The rationing of panic
by
Bill Miller for the Mail Tribune
Monday,
April 6th 2020
It was the middle of
March, just a few weeks ago, when panic struck.
A long line of
shopping carts twisted around a corner at Costco and ended somewhere back in
the middle of the meat cases. A frazzled two or three employees were tossing
jumbo packs of toilet paper into each basket; baskets pushed by equally
frazzled and even more frightened customers.
Panic and hoarding
are nothing new in times of stress and emergency; however, toilet paper, as
important as it certainly is, certainly seems like an unusual choice in the
grand scheme of things.
Then again, I’d bet
you couldn’t tell me the very first item customers cleared from the grocery
shelves when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the country went to war.
Waiting for it—sugar!
Within a week of the
bombing, the government began its first rationing order. Because rubber was a
war necessity, purchasing new tires for the old jalopy was virtually banned,
and just forget about riding home in a brand new 1942 automobile. Unless you
were in one of 12 employment categories beginning with physicians, nurses and
veterinarians, and ending with my favorite, “persons delivering newspapers,”
you were out of luck. The serious joke that was going around said, “Be careful
with your tires when you’re driving around, Bob, cause you ain’t gonna get no
more.”
Now, let’s get back
to sugar.
Rumblings of a sweet
ban started right around New Year’s and, boy, did those rumblings get serious
attention from the panicky portion of the Greatest Generation. Store shelves
were as bare as — dare we say it? — an empty toilet paper roll.
It was hoarding in
the extreme. There was plenty of sugar produced in the county, yet officials
reported many consumers were “buying in excess of need” and storing the extra
sugar in case of a future shortage or price increase.
On May 5, 1942, when
sugar became the first rationed item after cars and tires, it was apparent that
those panicky sugar folk were actually on to something.
Sugar was also a
critical war necessity. Experts said over a million tons of sugar would be
diverted from consumers each year to make industrial alcohol, a material needed
in the manufacture of explosives. “This is the sugar that can mean more fire
power for our fighting men,” said one sugar company. “So long as we need sugar
to get enough explosives, every American man, woman and child will cheerfully
and gladly accept the sugar ration.”
In addition, there
really was a shortage. Sugar production in the Philippines and Hawaii dried up,
and Cuban and Puerto Rico sugar was shared with the war allies, Great Britain,
Russia and China.
Ration stamps were
issued, with each civilian adult allowed 1 pound of sugar per week and children
a 1/2 pound. Anyone found hoarding could face a fine of up to $10,000.
There would be more
rationing during the duration of the war, including shoes, butter and meat.
Even coffee was rationed in November 1942 to just 1 pound per person every five
weeks — about a cup a day. That’s a thought that still panics the heck out of
us who wake up and just can’t wait to smell the coffee.
Gas rationing began
Dec. 1, 1942, allowing four gallons a week. The day before it went into effect,
gas stations across Jackson County reported “a heavy run on gasoline in order
to start the rationing period with a full tank.”
Not until the end of
the war in 1945 did rationing begin to fade away.
Gas rationing ended
Aug. 15, and everything except tires and sugar ended Nov. 25. Tire rationing
ended Jan. 1, 1946.
Because of a world
shortage of sugar, it took until June 11, 1947, before the Mail Tribune could
print above the page one masthead, a large, warlike headline, “Sugar Rationing
Ends Tonight.”
Here’s hoping toilet
paper doesn’t take that long.
Writer Bill Miller is
the author of five books, including “History Snoopin’,” a collection of his
previous history columns and stories.
