Click2History - Children In War, A Rationing Way of Life, Chapter 5 - Food Rations

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>CHILDREN IN WAR</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 5 - FOOD RATIONS</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">During both world wars, the United Kingdom depended on imports to feed its people. German ships did all they could to <a href="http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Large%20photo%20pages/ww2poster21.html" target="_blank"><b>interfere</b></a> with that process. Short (or non-existent) supplies of commodities, deemed essential in peacetime, <a href="http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Museum%20Docs/foodration.html" target="_blank"><b>mandated rationing</b></a>.</p> <p>Although the United States relied on voluntary rationing of food in World War I, the country had to take a different path in the Second World War. In the summer of 1941, even before America <a href="http://www.click2flicks.com/pearl_harbor/pearl_harbor_ch1.htm" target="_blank"><b>entered the war</b></a>, the Office of Price Administration (OPA) was <a href="http://www.ndu.edu/inss/McNair/mcnair50/m50c5.html" target="_blank"><b>established</b></a> to administer price controls. The process required a huge administrative effort. Eight thousand rationing boards were created with 200,000 volunteers assisting 60,000 agency employees. Food rationing included restrictions on sugar and meat; <a href="http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Museum%20Docs/clothingration.html" target="_blank"><b>clothing rationing</b></a> restricted silk and nylon.</p> <p>WWII Ration Books were issued in many countries:</p><ul> <li>Australia - a <a target="_blank" href="images/childs.ration.jpg"><b>childs ration</b></a> book</li><br><br> <li>America - an <a target="_blank" href="images/adult.ration1.jpg"><b>adult ration</b></a> book</li><br><br> <li>United States - <a target="_blank" href="images/coffee.rations.gif"><b>coffee rations</b></a></li><br><br> <li>Great Britain - <a target="_blank" href="images/adult.rations.gif"><b>adult ration</b></a> book</li></ul> <p>From <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/fsa/8d28000/8d28200/8d28228r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>standing in line</b></a> at the War Ration Board in New Orleans to <a target="_blank" href="images/purchasing.jpg"><b>purchasing</b></a> a limited number of eggs in England, families everywhere had to <a target="_blank" href="images/make.do.jpg"><b>make do</b></a> with less. Australian <a href="http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/homefront/overview.html" target="_blank"><b>propaganda posters</b></a>, urging people to conserve and follow rationing guidelines, were similar to those <a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/history/forgotten_posters/forgotten_posters_ch1.htm" target="_blank"><b>in America</b></a>. New Zealands lack of gas and coal required mothers to <a target="_blank" href="images/prepare.food.jpg"><b>prepare food</b></a> in unusual ways. In Canada, individuals were <a href="http://www.canadianheritage.org/images/large/20573.jpg" target="_blank"><b>limited</b></a> to a half-pound of sugar per week.</p> <p>Everyone in the family had a ration book which was used to benefit the whole family. Since <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/17/17-1681a.gif" target="_blank"><b>points</b></a> were tallied for every purchase of rationed food, when Mom went <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/23/3/23-0285a.gif" target="_blank"><b>to the store</b></a> the operative question was: "How many points will it take to buy this?"</p> <p>Sometimes folks did not adhere to the WWII <a target="_blank" href="images/motto.jpg"><b>motto</b></a>: "I pay no more than ceiling prices...I pay my ration points in full." Sometimes shoppers and merchants did what they could to avoid the stringent requirements. A Quick-time video clip, from the University of Nebraska, depicts <a href="http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0126_01.html" target="_blank"><b>such scenes</b></a>.</p> <p>Not only did the government ration food - horsemeat was <a target="_blank" href="images/exempt.jpg"><b>exempt</b></a> and Spam, invented in 1937, was a <a target="_blank" href="images/morale.booster.jpg"><b>morale booster</b></a> - people were asked to recycle all kinds of used materials. Women even turned in an item of personal clothing: their <a href="http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0128.html" target="_blank"><b>nylons</b></a>. (It took thirty-six pairs to make one parachute.)</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="children_war_ch4.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="children_war_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="children_war_ch6.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>