During World War I, N.A.P.A. called for the centralization of War Department purchasing to reduce inefficiency and graft. The association began to flex its muscle and demanded standardization in the purchase and use of coal and the prosecution of profiteers. Its crusade for ethical standards resulted in the "Purchasing Agent’s Creed" that observers hailed for decades as one of the outstanding moral statements in modern business. In 1928, it released the "Standards for Buying and Selling" with the recognition that buying and selling should be mutually profitable and that cooperation would reduce the cost of purchasing.