A NATION ON RATIONS

Shannon News, 4 May 1926, Page 1

A NATION ON RATIONS

BRITAIN IN WAR TIME. A GREAT UNDERTAKING. It is not generally realised in the Dominion that for over three years the people of Great Britain were rationed as regards the chief articles or food, owing, firstly, to the shortage caused by the “intensive” campaign carried out by German Submarines m sinking merchant ships, "and subsequently by the world shortage caused by the withdrawal of millions or men from productive pursuits in order to serve. in the war. It was not until mor e |than two years after the outbreak of war that the British Ministry of Food began to consider seriously the question of rationing supplies. For some time before it had virtually taken over control of tie country’s food, by purchasing supplies abroad, shipping- them to Great Britain, and' distributing tncm through the ordinary trade channels. Compulsory rationing of the nation was delayed as long as possible, Decause it was felt in official circles (hat its institution would be regarded fry Germany and the outside world as proof of the approaching triumpn of the German threat to starve Greajt Britain into surrender by means or the submaine warfare. Compulsory rationing had been adopted in Germany and Austria long before, as me naval blockade maintained by the Allies cut off these countries from most of the foreign sources of rood supplies. The first notable step in me direction of rationing iiu Great Britain was an announcement by me Ministry of Food in March, 1917, regarding the shortage, and placing the nation on its honour to limit the purchases of the three principle foods to the following weekly amounts per head: —Bread,. 41b; meat, 2?db; sugar, Sib. Extensive progoganda in food saving was conducted throughout tne country by 1200 food campaign committees. and 5,000,000 leaflets on me subject were ciistrubuted. On rour consecutive Sundays a Royal proclamation was read in the churcnes of all denominations exhorting tne the. people to ‘practise frugality ana economy. Previously steps had been taken by the Ministry of Food, to restrict tli e consumption of sugar, to dilute flour by the addition of 5 to 10 per cent, of barley, rice and maize, and to restrict the brewing of oeer, -which involved the use of large quantities of barley and sugar. The sate of new bread and the icing of eaxes were among tlie many miner prohibitions enforced by fhe Ministry.

But by the beginning of 1918 the Ministry was forced to resort to tne compulsory rationing of tea, , sugar bread, meat, butter and other rats. Owing 'to the shortage of supplies or these foods large queues were in me habit of forming each day outside the shops in the chief cities. As me shops were never able :o serve an the people in the queues there was widespread discontent. The Government feared that trouble would be caused among the men serving with tli e Army in France if they learned that their wives and children were unable to obtain food ut the shops. National rationing was therefore instituted, and was carried out with remarkable smoothness . For mosit or these foods each person or family had to register 4 with a particular tradesman, and the latter obtained supplies iu accordance with the nuinber of his registered customers. Perforated sheets of tickets like postage stamps were issued by the Ministry to each person in the kingdom, and these tickets were handed over to tne tradesmen as purchases were made. The amount of each rationed rood eaeJi person was entitled to varied a little from time to time, but ror a long period the weekly rations were: 41b bread, loz butter, 4oz margarine, 2oz lard. 4oz jam, Goz sugar, 2oz bacon 2oz choose, is lid worth or meat. Some of these foods, such as butter, cheese and jam, were not always procurable, and there was often a complete* absence of other fooas that were not rationed, such as potatoes, dried fruits and honey. For a long period matches were almost unobtainable ,and many housewives had to keep the gas jet alight all da!y in order to light the gas oVcn when it was required.

The story of the colossal work carried out by the Ministry of Food is told in “A State Trading- Adventure,” by Frank 11. Culler, who was the seerotary of the Ministry. 'When rationing ended in 1.92.1, and the official con'troi of food suplies ceased, the Ministry had to get rid of vast stores that were on hand., The aggregate turnover of the Ministry in the purchase of food exceeded £1,400,000,000 Its aim was to make neither a profilt nor a loss, but Inevitably there was profits on some purchases and losses on others. For instance, the Ministry’s total purchases of frozen meat amounted 'to £200,526,849, on which a profit of £5,663,559 was made, but the purchase of £246,680,627 worth of bacon and hams and lard resulted in a loss of £2,183,037. Tea purchases totalled £23,813,444, and yielded a profit of £2,101, 435, out there was a loss of £1,945,845 on the purchase Of £123,004,565‘ worth of butter and cheese. The nejt profit on the total turnover reached £7,350,000

which works out at a little more than one-half of 1 per cent. “It is not suggested that the experiment could be repeated in normal times, with equally satisfactory rc- | suits,” states Mr. Coller. ‘'The para- ! dox-of food control is that it secures I at once, the encouragement of the : producer and the comfort of {the distributor ;the consumer is left to crave for subsidies, inevitably less abundant as the taxpayer disappears. I Control, moreover, is apt to ignore quality, and on the emergence of quality civilisation probably depends. But the real objection of State trading is its extreme susceptibility, to political pressure.” ;