The Great Plains during World War II

5. Rationing

News of a new European war brought a spike in domestic prices for residents of the Great Plains. By September 7, 1939, only six days after Germany invaded Poland, food prices had escalated. Housewives complained and wanted local, state, and national of- ficials to protect them from profiteering, hoarding, and speculation, which would affect the cost of “necessities.” As housewives lined up to make needed or wanted purchases, wholesalers and retailers blamed them, not the war, for price escalation. Demand, not supply , they contended, caused a 50 percent jump in prices for sugar, meat, butter, and lard. In the months ahead, as the nation converted from peacetime to wartime industries, consumers experienced spot shortages of certain goods and foods. Prices steadily escalated but eventually leveled off in late October 1941 after increasing about 8 percent from the previous year. Harry Chrysler, the secretary of the Colorado Retailers Association, believed that prices would rise no further, saying, “I can’t see where there will be any radical advance in the average food prices, because we are already at the peak, or very near it.” He did not believe that workers had sufficient buying power to feed inflation, and the nation remained at peace.1 When the United States entered the war, however, everything changed. In January 1942 Congress approved the Emergency Price Control Act, which gave the Office of Price Administration (opa) the authority to set maximum prices on most commodities and rents and rationed products. In April the opa attempted to control rapidly rising prices by issuing its General Maximum Price Regulation. This five | Rationing rationing 121 dictate froze most prices at the highest level reached in March. Consumer prices, however, continued to rise, for an 18 percent increase between 1941 and 1943, but the opa eventually gained control of inflation. The agency also attempted to institute a rationing program . It hoped that price controls and rationing would keep costs under control and guarantee a “fair share of goods made scarce by war” for everyone. Rationing was also meant to be a symbolic, patriotic action demonstrating public commitment, a sense of community , and democratic obligation and, as such, giving people an opportunity to contribute to the war effort. As a result the family dinner table and the local gas station became domestic war fronts.2 With the loss of 97 percent of the nation’s rubber supply to Japanese conquests in the Far East, the opa quickly and strictly limited the purchase of rubber tires. In late December 1941 tire rationing began with the opening of state and local rationing boards. Theoretically , new tires could not be purchased, unless they were destined for medical and emergency services. Counties received tires and tubes by quota based on the number of vehicles registered, and the boards determined who could purchase them. In order to buy a new tire a motorist first had to have the old tire checked by a certified dealer. At no charge the dealer would decide whether the tire should be retreaded or replaced. If a replacement was needed, the motorist received a certificate for presentation to the rationing board, which would review the case and, the motorist hoped, issue another certificate authorizing the purchase. Appeals could be made to state tirerationing boards. Local defense councils appointed the tire-rationing boards, which state officials or the governor’s office then approved. All members of the rationing boards took an oath to become agents of the United States. In order to aid the tire-rationing program, the American Automobile Association asked its members in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico to reduce family driving by 50 percent to save tires and launched a “budget your mileage campaign.”3 Across the Great Plains tire theft and the sale of stolen tires soon became a problem, and retreads became standard replacements. Police and sheriff’s departments urged drivers not to park their cars rationing 122 outside overnight and to record the serial numbers of their tires as well as lock their trunks. Gas stations and tire dealers also offered to register tires and provide proof of ownership, but a black market quickly developed for tires. Kansans made matters worse because many did not understand the need to ration tires, or, in fact, believe that there was a need to ration them, even though the state rationing board labeled fast drivers, that...