The War Industries Board: In 1917, the War Industries Board was created. The War Industries Board took over the production and distribution of goods and resources needed for the war effort. For example, items such as oil, metals, food, and rubber were very valuable to the army. The War Industries Board was given the power to set prices on these items (and hundreds of others) so that no one could charge unfairly high prices for materials needed to help our soldiers win the war. This helped the government obtain all of the supplies they needed at the lowest cost possible, but meant that many American businesses were forced to sell their goods for lower prices than they wanted to.

reasons to support the decision?

The United States was at war and so needed as many resources as it could gather to defend itself against the aggression of the Central powers. In times like such where the security of the nation is threatened, emergency measures by the government are necessary to ensure victory and so this was justified.

Resource allocation.

In war, there are many things that the government needs to spend money on ranging from weapons acquisition to the salaries of the millions that were called up to fight. Money needs to be allocated carefully to each of these so that the war effort is sustained.

If the War Industries Board had not taken over and people charged the government whatever they wanted, the government would be forced to pay high prices for certain goods and this would reduce the amount of money left for other key aspects of the war effort.

Efficiency and Coordination

In matters of war, it is important that the efforts of a country are coordinated so that there will be efficiency in it's war response. This was why the War Industries Board was important. By taking over and setting prices, the Board was able to produce what needed to be produced at a price it needed to be produced at to ensure that the war effort was sustained.