Bible Encyclopedias
Rationing

National Rationing Scheme

The Rationing Scheme, as finally established in July 1918, was a uniform national system administered by autonomous local committees, and having as its main features the use of individual ration books, the tie of each customer to a particular retailer, and the systematic supply to each retailer of the quantities required to meet the needs of his registered customers. A single application form had to be filled in by each household and forwarded to the Food Office, which thereupon issued a separate ration book for each member of the household. The ration book was a book containing different coloured leaves for various foods. Each leaf consisted of (a) a counterfoil to be signed, detached and given to the retailer with whom the holder of the book wished to register, and (b) coupons for each week's supply to be detached by the retailer when actual purchases were made. On registration of the customer the retailer besides detaching the counterfoil was required to enter his name and address on the appropriate part of the ration book. In addition to the leaves for foods rationed, such as sugar or meat, there were spare leaves which could be used for rationing other foods at short notice, and one of these was in fact adapted to deal with bread should the occasion ever arise. The book contained also a reference leaf, which served as an application form for subsequent issues. There were special books for children under six years of age (who got half rations of meat), books authorizing supplementary rations of bacon for manual workers and growing boys, and special books or leaves of coupons for invalids, travellers, vegetarians, Jews, soldiers and sailors on leave, and other particular classes.

The tie of each customer to a particular retailer was the essence of the scheme, the main safeguard against fraud, and the basis of distribution. Behind rationing as the public saw it - a paper affair of application forms, counterfoils and coupons - was a not less extensive and intricate machinery for distribution of the appropriate supplies through all the complex channels of trade week by week to every retailer in the country. The precise form of this machinery was naturally different for different articles of food; the common feature in all cases was that the retailer had to make an indent on a wholesaler in accordance with the number of persons registered with him, and each wholesaler in turn made application to a primary supplier (manufacturer, importer or other) based upon and accompanied by copies of the retailer's indents. The supplies flowed downwards through the various channels of trade in accordance with the applications and indents. The retailer's indents had in some cases to be approved in advance by the Food Control committees; in all cases their correctness was liable to be checked by examination of their registers of customers and of the counterfoils detached from the ration books.

In the case of meat, where the civilian supplies were mainly homegrown, there was needed in addition an elaborate organization, under Livestock Commissioners appointed by the Ministry of Food, for controlling the bringing of beasts to market, and their slaughtering and distribution, and for supplementing home supplies from the reserves of imported meat. In the case not only of meat, but of butter and margarine, there was a further difficulty - that the food was highly perishable and the retailers could not carry reserve stocks.

The importance of the tie to the retailer became apparent when it came to be realized that it would be perfectly possible to have a rationing scheme without coupons at all, if every individual consumer had to register at a particular shop and the supplies to that shop were adjusted strictly to the registration. The value of the detachable coupon was, first, in enabling the retailer to know whether he had already given a particular customer his supply for that week, and second, in affording a check upon the retailer, who could be required to make returns of supplies received, sold or retained, and to account for the supplies sold by producing an equivalent number of coupons. The staff collected for central rationing was used from April 1918 onwards to check the retailers' accounts by counting the coupons they had collected.

Apart from the points mentioned the technical details of most importance in the rationing scheme were the following: (1) The fixing of the ration for uncooked butcher's meat by value rather than by weight. Under the London scheme and the general meat scheme of April 1918 each card had for each week three coupons entitling the holder to buy 5d. worth per coupon, i.e. is. 3d. worth altogether of uncooked butcher's meat. As the price per lb. for each cut of meat was regulated by an elaborate schedule having regard to quality, to proportion of bone and to other matters, the fixing of the ration by value afforded an automatic means of adjusting the ration according to the cut selected. This device proved quite satisfactory and was continued in all subsequent schemes.

(2) The classification of " establishments," ranging from prisons and asylums to schools, hotels, living-in establishments, tea-shops and seaside boarding houses. With the single exception of the problem of the " self-supplier " this is technically the most difficult part of rationing, and the relatively efficient treatment of establishments in the British system was a considerable element in its general success. It is probably true to say that Britain was the only European country which made serious inroads on the comfort of living in first-class hotels or lunching at first-class clubs during the war.

(3) The provision for transfers of registration from one retailer to another, or from one district to another. This part of the scheme was framed with considerable care; the widespread organization of the Food Control committees bringing a food office within easy reach of every considerable number of inhabitants, and the reasonable latitude allowed to their officers in dealing with local and personal emergencies, prevented registration formalities from becoming intolerable.

The problems of " self-supply " and " direct supply," i.e. of persons producing food for themselves or obtaining food direct from the producer and not through a trader, arose in Great Britain only to a limited extent, and cannot be said to have been fully solved. Restrictions were imposed but were not pressed to the utmost.

The articles rationed and the amounts allowed at various dates are set out in the appended table.

Comparison with Other Countries

The problem of rationing was simpler in Britain than in most European countries, and far simpler than 'in Germany and Austria, for the following main reasons: first, the deficiency of supplies below normal was less; second, the bulk of the British supplies were imported, not home-grown; third, the supplies of cereals could be and were kept at a point high enough to allow rationing of bread stuffs to be avoided altogether.

The difference in supplies is clearly illustrated by a table given in the article FooD Supply and published by the Ministry of Food at the end of 1918, comparing the estimated consumption per head of certain essential foods in the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland before and during the war. Another striking contrast emerges in the report of a committee appointed at the Ministry of Food at the end of 1917 to prepare a comprehensive scale of rations covering meat, cereals, fats and Rationing in Great Britain 1917-20. Notes. - The numbers in parentheses give the maximum numbers covered by local schemes of rationing. The number covered by national rationing, i.e. the civilian population of Great Britain, in 1918 was 39,000,000.

In the London scheme and the first national meat scheme (April 7 1918) four coupons were provided to cover all meat of every kind. Three of these coupons only might be used for uncooked butcher's meat; any of them could be used for bacon, poultry, preserved meat, etc. The normal ration at the outset was thus is. worth (= 4 lb. with average bone) of uncooked butcher's meat, together with 4 oz. of bacon with average bone, or in place of the bacon, varying quantities of offal, poultry, game, etc. Later the rations were raised.

sugar. The committee based their scale on estimates of the minimum numbers of calories per day required by various classes of persons, according to age and occupation, and of the proportion that, having regard to other foods available, should be provided by these essential foods. Comparing their scale with the actual rations in force during 1917 in Hamburg (taken as typical of German industrial conditions), the committee found that the latter scale represented in respect of these essential foods and potatoes not more than 3 of the minimum requirements, while the shortage of less essential foods was probably even greater. The German ration of fat was reduced still further as from Jan. 11918, making the Hamburg rations per week for ordinary adults as follows: - Bread 41 lbs.; Meat 9 oz.; Fats 21 oz.; Sugar 3 lb.; Potatoes 71 lbs. Men engaged in physical labour received a supplementary ration of 14 lbs. of bread (per week), and those engaged in exceptionally hard physical labour received altogether 72lbs. of bread, 4 lb. of meat, 42 oz. of fats, 3 lb. of sugar and 9s lbs. of potatoes. These men would be few in number.

The weekly rations in Vienna by the end of 1918 were even lower: - Bread 22 lbs. (with an additional 2 lbs. for heavy workers); Meat 42 oz.; Fat II oz.; Sugar nil, and Potatoes I a lbs.

The Austrian figures represent a breakdown of supplies and society. The German rations are those on which the civilian population of Germany sustained the war and made munitions during 1917 and 1918. They show a power in the human body to endure over months and years, at whatever cost in permanent loss of health and vigour, a scale of nutrition far below the minimum prescribed by scientific authority. They indicate at the same time the intensity of the strain to which the rationing regulations of the enemy countries were subjected.

The advantage to the British food controller in obtaining so large a part of his supplies from overseas was equally decisive. Imports were all brought automatically and completely under public control; nothing remained save distribution and the fixing of prices. The German and Austrian food controllers had to rely almost exclusively on home-grown supplies; they were faced by and failed to solve the problem of obtaining from the home producers a fair proportion of their produce for distribution under the rationing system. To a small extent this fact must be taken as a correction of the previous statement of rations as showing the actual consumption; an appreciable part of the total supplies escaping public control altogether was sold as contraband (Schleichhandel) to the urban consumers. The actual consumption in each family was the ration plus a varying proportion of contraband. The contraband trade, however, in Germany at least cannot have benefited more than a small proportion of the industrial population and was mainly an advantage to the well-to-do and to the hotels. It had a disastrous reaction on the general respect paid to the rationing regulations, and deprived them of that support of public opinion which was so marked in Great Britain.

The third great advantage of the British food controllers was that, by securing adequate tonnage for cereals, they were able to avoid the rationing of bread stuffs, and the elaborate and contentious system of graduated rations for different classes of workers which would otherwise have been inevitable. So long as rationing is confined to articles other than bread, a flat scale of rations for all adults, whether engaged in sedentary or in severe physical work, is possible; the larger amount of calories which the latter classes must have, in order to perform their work, can be obtained by increasing their consumption of bread. If bread as well as meat, fats and sugar are rationed this individual adjustment of consumption, according to the physical energy required, becomes impossible. The rationing system itself must provide differentiated rations for men doing varying kinds of physical labour or doing little or no physical work at all.

All the continental countries which rationed bread-stuffs had accordingly to introduce " supplementary " rations for heavy workers of different grades; the classification of the population for this purpose was one of the most difficult and contentious Period of Rationing (whether local or national).

Nationall

from Dec. 31 1917 to Nov. 29 1920 Locally from Dec. 14 1917 to July 1918 (38,000,000); thereafter nationally to Feb. 16 1919 for both fats, and to May 30 1920 for butter alone.

Locally from Jan. 1 91 8 (I,50o,000); nationally from July 14 1918 to Dec. 16 1918.

London and home counties from Feb. 25 1918 (Io,000,- 000) with a few other local schemes; nationally from April 7 1918 to Dec. 15 1919.

London a n d home counties from Feb. 25 1918 (Io,000,- 000) with a few other local schemes; nationally f r o m April 7 1918 to July 29 1918.

All meat (including preserved meat, poultry, game, offal, venison and horsemeat) was included in original London scheme, but control was gradually relaxed.

Locally from early part of 1918 (500,- 000); Nationally from Nov. 4 1918 to April 15 1919.

Locally from early part of 1918 (2,- 000, 000) .

Locally f r o m Dec. 1917 (17,50o,000).

Amount of Weekly Ration per Head.

8 oz. Dec. 31 1917 to Jan. 27 1919; thereafter sometimes 12 oz. and sometimes 8 oz. with a drop to 6 oz. for a few weeks in Sept.-Oct. 1919, and again J a n.- March 1920.

5 or 6 oz. for both fats under national scheme. The London scheme started with a ration of 4 oz. The separate butter ration after Feb. 1919 varied from I to 2 Oz.

2 oz. nationally and in most local schemes.

Under the London Scheme 3 coupons entitling to 4d. worth each, or is. altogether (about 1 lb. with average bone), subsequently changed to is. 3d. Under the national scheme varying values as follows: is. 3d., Is.; Is. 4d., is. 8d., Is. 4d., is. 8d., 2 S.

Under the London scheme 4 oz. with bone per coupon. Under the national scheme 5 oz. and 8 oz.

Varying rations.

4 oz. under national scheme.

I 2 OZ. to 2 O .

I i oz. to 2 Article. Sugar .

Butter and Margarine .

Lard .

Meat (Uncooked Butcher's Meat) Bacon and Ham.

Other Meats Jam Cheese .

Tea parts of the whole system; it appears to cut at the root of the principle of equality upon which rationing is based. In Great Britain a scheme of supplementary rations of bacon, for growing boys and for men engaged in physical labour, was introduced in April 1918, not so much for its own sake as in order to get the recipients classified, and so to prepare the ground, in case bread rationing became necessary, as at that time appeared possible. Fortunately the danger to the British bread supplies passed over; the supplementary rations of bacon, though they received the general support of the Food Control committees and were clearly right in principle, were strongly criticized by labour representatives, and were abolished when bacon was freed from rationing in July 1918.

While for the three reasons stated it must be recognized that the British rationing problem was immeasurably simpler than the German or the Austrian one, it may still be claimed that even allowing for this the British system was definitely superior in itself. First, the proper balance between centralization and decentralization of responsibility was attained. The British system was national and therefore uniform and fair in principle, but was carried out by local authorities with ample power to adjust it to local conditions. German rationing was local in origin; the central authorities had the impossible task of securing coordination subsequently; the traveller from one part of the country to another found himself under different regulations in every town. Second, the British food controllers never issued a ration book without a distribution system to back it. Third, the British system was probably superior in the ingenuity of many technical details. In respect of one of the main articles of food, namely meat, the British like the German controllers had practically to rely upon home-grown produce for the civilian population and had the same problem of collecting supplies from the producer. Fourth, and finally, the British system was more successful in giving equal treatment to rich and poor. This was its corner stone. Lord Rhondda had many doubts as to the practicability of rationing. He feared that the public would never submit to being limited in their purchases, tied to one retailer and subjected to transfer formalities every time they moved from one district to another. He found that the British people in war were prepared to submit to any and every restriction on their freedom of action so long as it applied fairly to all alike. (W. H. B.) United States Food rationing, properly speaking, was resorted to in the United States during the World War only in a modified form, and as to two commodities, wheat flour and sugar. That is to say, the rationing system under which a strict limit was set by law and regulation to the amount of food any person might purchase, as was the case in European countries where the rationed foods were issued only on presentation of official food cards, was practically unknown in the United States. The food saving there was accomplished in general as explained in the articles Food Supply: United States and Savings Movement: United States, through the voluntary self-denial of citizens in response to Government appeals and recommendations.

Sugar

In the last three months of 1917 a serious shortage of sugar developed, and American householders, particularly in the eastern states, had difficulty in obtaining even small quantities for table use. This shortage emphasized the necessity for special attention to its conservation. As a first step, manufacturers of " soft " drinks, candy and related commodities, were directed to reduce their consumption to 80% of the amount used by them during the first six months of 1917. This attempt at conservation was not wholly successful in its operation as some of the less patriotic manufacturers ignored the direction. On May 15 1918, when the urgent need for shipping had resulted in a diversion of tonnage from traffic with Cuba to longer voyages, regulations were issued requiring that sales of sugar to manufacturers of the less essential foods and drinks should be made only upon presentation, by these manufacturers, of certificates which they were required to obtain from the federal food administrator of the state. These certificates were issued only upon proof that the applicant had not used since Jan. 11918, 80% of the amount of sugar used by him in the first half-year of 1917, and the certificate enabled the manufacturer to obtain only enough sugar to bring his total to this 80 per cent. The sugar shortage became still more serious, and with the prospect of a repetition of the ex perience of the fall of 1917, a rationing plan modelled upon certain European systems was put in force beginning July I 1918. The refiner or manufacturer of sugar was forbidden to ship sugar to a purchaser except upon the receipt of a certificate issued by the federal food administrators. These certificates were issued to retailers on the basis of the number of their customers. Customers were allowed to purchase only on the basis of i lb. per person per month. This was increased to 2 lb. on Oct. 15 1918, and the restriction was removed in Nov. 1918. The local administrators were also authorized at all times during the home canning season to issue certificates permitting housewives to buy sugar in 25 lb. lots for canning purposes after the giving of satisfactory proof that it was desired for such purposes. A further regulation for manufacturers using sugar divided them into classes, with respect to the necessity for their products, and they were permitted to buy only on the presentation of certificates issued to them on the basis of their classification. Comparing the figures for war-time consumption of sugar in the United States with pre-war and post-war consumption, a saving of from 400,000 to 600,000 tons is shown to have been accomplished through conservation measures. Assuming it to have been 500,000 tons, it would have supplied people in France for a year, at their ration of J5 lb. per head.

Wheat Flour

In addition to the appeals for voluntary conservation, which were particularly stressed with reference to wheat flour, compulsory regulations were put in force as to certain dealers and distributors of this commodity in Jan. 1918. This step was determined upon as a result of a particularly serious appeal addressed in that month to Mr. Hoover by Lord Rhondda, British Food Controller. Lord Rhondda cabled that unless the United States could furnish 75,000,000 bus. of wheat by July to the Allies, he could not be responsible for their remaining steadfast in the war. Accordingly flour mills were required to raise their percentage of extraction to 74% and to eliminate altogether the sale of patent flours. On Feb. 3 1918, the bakers were required to use 5% of substitute flour in all bread, and this amount was raised to 20% on Feb. 24 and on May 3 to 25 per cent. Rules were also promulgated early in 1918 requiring manufacturers of cake, breakfast cereals, macaroni and the like to limit their consumption of wheat flour to 70% of the amount they had used in 1917 for the same purposes. Since more than 50% of the flour consumed in the United States is used in home baking, it was necessary to require housewives as well as bakers to use substitutes for wheat flour. Regulations were accordingly issued, about Feb. 11918, requiring that no dealer or miller should sell wheat flour to an individual consumer without an equal amount of substitutes. The substitutes specified included all substitute flours, corn meal, corn grits, oatmeal and rice. Although this was not, strictly speaking, a rationing measure, it is estimated that it accomplished a saving of approximately 25% in the household consumption of wheat flour. Notwithstanding a shortage instead of a surplus at the beginning of the year 1918, the American people saved out of their own consumption sufficient wheat to send to the Allies, between Jan. 1 and the harvest, not merely the 75,000,000 bus. for which Lord Rhondda pleaded, but a total of 85,000,000 bushels.

The rationing measures described were withdrawn in Nov. 1918, and after that date there was no governmental limit upon the purchase for consumption of any food commodity in the United States. Although a sugar shortage developed there in 1919 as a result of the continuing world shortage, no revival of control over consumers' purchases was attempted in the United States. The Sugar Equalization Board, which had been continued in existence for distribution of the 1919 crop, revived, for a short time and to a limited extent, its control over distribution by directing to what sections of the country refiners should ship their product. The fact remains, however, that such rationing measures as the U.S. Government employed were in force only for a few months in 1918. (W. C. M.)