DAY: Rationing can come back again

May 16, 2008 11:58 pm

— Back when what seems a long time ago, we had what they called “rationing”, which regulated the apportionment of items in short supply. That way the distribution of those items was somewhat equal to all.
It wasn’t satisfying to all, but it was necessary to achieve a distribution that was fair and you couldn’t hoard it. It was in response to our country being at war and was done as an emergency.
Before World War II, merchants were free to place limits on the items that were scarce, and many times good friends of those merchants got more than an equal share. Therefore, our government decided that a real equal plan for rationing was needed.
When Japan did the intolerable act of bombing Pearl Harbor in 1941, our government created a system of price administration and brought forth local boards staffed with volunteers to decide what was in short supply and also what was needed to better the war effort. Rubber was rationed, as were stoves, leather and even rubber footwear. Sugar, coffee, canned foods, gasoline and coal were on the list too. There were price controls on the price of all foods, and the renting of homes. Most Americans accepted it because it was very necessary, but black market violations started, and some made money on the misfortunes of others. Gasoline could not be used to run pleasure equipment, because each had a limit on what they could get.
Rationing was achieved by using coupon books, ration stamps, or certificates with the amount on them. The rationing stayed until the end of the war and then slowly was eliminated. We haven’t seen anything close to rationing, except maybe the possibility of it happening on our supplies of oil and gas products.
So having been a youngster during this time of rationing, I and most of those still alive can only know that it was a necessary thing to do back then, and we survived it. Can that come about in today’s world? I hope not, because there are too many ways to beat the system. There will always be someone out there who will take advantage of the misfortunes of others, fill their pockets with wealth, and live high on the hog while others will barely get by. Oh yes, folks, the so-called black market has been active ever since the Big War, and they lie in wait to take advantage of others.
In the USA, we, the people, are free to go about our lives being free and being able to live the dream. Also, we sit back and watch as profiteers fill their own pockets using the savings of the middle class as a way of maintaining their wealth. We, the people, use the plastic card to buy what we want without thinking how they are going to pay for it. If that credit-card holder would sit back and look at a chart of what the ending amount would be when their card was paid off, they might think hard about maxing that card out. There are those out there too who will get your information and open accounts in credit that you will be hit with later.
It really gets to me when, in the mail, we get applications for charge accounts that we didn’t ask for. If someone else gets that mailing, it gives them a chance to really put you in the hole. And don’t think it is impossible to do, as there are those varmints out there who would steal your underwear while you are wearing them. I think it should be a crime for sending those charge papers in the mail, but then they would find other ways.
As for worrying about whether we will ever have to ration again, we just have to know that maybe we will, and it would be such a blow to everything that is sitting there right in front of you now. It takes you and me to see that we don’t have to do it again. And it takes our government. You, I and it have to be together on this. Scary isn’t it?
Ray “Uncle Ray” Day of Kokomo is a weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune. He can be reached by e-mail at uncleray@skyenet.net.

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