



Public Utilities. In December, 1917, the gov- 

 ernment assumed control of all the railroads in 

 the United States and welded them into one 

 great system, with regional directors, in the hope 

 that unification might increase efficiency at a 

 time when the roads were not able to meet the 

 service demands of the nation. It was under- 

 stood that at a proper time, after the emergency 

 had passed, they would be restored to private 

 ownership. 



Later the telegraph, telephone and cable serv- 

 ice were also taken over by the Federal gov- 

 ernment; early in 1919 they were returned to 

 their owners. E.D.F. 



Consult Muir's The Expansion of Europe; Chev- 

 rillon's England and the War; Whitton's The 

 Marne Campaign; Buchan's The Battle of the 

 Somme; Brandes' The World at War; Smith's 

 Trench Warfare; Aldrich's On the Edge of the 

 War Zone; Beck's The Evidence in the Case (anti- 

 German) ; Fullerton's Why the German Nation 

 Has Gone to War (pro-German) ; Munsterberg's 

 The War and America. 



Related Subjects. Much material which will 

 be helpful in gaining a clear understanding of 

 the War of the Nations will be found in articles 

 on the various countries concerned, under the sub- 



