In the United States, the purpose of the War Production Board (WPB) was to "<span>oversee the conversion of peacetime industry to war industry," since many private business were helping the war effort by producing goods, and the effort needed to be coordinated. </span>
Suppose you have the job of assigning the proper number of House of Representatives seats for various<span>states. To do that, you must know the population in that state.
Because 'number' would refer to the number of people, as in population. </span>
I believe the setting is in Barbados in the 1930's
