Did you ever wonder why grandma's

pantry and freezer are always

full, sometimes overflowing with

stockpiled food? Why she buys 8 or 10

pounds of coffee, 10 or 15 pounds of

sugar when they are on special? Why

she tops off the gas tank of her car

every few days?

Chances are she remembers World

War II, when many luxuries as well as

necessities became scarce, and the federal

government instituted a complex

system of rationing, based on the number

of people in a household.

President Roosevelt created the

Office of Price Administration (OPA) in

August 1941 in order to control prices,

and regulate the consumption of goods

necessary to the war effort. In April

1942, prices and rents were frozen

across the board.

Rubber was one of the first commodities

rationed, followed by gasoline

and foodstuffs, such as sugar, coffee,

meats, butter, canned goods and shoes

and clothing. Many items, such as alcohol,

were not rationed, but were in short

supply.

The OPA distributed and maintained

records of ration stamps, sometimes

numbering up to three billion

monthly. Stamps were issued in books

which were identified by name, physical

description and occupation of family

member. Stamps were color coded and

worth various "points." For instance, red

and blue stamps might be worth 10

points each, green and brown stamps,

less. Red and blue tokens were used to

make change for red and blue stamps

and were worth one point each.

Shoppers used red stamps for meat,

butter and fats; and blue stamps were

for canned foods, such as beans and

peas. White stamps helped buy flour,

bread and sugar. Other items under the

rationing system included milk, coffee

and shoes. Families developed systems

of trading products, when one household

had an abundance of one kind of

stamp and desired another kind.

All of a sudden, housewives had to

budget not only money, but, also, points

and stamps in order to feed and clothe

their families. To prevent hoarding of

stamps, the OPA placed date codes on

the stamps, which made them

redeemable only for a specific period,

usually one month.

A pound of steak might cost 12

points, while the same amount of hamburger

or ham cost only 7; one pound of

butter cost 16 points, while a pound of

margarine cost only 4. Canned sardines

cost 12 points, canned milk 1 point, a

pound of cheddar cheese went for 8

points. Each jar of baby food

cost 1 point and a 14-ounce

bottle of catsup was worth a

whopping 15 points. The

number of points and stamps required

per item fluctuated, depending on the

supply of the item.

Mexican border towns struggled

through this period of scarcity.

Residents shopped in Mexico for necessities,

where they were not limited to

certain amounts. Coffee was scarce for

Americans because ships that carried

coffee beans from South America had

been pressed into military service, and

much of the rest had been reserved for

the military. However, coffee was available

in Mexico, as was sugar and other

commodities. Some retailers accepted

American ration stamps and managed to

redeem them.

Another source of food helped

Americans cope with scarce quantities

of food. Secretary of Agriculture,

Claude R. Wickard, originated the idea

of individuals planting and growing

their own food and named these small

plots "victory gardens." Detailed booklets

taught city dwellers how to grow

tomatoes in pots on their window sills

and made gardeners out of people who,

heretofore, had depended on farms to

produce the fresh vegetables they consumed.

The Ameriican Surviivor www.theamericansurvivor.us Vol 1 - No. 2 Sept/Oct 8

War Time Rationing

During WWII

by Jordan Wells

In 1943, Americans planted 20.5

million victory gardens in backyards

and some unlikely places like the zoo in

Portland, Oregon, Arlington racetrack

near Chicago and even parking lots. The

1943 harvest from victory gardens

accounted for at least one-third of all

vegetables consumed in the United

States that year and made permanent

gardeners out of many Americans.

The planting of vegetable gardens

helped boost morale during the war and

produced practical results. Housewives

became more nutrition-conscious and

canning and vegetables became more

and more popular. By such activities, the

home front helped to contribute to one

of the government's many wartime

goals: a healthy citizenry.

Americans could not produce

another rationed commodity they had

become accustomed to, however.

Gasoline rationing seemed to be more

difficult than food rationing for many.

Motorists received windshield stickers

with a letter of priority: A through E. An

A sticker went to motorists who drove

for pleasure only and limited them to

three to five gallons of gas per week.

Commuters received B stickers

worth varying amounts of fuel, depending

on the distance they traveled to and

from work. The highest priority: E sticker

went to policemen, clergymen and

sometimes, to politicians and it bought

as many gallons of gasoline as they

needed.

Gasoline rationing angered many

Americans. In addition to gas rationing,

motorists were asked to obey speed limits,

which were reduced to 35 mph from

45 mph. Nevertheless, car pools got

people to work and children to school.

Americans, who grew up during

World War II, learned what sacrifice

meant. Although rationing was a daily

irritant, it was, also, a reminder that the

country was at war. Gas rationing and

blackouts, meatless Tuesdays and all the

other daily deprivations represented an

essential contribution of the average

American to the war effort.

Personal Experience

Starting to grade school in 1940, I

can remember the highlights of WWII

rationing as it affected my parents.

Being farmers, rationing impacted us

less than our city cousins.

We didn’t need a “victory” garden

— our garden was larger than many city

lots. Every farm wife canned and stored

food as a matter of good housekeeping

— nothing new here!

Every farmer raised his own meat

and had chickens and eggs. Our milk

cow provided milk, cream and butter.

The cow ate grass and some feed we

made by grinding corn and oats or

wheat. The creek nearby provided fish.

No food problems, thus far.

From our land, we picked wild

blackberrys, gooseberrys, rhubarb,

asparagus and morell mushrooms (during

a short season). We had lots of black

walnut trees and a few persimmon trees.

If you knew where to look, you had a

supply of sassafrass tea.

We heated our house with wood and

mother cooked on a wood cook stove.

Wood was on our farm for the price of

sawing it into firewood. Our water was

supplied by both deep and cistern wells.

Our bathroom facility was the old 2-

holer beside the chicken house! Baths

were in a washtub with hot water from a

kettle on the cook stove.

We had no electricity, so light was

provided by kerosene lamps. Milk, etc.

was kept cold with an “ice box” (fore

runner of the modern refridgerator). The

“ice man” delivered 100 lb blocks of ice

to replenish and allow an occasional

freezer of homemade ice cream!

The WWII life style for a typical

farmer was almost self-sufficient; with a

few exceptions that required interfacing

with the WPA for ration stamps and permits

to buy any outside product like

shoes, rubber boots, gasolene, and what

few canned goods we needed to buy. To

process and store meat, we needed salt,

black and red pepper and a few other

spices. Sugar was needed along with

white flour.

Looking back at the need for flour,

puzzles me. Every farmer grew wheat as

a cash crop, yet few, if any, ground any

whole wheat flour.

We grew sorghum cane and every

neighborhood had someone with a cane

mill (squeezed the juice from the cane)

and the facilities for cooking off the

molasses. Naturally, we usually had several

gallons of molasses on hand

I’m telling this “Mother Earth

News” story to illustrate how “war

rationing” affected some people who’s

life style paralleled what we would

today call “survival.”

Yes, we sacraficed for the war effort

the same as anyone else — it just happened

to be the life-style we were living

anyhow.

It was only natural that a “black

market” developed for many rationed

products. Rural law-enforcement was

practically non-existant and the FBI was

stretched pretty thin, already.

It was possible for a farmer to sell

some of his “butchered” meat to a blacket

market supplier in a nearby city — for

a good price. There always seemed to be

someone you could contact for black

pepper, coffee, etc. No one in the rural

areas went hungry.

In today’s urbanized society, few

would have the resources available in

those days. Who has a milk cow? Who

knows how to milk? Who has the space

or climate for a garden?

Could rationing happen again?

Possibly so, but with a few changes! Our

Fascist government has, as a prime goal,

the disarmament of the citizens. A likely

scenario would be military trucks,

loaded with food such as MRE (meals

ready to eat) to locate where food riots

are taking place.

A system would be set-up to give

out food, only to those turning in guns!

A good place for those old, rusty,

non-shooters to be sacrificed for food.

Never sacrafice good arms to this diabolical

scheme

_______________

The Ameriican Surviivor www.theamericansuvivor.us Vol 1 - No. 2 Sept/Oct 9