Lever Act

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LEVER ACT

LEVER ACT. Congress passed the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act on 10 August 1917 to mobilize food and fuel resources for World War I. Among other things, the Lever Act prohibited "unfair" trade practices and authorized price fixing of commodities and the licensing of producers and distributors. Subsequently, the president, by executive orders, created the Price-Fixing Committee, the Food and Fuel Administrations, and the Grain Corporation to administer the law. The Lever Act reflected Progressive Era faith in bureaucracy and expanded federal lawmaking authority.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harries, Meirion, and Susie Harries. The Last Days of Innocence: America At War, 1917–1918. New York: Random House, 1997.

Painter, Nell Irvin. Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877–1919. New York: Norton, 1987.

Martin P.Claussen/c. p.

See alsoFuel Administration ; Progressive Movement ; World War I, Economic Mobilization for .

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Lever Act

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