cent in French ships
The United States transports included 450,000 tons of German origin;
300,000 tons supplied by commandeered Dutch boats; and 718,000 tons
provided by the Emergency Fleet Corporation.]

More effective use of shipping was fostered by the War Trade Board, which
had been created six months after the declaration of war by the Trading
with the Enemy Act (October 6, 1917), and which, in conjunction with the
activities of the Alien Property Custodian, possessed full powers to
curtail enemy trade. It thereby obtained practical control of the foreign
commerce of this country, and was able both to conserve essential products
for American use and to secure and economize tonnage.

Such control was assured through a system of licenses for exports and
imports. No goods could be shipped into or out of the country without a
license, which was granted by the War Trade Board only after investigation
of the character of the shipment and its destination or source. The
earlier export of goods which had found their way to Germany through
neutral countries was thus curtailed and the blockade on Germany became
strangling. Products necessary to military effectiveness were secured from
neutral states in return for permission to buy essentials here. Two
millions of tonnage were obtained from neutral states for the use of the
United States and Great Britain. Trade in non-essentials with the Orient
and South America was limited, extra bottoms were thus acquired, and the
production of non-essentials at home discouraged. Altogether, the War
Trade Board exercised tremendous powers which, however necessary, might
have provoked intense resentment in business circles; but these powers
were enforced with a tact and discretion characteristic of the head of the
Board, Vance McCormick, who was able successfully to avoid the irritation
that might have been expected from such governmental interference with
freedom of commerce.

The problem of labor was obviously one that must be faced by each of the
war boards or administrations, and nearly all of them were compelled to
establish some sort of labor division or tribunal within each separate
field. The demands made upon the labor market by war industry were heavy,
for the withdrawal of labor into the army created an inevitable scarcity
at the moment when production must be increased, and the different
industries naturally were brought to bid against each other; the value of
any wage scale wa