Just when Bernard M. Baruch, the Jewish high governor of the United States in war affairs, came to know Mr. Wilson is yet to be told; but just when he got into and out of the war are matters about which he himself has told us. He got into the war at Plattsburg, two years before there was a war; and he got out of the war when the business at Paris was ended.

“I came back on the George Washington,” he testified, which means that he remained in Paris until the last detail was arranged.

It is said that Mr. Baruch was normally a Republican until Woodrow Wilson began to loom up as a Presidential possibility. The Jews made much of Woodrow Wilson, far too much for his own good. They formed a solid ring around him. There was a time when he communicated to the country through no one but a Jew. The best political writers in the country were sidetracked for two years because the President chose the Jewish journalist, David Lawrence, as his unofficial mouthpiece. Lawrence had the run of the White House offices, with frequent access to the President, and for a time he was the high cockalorum of national newspaperdom, but neither that privilege nor the assiduous boosting of the Jewish ring availed to make him a favorite with the American public.

American Jewry was Democratic until it had secured the last favor that Woodrow Wilson could give, and then it left the Democratic party as with the indecent haste of rats leaving a sinking ship. Baruch stayed, rather ostentatiously spending his money for motion picture appeals in favor of the League of Nations, but it is entirely probable that he has a genuine interest in the new administration.

For one thing, there may be investigations. It remains to be seen whether the investigations which the Republican majority in the House began to make with regard to war expenditures will be continued. There are those who profess to believe that they will not be continued, the explanation being that such investigation as was made before election was solely for the purpose of securing campaign data, or creating a political atmosphere unfavorable to the Democrats.

It is sincerely to be hoped that the Republicans will not rest under that imputation, but that they will rigorously pursue the investigations that have been begun. There are two reasons why this should be done; first, that the country may know, with a view to future contingencies, what was “put over” on the government during the war; second, that the full sweep of Jewish influence in this country may be exposed. The second reason is not expected to appear very weighty to practical politicians, and that is no matter, for if the first reason is deemed sufficient, and if the investigations are honestly made, then inevitably the Jewish power will be further exposed. It is linked up at every stage of the business.

This may have had something to do with the sudden desertion of the Democratic party by the Jews. They may have swung over in order to have something to say about the pursuit of further investigations. Already the counsel is being heard, “Let bygones be bygones,” “The people are tired of investigations, and don’t want any more”; already attempts are being made to introduce fresher issues to deflect the public mind from war affairs, and the attempts are doubtless Jewish in their origin.

That portion of the public who are awake to the Jewish Question will do well to observe with care the attitude of the new administration toward completing the investigations. The Jews did not flock to the Republicans for nothing. The country is entitled to know what was done with the fabulous amounts of money spent during the war. The people are entitled to know who were their masters, and who were responsible for certain strange situations which were created.

Members of the House, Senators, and other officials should, at the very least, pay particular attention to the directions from which influences against further inquiry come.

Now, as to Mr. Bernard M. Baruch, who for some as yet undefined reason was made head and front of the United States at war, we have his own word on several occasions that he was the most important man in the war.

“I probably had more power than perhaps any other man did in the war; doubtless that is true,” he told Representative Jefferis.

And again: “We had the power of priority, which was the greatest power in the war * * * Exactly; there is no question about that. I assumed that responsibility, sir, and that final determination rested within me.”

And when Representative Jefferis said “What?” to that startling statement, Mr. Baruch repeated it:

“That final determination, as the President said, rested within me.”

Representative Graham said to him: “In other words, I am right about this, Mr. Baruch, that yours was the guiding mind * * *”

And Mr. Baruch replied: “That is partly correct—I think you are entirely correct * * *”

Now, in what did Baruch’s power consist? Briefly, in this—in the dictatorship of the United States. He once expressed the opinion that the United States could have been managed that way in time of peace, but he explained that it was easier in war time, was made easy because of the patriotic mood of the people.

It is not sufficient, however, to say that Mr. Baruch’s rule constituted a dictatorship of the United States; it remains to be shown just how rigid and far-reaching that dictatorship was. The reader may recognize at what point the Jewish rule touched his affairs also.

Mr. Baruch, who had the “final determination” of everything, says that his power extended to the needs of the Army and Navy, the Shipping Board, the Railroad Administration, touched also the Food and Fuel Administrations, and besides all that had a vital control of the Allies’ purchases not only in the United States, but also in other countries with reference to certain materials.

There were $30,000,000,000 (Thirty Billions of dollars) spent by the United States Government during the war, all of it raised by taxation and bonds. Of this sum, $10,000,000,000 (Ten Billions) was loaned to the Allies and spent here—all of the purchases being viséed under Mr. Baruch’s authority.

As told by himself, his power consisted in the following authorities:

1. Authority over the use of capital in the private business of Americans.

This authority was nominally under the Capital Issues Committee, the controlling factor of which was another Jew, Eugene Meyer, Jr. Here is another inexplicable circumstance. Was he the only banker in the United States capable of exercising a dominant influence? Why did it happen that a Jew should be found in this important position, too? Is it only accident? Was there no design involved?

Well, it was necessary during the war for anyone wishing to use capital in business enterprise, to lay all his cards on the table. He was required to reveal his plans, his ground for expecting success—in brief, tell the Jewish rulers and their Jewish representatives all that he would tell in confidence to his banker in negotiating a loan. The organization which a few Jews perfected was the most complete business inquisition ever set up in any country. And that the knowledge thus gained should always be sacredly guarded, or always honestly used, would be expecting too much of human nature.

Mr. Baruch gave some instances of this, though they were not the instances that are calculated to throw the most light on the inner workings of the organization. He said:

“The Capital Issues Committee (where Mr. Meyer reigned), in the Treasury Department, had a man who sat with the War Industries Board (where Mr. Baruch reigned), and who always came to the War Industries Board to find out whether the individual or the corporation who wanted this money was going to use it for the purpose to win the war. To cite a case that happened at Philadelphia, that city wanted to make extensive public improvements; New York City wanted to spend $8,000,000 for schools, which would take an enormous amount of steel, labor, materials and transportation. We said, ‘No, that won’t help win the war. You can postpone that until later on. We cannot spare the steel on all these various things.’”

Very well. Does Mr. Baruch know of an enormous theater which a Jewish theatrical owner was permitted to build in an eastern city during the war?

Did he ever hear of non-Jews being refused permission to go ahead in a legitimate business which would have helped produce war materials, and that afterward—afterward—on almost identically the same plans, and in the same locality, a Jewish concern was given permission to do that very thing?

This was a terrible power, and far too great to be vested in one man; certainly it was such a power as should never have been vested in a coterie of Jews. The puzzle of it becomes greater the deeper it is probed. How did it occur? How could it occur—that always, at the most critical and delicate points in these matters, there sat a Jew enthroned with autocratic power?

Well could Mr. Baruch say—“I had more power than any man in the war.” He could even have said, “We Jews had more power than you Americans did in the war”—and it would have been true.

2. Authority over all materials.

This, of course, included everything. Mr. Baruch was an expert in many of these lines of material involved, and had held interests in many of them. What the investigators endeavored to learn was in how many lines he was interested during the war.

In lines where Mr. Baruch was not expert he, of course, had experts in charge. There was Mr. Julius Rosenwald, another Jew, who was in charge of “supplies (including clothing)” and who had a Mr. Eisenman to represent him. Mr. Eisenman was on the stand for a considerable period with regard to uniforms, the change made in their quality, the price paid to the manufacturers (mostly Jewish) and other interesting questions.

The great Guggenheim copper interests, who sold most of the copper used during the war, were represented by a former employe; but undoubtedly Mr. Baruch himself, who was much interested in copper during his business career, was the principal expert in that line.

It is impossible to escape the names of Jews all down the line in these most important departments. But, for the present, attention is called to the scope of Mr. Baruch’s control in the country at large. It is best stated in his own words:

“No building costing more than $2,500 could be erected in the United States without approval of the War Industries Board. Nobody could 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 operated and where not. With 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.

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 concerned?”

Mr. Baruch—“Yes, sir, it did. I probably had more power than perhaps any other man did in the war; doubtless that is true.”

That, however, was not the full extent of Mr. Baruch’s control over industry. The heart of industry is Power. Mr. Baruch controlled the Power of the United States. The dream of the Power Trust, an evil dream for this country, was realized for the first time under the organization which this single individual formed. He says:

“Not only did we endeavor to control the raw materials, but as well the manufacturing facilities of the country. We established priority uses also for power * * *”

4. Authority over the classes of men to be called to military service.

Baruch pointed out, virtually pointed out to the Provost Marshal of the United States, the classes of men to be taken into the army. “We had to decide virtually the necessity of such things,” he said. “We decided that the less-essential industries would have to be curbed, and it was from them that man power would have to be taken for the army.” In this way he ruled chauffeurs, traveling salesmen, and similar classes into military service. It was, of course, necessary that some such ruling be made, but why one man, why always this one man?

5. Authority over the personnel of labor in this country.

“We decided upon a dilution of men with women labor, which was a thing that had always been fought by the labor unions.”

6. And now behold as complete an illustration of one part of the Protocols as ever could be found in any Gentile government. Readers of previous articles will remember the passage:

“We will force up wages which, however, will be of no benefit to the workers, for we will at the same time cause a rise in the prices of necessities.”

Mr. Baruch at one time was inclined to sidestep the matter of fixing wages; he did not like the expression. But that the reader himself may decide, we quote the testimony in full:

Mr. Jefferis—“Did the War Industries Board fix the price of labor?”

Mr. Baruch—“If you can call it that way, but I would not say so; no, sir.”

Mr. Jefferis—“I am trying to get at what you did.”

Mr. Baruch—“No, sir; we did not fix the price of wages.”

Mr. Jefferis—“What did you do?”

Mr. Baruch—“Just what I told you.”

Mr. Jefferis—“Probably I am a little dense, but I did not catch it if you told me.”

Mr. Baruch—“When the price-fixing committee fixed the price of steel, we will say, they said ‘This price is agreed upon, and you shall keep wages where they are’—and those were the wages that were prevailing at the price we fixed. At the time prices were fixed at first they were very much higher than the prices that we fixed.”

Mr. Jefferis—“When you got the price of any of these low materials you would fix the price of labor that was to be employed in producing them?”

Mr. Baruch—“To the extent that it should remain at the maximum of what it was when we fixed the price.”

Considering the weight of Mr. Baruch’s authority, and the stipulations he made, this was to all intents and purposes a fixing of the rate of wages.

Now, as to the fixing of prices, Mr. Baruch is much more positive. In answer to a question by Mr. Garrett, Mr. Baruch said:

“We fixed the prices in co-operation with the industries, but when we fixed a price we fixed it for the total production, not alone for the army and the navy, but for the Allies and the civilian population.”

The minutes of one of the meetings of Mr. Baruch’s board show this:

“Commissioner Baruch directed that the minutes show that the commission had consumed the entire afternoon in a discussion of price-fixing, particularly with reference to the control of the food supply, grain, cotton, wool, and raw materials generally.”

Mr. Graham—“Tell me something else: How much personal attention did you give to the matter of price-fixing?”

Mr. Baruch—“In the beginning, considerable * * *”

At another time, Mr. Baruch said—“There was no law at all in the land to fix prices.”

Mr. Jefferis—“We grant that, but you did it.”

Mr. Baruch—“Yes, we did it, and we did a great many things in the stress of the times.”

Here was one man, having supreme dictatorial power, at both ends of the common people’s affairs.

He admits that of the 351 or 357 lines of essential industry which he controlled, he fixed the prices at which the commodities should be sold to the government and to civilians. In fixing the prices, however, he made wage stipulations. The matter of wages came first—it entered into Mr. Baruch’s computation of the cost, on which, to a certain extent, he based the price. Then, having decided what the producer was to receive in wages, he decided next what the producer should pay for living. The producer himself may answer the question as to how it all turned out! Wages were “high,” but not quite so high as “living”; and the answer to both is in the testimony of Barney Baruch.

That is not the whole story by any means. It is inserted here merely to find its place in the list of authorities conferred on Mr. Baruch.

How completely Baruch felt himself to be the “power” is shown by a passage which occurred when he was trying to explain the very large profits made by some concerns with which he did business.

Mr. Jefferis—“Then the system which you did adopt did not give the Lukens Steel & Iron Company the amount of profit that the low-producing companies had?”

Mr. Baruch—“No, but we took 80 per cent away from the others.”

Mr. Jefferis—“The law did that, didn’t it?”

Mr. Baruch—“Yes; the law did that.”

Mr. Jefferis—“What did you mean by the use of the word ‘we’?”

Mr. Baruch—“The government did that. Excuse me, but I meant we, the Congress.”

Mr. Jefferis—“You meant that the Congress passed a law covering that?”

Mr. Baruch—“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Jefferis—“Did you have anything to do with that?”

Mr. Baruch—“Not a thing.”

Mr. Jefferis—“Then I would not use the word ‘we’ if I were you.”

Whether Mr. Baruch slipped up there, he best knows. Just as he had power to give the workers wages, and take it away again by price-fixing, so he had power to allow the raw material corporations to make fabulous profits—and it would not be at all unthinkable that he also had something to do with taking part of it away again. He said once, “We took away 80 per cent”; then he confessed it was a slip. Of the tongue, or of his prudence?

Certainly, the profits he allowed were so large that even where the 80 per cent was paid back—where it was paid back (there were all kinds of evasions and frauds)—the profits were still enormous.

And 73 per cent of the “war millionaires” of New York, in spite of the 80 per cent, are Jews.

[THE DEARBORN INDEPENDENT, issue of 4 December 1920]