Brief Facts About Food Rationing



"We all eat food; and whatever sacrifices we may have to make, to take care of the needs of our fighting men, the American people will continue, throughout the war, to be better fed than any nation on earth." -Elmer Davis; Director of War Information


The rationing of food is something we have read about since the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939. The Germans began rationing butter, sugar, fats, and other articles a few days before their soldiers invaded Poland. England came around to it a short time later. Every belligerent country, in fact, has made rationing a part of its war program.

But though they observed rationing abroad, most Americans felt sure it couldn't happen here. We had so much of everything in food stuffs- more than we could eat.

But when war came to us, so did rationing.

In spite of the tremendous increases in our food production, the need of adequate food for our fighting men and those of our fighting allies, has made it necessary to ration food on the "home front" to be sure that everyone can get a fair share.

When we realize that a soldier needs about 5 1/2 pounds of food a day- about 25% more food than he did in civilian life, we can better understand why our Government has adopted Point Rationing.

Point Rationing is the best and fairest method of rationing canned foods. "Point Rationing" is a system of rationing a group of related or similar commodities which can be substituted for one another in actual use. Under Point Rationing, shoppers must compute their purchases not only with money, but with coupons. Products will be given points which are based not on the value of the product, but on its rating as scarce or plentiful. A plentiful article will have a low point value. A rare article will have a high point value. A plentiful product may become less plentiful or very scarce and its point value will change. The point system seems to be, by all tests, the fairest and surest method of rationing related commodities.

In addition to dividing up the total supply equitably, it insures freedom of choice among all the rationed foods.

American soldiers in North Africa cannot fight and win on a diet of figs and dates.

Fish and chips cannot give English factory workers the strength they need to manufacture bombs.

The liberated peoples of Europe will not be able to take part in an allied victory on black bread and water.

Our country is not only democracy's arsenal- but its bread basket as well.


Some Rules Of Shopping With Ration Stamps


Rationed Items

Reprinted from the Graphic Arts Victory Committee, New York, 1943.

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