get a barrel of cement without its approval. You could not get a piece of zinc for your kitchen table without the approval of the War Industries Board.” * 3. Authority over industries. He determined where coal might be shipped, where steel might be sold, where industries might be oper¬ ated and where not. With the control over capital needed in business, went also control of the materials needed in industry. This control over industry was exercised through the device called priorities, which Mr. Baruch rightly described as “the greatest power in the war.” He was the most powerful man in the war, because he exercised this power.
Mr. Baruch said there were 351 or 357 lines of industry under his control in the United States, including “practically every raw material in the world.”
“I had the final authority,” he said. Whether it was sugars or silk, coal or cannon, Mr. Baruch ruled its movements.
TriE SCOPE OF JEWISH DICTATORSHIP IN THE U. S. 73 Mr. Jefferis—“For instance, this priority that you had would decide whether civilians should have any commodities for building?”
Mr. Baruch—“Yes; if we had not had that priority committee the civilians would have had nothing.”
Mr. Jefferis—“Did they get anything?” Mr. Baruch—“They got all there was.” Mr. Jefferis—“Did you sit with these priority boards at any time, or not?”
Mr. Baruch—“Sometimes; not very frequently. I was ex-officio of every one of the committees, and made it my business to go around as far as I could and keep in touch with everything.”
Mr. Jefferis—“And all these different lines, really, ultimately, centered in you, so far as power was con¬ cerned?”