For centuries, Mars made his public appearances clad in his one and only suit of armor, wearing the same old helmet and bearing the same sword and shield. But World War I demonstrated that if he were to keep up with the times he would have to have an extra suit of clothes. He would need a pair of overalls and a workman's cap and he would have to learn to wield a wrench as well as a sword. What was more, he would be expected to wear both suits at the same time. Thus the War Department, by Armistice Day, 1918, had found it necessary to go beyond the raising of an army and beyond the conduct of military operations into the field of industrial manpower and labor relations. The War Department, to quote its report on these activities, had become "a dominant factor in the industrial and labor situation." It had become involved in adjusting labor disputes, in fixing wages and hours of work, and in providing war workers with a host of community services. In order to function in these new fields, the War Department had created a number of emergency boards, commissions, and offices under the general direction of an Assistant Secretary, Benedict Crowell, a former Cleveland industrialist.