THE NATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 
WAR EMERGENCY ECONOMIC POLICIES 
During the years 1917 and 1918 the National Chamber sub- 
mitted a number of referenda to its members and at annual meetings 
and in a special War Convention of American Business adopted 
resolutions on subjects connected with the prosecution of the War. 
Most of these referenda and resolutions have not been included in 
this compilation of policies for the reason that they deal with emer- 
gency problems and no longer have significance as a part of the 
active and continuing policies of the Chamber. 
The following declarations are representative of the economic 
policies sponsored by the National Chamber during the World War. 
NATIONAL DEFENSE MEASURES 
For the preservation of the peace and honor of the United 
States, the National Defense forces both on sea and land should 
be so increased and the industrial resources so coordinated as to 
make fully available the military, industrial, and financial strength 
of the nation. 
A body in the nature of a Council of National Defense should 
be created by law to assist in the development of an adequate and 
continuing policy for National Defense. 
A staff of Industrial Mobilization should be forthwith created 
by law and so organized and maintained in times of peace as to 
insure the most effective use of the economic resources of the United 
States in case of war. 
A program of naval construction should be adopted immediately 
sufficient to restore the United States at least to its former position 
of second naval power in the Atlantic, with surplus in the Pacific 
sufficient to protect its coasts, its possessions, its trade routes, the 
Canal Zone and adjacent territory. 
A General Staff for the Navy by strengthening the present office 
of Naval Operations of the Navy Department, or otherwise, should 
be created by law. 
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