Rationing & Victory Gardens
When war was declared hoarding began almost immediately. Remembering the shortage of items during World War I, many Daytonians rushed to their local groceries and began buying items they thought might soon be in short supply. Howard Heisterman, president of the Dayton & Montgomery County Retail Grocers and Meat Dealers Association commented that his office had been receiving calls from retailers asking him what they could do to stop all the demands being made on them, especially for sugar. Heisterman claimed that the supply of sugar was more than adequate and that there was no likelihood that the supply would diminish.
Before long, the Dayton Council for Defense was condemning the practice of sugar price boosting. As sugar became harder to find, some of the Dayton groceries began requiring that their customers buy a specified amount of other groceries in order to obtain sugar. Although merchants were warned that such practices violated the anti-trust laws, Hazel Nolan, of the Better Business bureau at the time admitted that “The sugar situation will be allowed to drag until rationing is effective”. The practice was too widespread to actually enforce.
Sugar rationing started on May 5, 1942. Every person 18 years or older who lived in the Dayton area was urged to register for sugar stamps at their local elementary school. Even people who didn’t think they would have any use for sugar were told to register and receive a sugar ration book in case the stamps were used to ration other items in the future. For those people who didn’t know where their elementary school was located, Arthur Stock, county rationing co-ordinator said to “ask the school children in your neighborhood and they will tell you. That will be where you will go.”
The conditions for use of the books were stern with substantial penalties for violations. For example, when a person died, the book had to be turned back in to the rationing board. If a person entered a hospital and expected to be there for 10 days or more, the hospital authorities were to be given the persons book. Each person in a family was allowed to have two pounds of sugar on hand at the time of registration. For the next four pounds of sugar on hand, stamps were removed from the ration book at the rate of one stamp for each pound. Penalties for not disclosing the fact that sugar was on hand in the home were severe. Violators could be punished by a $10,000 fine or up to 10 years in jail or both.
Price Administrator Leon Henderson warned that the government had adequate powers to restrain any “chiselers” who didn’t abide by the sugar rationing regulations.
“A few chiselers can do a great deal of harm both to the operation of rationing and to the morale of the country,” Henderson said in a news conference. “The country is in no mood to let chiselers get away with it. Our policy will be to hit chiselers and hit them hard and fast.”
On January 5, 1942 the rationing of rubber began. Federal rubber rationing immediately prevented about 90 percent of the users of motor vehicles from obtaining new tires. The biggest concern to feel the pinch were the companies who made home deliveries of bread, milk and packages. Although seventy-five percent of the rubber produced at the time was used in the production of tire, the other twenty-five percent was used to make items such as footballs, golfballs, rubber bands, toys, suspenders, and bathing caps and around 50,000 other items. The making of rubber bands and erasers were immediately prohibited from being made. The government estimated that on those two items alone, over 8,000,000 pounds of rubber could be diverted towards more urgent needs, such as tires for jeeps and airplanes.
Daytonians took the rationing of rubber good-naturedly, at least at first. Articles in the local newspaper told of delivery vans with wooden wheels turning to using horses to deliver the milk, just as they had before the automobile took over the job. Jack Davis, president of the Dayton Retail Solid Fuel Institute, reported that no more deliveries of less than a ton of coal would be made so as to save trips. He also requested that customers not ask for a specific time of day for the delivery to be made so that orders could be consolidated for any particular area.
In less than two months, reductions in delivery services were to the point that deliveries by stores had been reduced to every other day, with merchandise being returned to the store no longer to be picked up. Many of the packages to suburban areas were sent by parcel post or express. The curtailment was designed to save on rubber tires and on other metals and mechanical equipment used in the delivery of packages. The public was called upon to help with the conservation movement by carrying home as many packages as possible.
The first passenger car tire inspection began in the city on December 1, 1942. All vehicles had to have their tires inspected by an authorized OPA inspector. A or D books had to have tires inspected every 4 months, B and C and supplemental D inspected tires every two months. Each vehicle was given a tire inspection record to be kept with the car, the record showing the numbers on the car’s tires, in order to stop people from hoarding tires.
Dayton auto dealers prepared to tighten their belts when the government put a freeze on the sales of new automobiles at the same time. Dayton divisions of General Motors took stock of the effects of the production stoppage, which seriously affected four local divisions. Delco Products, which made shock absorbers, was affected the most, since more than 50 percent of its sales at the time were from automobile work. Delco Brake division and Inland Manufacturing were also hard hit, as was the smaller Moraine Products division, whose products included bearings for automobiles.
S. J. Burns, a Lincoln-Mercury dealer distributor in Dayton, voiced the general sentiment of Dayton motor car dealers when he said: “We have been expecting something like this. It will be hard, but it is part of the emergency and we’ll go along, of course.” As for his used cars, since there was no rationing he expected “no trouble whatever” in selling them.
Ray K. Barlow, a Chrysler and Plymouth dealer, agreed that the used car problem, “which used to be a nightmare to everybody”, would no longer be a problem.
Clarence Stenger, manager of the Borchers Auto Company, said at the time, there was no choice but to comply. “There won’t be many used cars to sell from now on. Anyone who has a used car that will run will hang onto it instead of turning it in. We are going to concentrate on service.”
Before long, broken axles, defective wiring and dented auto bodies were causing nearly as many cars to be parked on the wartime casualty list than the lack of gasoline or rubber tires. Without new cars being built, older cars were kept in service longer. Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone left to repair them
“Demand for repair work on cars is growing constantly as they get older and require more maintenance,” said Ralph Rodgers, president of the Automobile Dealers’ association. “(Trained mechanics) were not at first considered an essential industry, and many of our best workers went to essential industries, while others were drafted.”
By the beginning of 1943 garages in Dayton were scheduling work months ahead and accepted work by appointment only. Hahn's garage on Wayne Avenue reported that they were already booked a month in advance. “We have three mechanics and a combined personnel of 12 in the shop,” Carl Hounshell, co-manager said, “and we have been repairing about 30 cars a day.”
“The shortage of mechanics is endangering the safety of the community,” E. C. Darst, co-manager of the B & D Auto service reported in January 1943. “We can’t take orders to fix defective brakes, and many persons are driving on icy roads without proper protection.” He added that he and his mechanic were working 14 to 16 hours a day to complete repairs.
In 1942, thousands of Dayton motorists began taking part in the greatest program of patriotic self-denial that had ever been placed before them. “No more nightly drives by courting couples to distant “dine-dance” spots, or to lovers’ lanes; no more two-square raids by housewives to reach the corner grocery; no more long vacation trips, or idle cruising around” lamented the Dayton Daily News when word that gas rationing would soon take effect in the city.
Deadline for the first registration for the “A” ration coupon books was December 2, 1942. By the end of the deadline 95,000 residents of Montgomery County had signed up, leaving 18,000 cars not registered to receive gasoline. The unregistered cars were thought to be either owned by men in the armed forces, cars sold to dealers and not purchased yet, or people who misunderstood the fact that they wouldn’t receive gasoline without the coupons. Car owners without the ration cards were not legally allowed to purchase gasoline.
A sticker was placed on the windshield of every automobile, which denoted the car’s allowance of gasoline. The categories were: A, nonessential for war driving; B, for commuters who drive to work but did not use their vehicles on the job; C, salesmen and delivery driving-work related; E, emergency vehicles which included clergy, police, firemen, press photographers, and journalists; T, truckers, work related; X, congressmen. The X sticker meant that the car was not rationed for gas at all.
“A” books originally entitled holders to 16 gallons of gasoline a month. “B” books were issued to person qualifying for the need for gasoline to reach work. Several excuses, many of them good ones, were used in the application for a B gasoline ration. One Dayton woman asked for extra gasoline because she raised white rats for government biological purposes. “I can’t raise them in town because of the health laws, so I have to drive several miles into the country twice a day to feed them.” The extra mileage was allowed.
Three men from Portsmouth who worked in war plants here weren’t as lucky. They had requested for 1,200 extra mileage per month to drive home weekends together. When it was denied, one of them lamented that “I guess you don’t want us to see our families.” When asked why they didn’t get jobs in Portsmouth to be closer to their families, the three men admitted there was more money to be made at the Dayton plants. The reviewer pointed out that since the three of them were there primarily to make more money, their sacrifice would be a small one compared to that of the soldiers who were unable to get home for the duration.
Food and drinks were also added to the rationing list. When it was reported that coffee rationing would begin in Dayton on November 30, 1942 people rushed to get in line at their local grocery stores to buy as much as they could before the rationing began. Bogart’s, a grocery in the Arcade, limited its customers to fractions of a pound of coffee in an effort to make sure everyone was served. Even so, it was estimated that a third of Dayton’s coffee drinkers didn’t get the mocha they wanted before it dried up.
When the rationing began, anyone more than 15 years of age was entitled to one pound of coffee every five weeks. The reason for rationing coffee came from the wartime strain on ocean shipping. America’s coffee supply came from Brazil, Columbia and other Latin American countries, and many of the ships that once carried coffee to the United States were engaged in hauling materials vital to the war effort.
In March 1943 it was announced that President Roosevelt had decided to drink milk in the morning instead of rationed coffee. “And he’s very proud of himself” Mrs. Roosevelt added.
When it was announced that meat would become rationed on March 29, 1943 it wasn’t long before Dayton was facing a meat crisis. Meat, poultry and fish were at an all-time low due to the city’s increase in population. Since the first estimate had been taken the year before, it was figured that the population had increased in the city by as much as 25,000 people, with an additional 100,000 commuting to Dayton’s factories and airfields daily. To make matters worse, farmers had begun getting as much as three cents an egg, and had begun letting their hens lay rather than killing them for market.
Many Daytonians began to drive to farms near the city to purchase meat. The OPA had also set a ceiling price on what the farmers and butchers could charge for the meat. With the ready market, many of the farmers disregarded the quotas on the amount of butchering they were allowed to do and the prices they were allowed to charge. As one local paper reported, many Daytonians knew “they are conspiring with the farmer to pass his quota... not caring as long as they get meat. This form of black marketing probably is enjoying the most popularity at the present time”.
This got to be such a problem that the newspapers began comparing it to the bootleggers of prohibition, calling the illegal meat seller’s “meatleggers”.
Retail meat dealer, E. F. Hapner, was glad that meat rationing was going into effect. “I’m all for a way to distribute meat properly.” he said. “You can see how little we have on hand here. All day long we tell people, ‘Sorry, that’s all there is.’ But it rather worries me because I can’t think how they’re going to do it. As it is, we’ve been limiting customers to small portions, like small pieces of bacon. We were glad when they rationed coffee, too, because that way we all got some.”
In 1943, Daytonians were urged by the Dayton Daily News to grow their own meat at home by buying a rabbit hutch and raising rabbits. Instructions were included on how to build the hutch, what type of breed of rabbit to buy (they recommended the New Zealand White), and how to make a nest box for the mother rabbit and her babies.
Horsemeat, which wasn’t rationed, also began being sold as demands on meat production facilities continued to outstrip the meat goals. Journal Herald described the horsemeat, which sold for 35 cents a pound, as “good as beef and tender as butter.”
Daytonians, as a whole, seemed to favor food rationing. “Those of us who have someone in the service can best know the importance of rationing.” Margaret Raines claimed, during an interview by a local newspaper reporter. “With a grandson among the armed forces at Dutch harbor, I feel that putting up with rationing uncomplainingly is the very least I can do. Those boys at the front are doing their best- why can’t we?”
Mrs. Howard Yost agreed. “Actually, I think food rationing is the only fair system of giving food to everyone. And as for hoarding, I think anyone who has the nerve to hoard food should be classed with spies.”
Using points for rationing was a little complex to the average citizen. Here’s how point rationing for food was explained to Dayton citizens on February 21, 1943 by the Dayton Daily News.
“Here’s how Point Rationing works”
1) Every man, woman, child and baby will be given the No. 2 book, which will not be used for sugar or coffee. (You continue to use No. 1 book for coffee and sugar purchases.)
2) Blue stamps are for any kind of bottled or canned fruits and vegetables; bottle or canned juices and soups; frozen fruits and vegetables; dried fruits. (Red stamps will be issued later, when meat is rationed.)
3) Number on the stamps show how many points each stamp is worth.
4) Letters show when to use the stamps. The year will be divided into rationing periods. All blue stamps marked A, B and C can be used during the first rationing period. A, B and C stamps cannot be used after the first rationing period.
5) Blue stamps must be used when any kind of rationing processed foods are purchased. (In subsequent paragraphs are listed the kinds of processed foods that are to be rationed. Different kinds of these foods will take different numbers of points. For example a can of beans may take more points than a can of peas. Of course, the more you buy, the more points it will take. A large can of peas will take more points than a small can.)
6) OPA will set the points for each kind and size. An official table of points must be displayed by your grocer; and will be printed by the Dayton Daily News. Changes in point values will be made by the government from time to time, about once a month. These changes will be posted in stores; also published.
7) The number of points for each kind of processed food will be the same in all stores everywhere.
“How to use your Ration book”
1) Take your No. 2 book with you when you go to buy any kind of processed foods.
2) Before you lay down your money, find out how many points to give for the kind of processed foods you want. Of course, prices don’t set the points. The government sets the different points for each kind and size, no matter what the price. Remember, the points will not change just because the prices do.
3) When you buy, take the right amount of stamps out of your blue book. This must be done in front of the grocer or delivery boy; and hand them to the grocer or delivery boy. A stamp or stamps must be collected for all processed foods sold.
4) Don’t use more stamps than needed to make up the right amount. If the food you buy calls for 13 points, for example, it is better to tear out an 8 point and a 5 point stamp that two 5 point stamps. Save the smaller point stamps for lower point foods.
5) You can take the stamps from more than one book belonging to your household.
6) Every person in the household, including children of any age, has a total of 48 points to use for all processed foods for one ration period. You may use all the blue stamps marked A, B and C from all books in your household during the first period. As many of the blue A, B and C stamps may be used at one time as you wish. When they are used up you will not be able to buy any more processed foods until the next stamps are good. OPA will announce when the next stamps are valid.
7) Anyone you wish can take the ration books to the store to do the buying for you or your household.
Victory Gardens
By 1943 it was estimated that at least half of the canned goods being made were going towards feeding the U. S. military and its allies. That meant that Daytonians had to depend more and more on fresh supplies of vegetables, whether they bought them at their grocery store or raised them themselves. “Victory gardens”, as they were called, sprung up in backyards and vacant lots in and around the city of Dayton. Some of the scarecrows used in the gardens were made to look like Hitler, Hirohito, or Mussolini. Mason jars and pressure cookers were all the rage as vegetables were prepared in the fall to last the winter.
At the peak of the war over 20 million Victory gardens were growing in the U.S., supplying a third of all the vegetables in the country.
Sidebar text:
As Christmas approached in 1942, a problem began to emerge. As the use of cars lessened due to restrictions on tires, gasoline and no parts to repair them, more people began riding buses. Since retail deliveries had been curtailed, most of the shoppers had to carry their bundles home with them. In the early evenings, these bundles occupied space that should have been available to war workers. The Dayton Mayor’s Emergency Committee on Transportation declared that nonessential riders on buses were “unpatriotic” and “definitely slowing the war effort”. Shoppers were asked to do their shopping between the hours of 10am and 2pm.
Line were long as people waited to pick up their ration book at the Dayton Municipal Court. Ration books were used to control how many items a person could buy during war time, including: coffee, liquor, certain vegetables and fruits, shoes, bicycles, gasoline, meat, sugar, and canned goods.
The Dayton Rubber Labor-Management War Production Committee began advertising free garden plots to those who were willing to raise their own vegetables. In order to encourage this, special gasoline rations were given to Victory gardeners who devoted their time cultivating at least 1500 square feet of garden for the purpose of growing produce. The applicant also had to carry at least three other riders to the garden plot if such arrangements could reasonably be made. The applicants' mileage could also not exceed 300 miles in a six-month period.
In 1943 the Montgomery County Victory Garden Committee was formed. Through their efforts, a total of 2,748 garden plots were offered to the public to use at a cost of fifty cents. Applicants had to sign a form promising that they would keep their gardens “free from weeds and rubbish at all times” and “to preserve or can all surplus (produce)” The Division of Correction helped by furnishing the Workhouse tractor, a guard and three prisoners to plow and disc the various lots. A total estimated value of $150,000 in produce was raised on these gardens in 1943.
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