European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 16, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                You must have War ration Book 1 coffe sugar declaration to get War ration Book 2 t when processed and canned foods first went on the ration list housewives had to go to their registration boards and make out an application for their As meat supplies markets Are sometimes left with Bare these two ladies had to be satisfied with a lonely chop on their shopping in order to get her groceries this buyer has to tear out Blue and red representing from her ration besides paying for what she How Are they eating in the i shoppers in the Corner grocery have to worry about red Points and ration but America of ill sets a pretty Good by Hyman Goldberg yank staff writer the Day when Momma asked Poppa what he would like to have for dinner is gone Poppa will take what Momma can because what Poppa wants the the Baker and the grocer most Likely Haven scarcities of All sorts of Dairy products and canned from time to time and from place to place for a variety of but generally the stores have substitutes for the scarce when the better grades of beef Are not Avail the Butcher shops usually have cheaper cuts of Utility pork and beef byproducts and fowl and and even though there May not be much butter theres always plenty of Oleo which nutritionists say is just As Good a some of the More important reasons for re current scarcities Are the demands of the armed lend lease and the transportation for several weeks new York City got much less than its usual quota of meat because the packers in the Middle West saw no reason to Cut Down their margin of profit by adding shipping costs from Chicago when they could sell All the meat they had on hand right in the Chicago when Coffee was it was because vessels for South and Central America could not be spared from the More vital transatlantic ship ments of men and it was Lack of transportation that caused the sugar shortage Early in the this Bug was ironed out to some extent by establishing a Barge line from Cuba to port but sugar is still not plentiful in some which is simply an Effort to make a fair amount of food available to everybody in the regardless of income or place of got started on May sugar was the first rationed Coffee was in no vember and processed and canned foods were added to the ration list on meats and fats were rationed 28 Days the office of Price headed by Chester decides what foods shall be rationed and places a Point value on each the Point values Are changed from time to time in accordance with available last sum when there was plenty of meat All meats with the exception of Steak and roasts were taken off the ration when supplies became All meats were rationed red Points Are used for some Dairy oils and canned fish Blue Points for canned vegetables and housewives find they cant make out a shop Ping list before they go to the stores or make up menus before they see what the stores have to if they do make out shopping they have to put Down one or More alternates for every item they they have to go from store to store before they can get what they and its almost impossible for women to do All their weeks shopping in one As Many of them used to the additional time spent in shopping is particularly Tough on women with children and on married women who work in War although meat is Many times harder to get than it was in americans Are eating More of it than before the per capita con sumption of meat averaged 126 pounds Between 1935 and 1939 last year per capita consumption was somewhere Between 140 and 145 one of the reasons for scarcities is that Many families now have enough Money to demand food of Good Quality on the people Are eating better Grade foods than Ever experts in the nutrition say that the nation int eating too in restaurants seem Able to serve More of the scarce like than most House whatever their can but restaurants offering often have to Cross this item off the menu soon after their doors the restaurant in is and probably because peo ple weary of the relative Lack of variety of Home prepared Are invariably allowing for local fluctuations and unforeseen is what the War food administration and the opa think the food Situa Tion will be like during the first part of 1945 supplies of pork will decrease consider and there will probably be less beef Avail Able than there was in the beef Supply will be about what it was in there May be As much veal As there was last when consumption was comparatively but not any no change is expected in the stocks of Lamb and in the Supply will allow for 10 15 pounds less meat for each person than last but there should still be More meat Avail Able for the civilian population As a whole than there was before the the War food the fishery Council and other government and private Agen cies Are trying to get people to eat More fish in order take the heat off they Are publicizing such Little known fish As croak Hake and seafood restaurants offer something called sea any fool knows there Are no More squads in the sea than there Are Trout on sea squads Are really blow fish but restaurant men say nobody would eat them if they were called by their right there will be plentiful supplies of Frozen and canned vegetables and a great Deal coming from Home Victory one of the contributory causes of the present sugar shortage was the great volume of stuff produced in the Home when Harvest time came in the Victory people needed sugar to can and bottle the fruits and vegetables so the opa had to give them larger supplies of the eggs and for civilians there will be plenty of eggs and a Good Supply of although the armed forces Are going to get More in More ways than supplies Are plentiful and food experts think there will be enough Coffee to equal the 15pound per capita consumption of was a canned the armed forces Are taking most of the stocks of canned and the civilian sup ply will be smaller than government War agencies Are now taking a larger Supply of canned leaving less for civilian supplies of canned fruit juices Are expected to be supplies Are with the armed forces getting almost the entire production of the better known chocolate Candy bars like Hershey and the candies on the Market for civilians Are nowhere nearly so and the Man fac who dont want to be identified with them after the have Given them new the opa feels that rationing and ceiling prices have Given civilian Consumers a better break than they got in the last in 1917 a Pound of bread Cost 6 cents by the end of the War the Price had jumped to 12 the Price of Steak Rose from 24 to 45 cents a Ham from 27 to 60 butter from 34 to 78 this although the Overall figures for food prices show an increase of 47 percent for the period from August 1939 through december according to the department of they dont match the increase of percent for a comparable period in the last ceiling prices of foodstuffs and the efforts made to see that those ceilings Arent blown off Are the main the opa Why prices Haven risen More than they More than volunteers work in Wai Price and rationing boards throughout the coun nearly other volunteers work on More than Price and More than persons help them Check on the prices charged by retail there Are Black markets All but Here is what the opa says is a fair Overall View you hear much of Black markets Here at Home of Sharp practice and these things of they always and they always but again and in every crisis the nation has the american people As a whole have risen Superior to individual greed and i if w i i