For the second time in the same century the world was at war. This time the magnitude of the global fighting had increased tenfold over its predecessor in 1914. And because the effort to win was so much greater, the sacrifice the citizens had to make was naturally proportionate. For the generations born after World War II it is hard to imagine what it was like to have gone through it, much like those who never experienced the Great Depression. The cause of the dilemma was the government’s plan for the rationing of several types of products to ensure that the country had a sufficient amount of food, fuel, clothing, and building materials. The country suddenly found itself immersed in a war that affected almost every aspect of their lives. The home front, though not under direct enemy attack, became highly mobilized. The San Carlos Hotel even mobilized by calling in theirs cooks and staff at all hours of the night just to cook up food for the troop trains coming through Pensacola filled with soldiers heading overseas.
Women signed up for manual labor in factories, children did their part in scrap collections, and victory gardens and bomb shelters sprang up like flowers in May. Medical aid was also given to survivors of merchant vessels brought into Pensacola that had been torpedoed and sunk by marauding German submarines patrolling off the Gulf coast. Food and materials were in high demand but in short supply. Anyone who knew anything about the economics of supply and demand knew that this could have dangerous effects on the national economy.
And because the world was at war Pensacola citizens could not purchase many of the everyday goods they were used to having such as coffee in the morning or a little sugar for their corn flakes. When their shoes were worn they could not obtain new ones even if they had the money. The tires on their car might be old and bald but there were no new ones available. These were just some of the hardships that Americans living on the home front had to deal with every day. Not only did American families send their sons, brothers, and fathers overseas to fight and die, but those same people living at home had to learn the meaning of sacrifice. To make sure that both our civilians and our fighting men had enough food and supplies, the US implemented a system of rationing every item that was considered essential for the war effort and success.
Because the factories were now working overtime producing goods for the armed forces as well as its allies overseas, the federal government established the Office of Price Administration in April 1941. This organization was created to ensure that goods that were in short supply were being made available to the consumers and to keep a watchful eye on the prices of these goods to ensure that runaway inflation did not occur.
Many items that were rationed were considered critical because they were raw materials that were used for war goods. Rubber and tires were rationed items as were metals, typewriters, bicycles, and shoes that were all made of materials that the government needed to produce weapons. Foods such as sugar, coffee, butter, meats, and processed foods were all rationed to ensure that the soldiers overseas had enough to eat. Other items that were either rationed or in short supply were; cigarettes, because 30% of all cigarettes produced went to the armed forces; whiskey, which disappeared from stores in 1944; golf balls no longer had a rubber core after 1944; women had to do without silk or nylon stockings; and license plates were made out of cardboard due to the lack of metals. For rationing to effectively work, everyone had to be registered and had to receive individual ration booklets. Ration booklets (left) contained a series of stamps, cards, or chips that would be used to assist a person in purchasing rationed items. The ration stamps in each book represented points needed to purchase an item being rationed. Every family received a ration book(s) each month with a certain number of stamps. The number of stamps or points needed to purchase an item depended on the scarcity of that item. For instance, in March 1943, applesauce required ten stamps but went up to twenty-five stamps one year later.
Ration books were usually issued in centrally located places such as schools, churches, etc. People who came to these sites usually had to wait in long lines before they were registered or received their books. Local newspapers printed the dates and times that civilians or commercial users should go to register and receive their books. During the mid-1940’s a trip to the market to purchase food was no easy task. In 1942, both sugar and coffee quickly became rationed items. Americans were used to consuming about eight million tons of sugar annually in pre-war years, but close to 2/3 of this amount was imported from the Philippines, Hawaii, and Cuba; three areas that were all but cut off from shipping due to submarine warfare. Civilians were told that every boatload of sugar that was shipped to our shores endangered thousands of American seamen, so the slogans on the billboards read, “Ask for as much as you really need!” Furthermore, the demand for sugar increased because it was used extensively in processed foods, explosives, and synthetic rubber. The sale of sugar to our allies ended on April 28, 1942 because of our own national demand. Each family registered and received a sugar stamp book that allowed them to purchase a pound of sugar every two weeks. Families could file applications for extra sugar for preserving and canning done at home if they were so inclined. Some creative housewives chose to substitute sugar with saccharin, corn syrup, honey, or molasses. Sugar remained scarce for so long that newsman Walter Winchell whimsically wrote, “Roses are Red/ Violets are Blue/ Sugar is Sweet, Remember?”
Coffee was also placed on the list of rationed items because the shipments that left Brazil had been constantly disrupted by the war and virtually all imported coffee came from their shore. In addition to decreased imports of coffee for consumer sale, there was an increase in military purchases of coffee for the soldiers overseas. When coffee rationing began on November 29, 1942, stamps 19-28 in the sugar stamp book became designated as coffee stamps. The coffee stamps in the booklets of persons under fifteen years of age had to be turned in leaving the daily allowance of coffee to be about one cup per day per person. Hotels stopped giving refills, and railroad diners ceased serving coffee at all, except for breakfast.
Meat and processed food rationing began in March of 1943, but their ration books were much more complex and slightly confusing. The books consisted of four pages of blue stamps and four pages of red stamps. Each book had twenty-four stamps per page, each of which bore a letter and a number (the number was either 8, 5, 2, or 1). Colors indicated which rationing program the stamps were used for and letters indicated the period during which the stamps were valid, and the number represented the point value. Blue stamps were good for canned goods such as canned or bottled fruits and vegetables, canned or bottled juices and soups, frozen fruits and vegetables and dried fruits. Red stamps were used later when meat was added to the rationed foods. Each person was allowed forty-eight blue points and sixty-four red points monthly. By turning in meat drippings and other fats (left), people could earn extra stamps. The point value of certain items changed from month to month, so it became necessary for markets to post charts (below) and provide booklets indicating how customers could get the most from their stamps.
Eventually additional books of stamps were printed that inevitably became even more confusing. Book Four, which was distributed in August of 1943 through the mail, contained eight pages of 384 stamps colored blue, red, green, and black. The stamps also had letters on them. Green stamps were used along with blue stamps for processed, canned, or bottled foods. Red stamps were used to purchase meat. Of the ninety-six black stamps, seventy-two were printed with the word “spare” on them if case there were any future adjustments. Red and blue tokens, worth one point, were to be used as change instead of printing more books. Twelve of the stamps in the book were printed “sugar” and twelve others were printed “coffee.” However, since the coffee rationing had been lifted just after these books were sent out, they were forced to use the coffee stamps as spares. Black market activities began slowly, but with ever-gaining strength out of the complex and loosely policed ration system.
However, for the average American, if asked what the greatest hardship during World War II was other than food rationing, would most likely say “gas rationing or anything involving automobiles.” The one thing many Americans relied upon and used daily was an automobile. During the war, the US government, which needed gas and metals for the war effort, all but took away America’s right to drive. On December 11, 1941, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the sale of new cars and passenger tires was completely banned for civilians. The first rationing program was implemented on December 30, 1941 and allowed people to own only four tires per car and spare tires (left) were to be turned in. On February 2, 1942, the last wartime civilian automobile came off a Detroit assembly line and from now on all new automobiles were to be made available to only those who filled out an application with the OPA and were approved.
The two most valuable materials for the military were gasoline and rubber because without them their machines of war could not operate. There was a limited supply of domestic oil, but rubber had always been imported from Africa and the Dutch West Indies of which both sources were greatly reduced because of enemy occupation or submarine activity. To solve the problem, the government recommended four immediate steps; (1) gas rationing (2) lower speed limits (3) increase in synthetic rubber production and (4) a nationwide scrap rubber collection process. The result was that old tires became more valuable than gold!
In May of 1942, the eastern states implemented a program of gas rationing while a national speed limit of 35 miles per hour was set and enforced. By December 1, 1942 gas rationing had become nationwide. The gas rationing program was based on letters corresponding to the amount of fuel a person needed in a given week. Persons applying for a gas rationing card had to first fill out a questionnaire, which included questions such as: If you drive to work, what is the shortest mileage from your home to your regular place of work or commuting point? Are you making every possible effort to reduce this mileage by using public transportation and by doubling up with your neighbors? Do you claim that no public transportation facilities would be adequate for your purpose? After filling out a form with questions like these, the government would then determine how many miles a driver would need to drive in a week and issue a corresponding ration card or sticker to that person. Most people applying for gas rationing cards received an “A” sticker. This entitled the holder to receive between two to four gallons of gas a week. “B” stickers were given to those who worked for the military or people that had to drive long distances to work. “C” stickers (left) were issued to doctors, clergymen, and telegram deliverers. Both the “B” and “C” stickers were intended for those people who could not estimate how far they would be driving in a given week, and they could have as much gas as they needed for working purposes. “D” stickers were for motorcycles, which were allowed two gallons a week. “E” stickers were for emergency vehicles that received an unlimited supply of gas. “R” stickers were for non-highway vehicles such as farm tractors, gasoline stoves, or boats. An “R” sticker allowed the holder to up to five gallons of gas per week. “T” stickers were placed on approved commercial trucks and were good for five gallons of gas every week. An “X” sticker entitled the holder to an unlimited supply of gas. An “X” sticker was mostly limited for those holding political office, but many began to appear because of counterfeiting on the black market.
The OPA constantly stressed the need to use public transportation or carpooling with workers and friends. Posters around the country read (below), “When you ride alone, you ride with Hitler!” or “Join a Car Sharing Club Today” or even “Is this trip necessary?” A frustrated motorist wrote, “And when I die, please bury me beneath a ton of sugar and a rubber tree, lay me to rest in an auto machine, and water my grave with gasoline.” Obviously rationing was greeted with sometimes less than open arms.
The key word in almost every aspect of a typical day was “sacrifice.” Familiar things changed during the war such as beer and motor oil came in glass instead of metal, and the familiar Prince Albert smoking tobacco switched from its normal tin container to cardboard. Victory gardens were planted in twenty million yards and provided over 30% of all vegetables grown in 1943. People’s shoes were rationed, as well as their clothes. They volunteered to participate in scrap drives, turned in their meat drippings, and learned 101 uses for SPAM. Their salaries doubled, but they had nothing to buy with their new-found fortune.
Some of the items rationed in the Pensacola area during the war were such things as; coffee, sugar, butter, shortening and lard, bacon, beef, pork, tires and rubber products, appliances, car batteries, gasoline, and shoes. Some of the items that were not necessarily rationed but were somewhat difficult to find at times were; canned fruit and cold drinks (because of the sugar content), juices, canned vegetables, cotton clothes and linens, soap powder (because of the lard used to make it), silk stockings, lingerie items, wool products, candy (because of sugar content), radios and their repair parts, baby bottles, and large baby nipples (because of the rubber shortage). Other such items were diapers (because they were made from cotton), bobby pins, needles (almost non-existence), and safety pins.
Such was life in Pensacola during World War II!
World War II War Ration Book 1943
Pensacola Sugar Purchase Certificate, Cary Carlson Ward, PHS Class of 1943
Pensacola Looking East on Garden at Palafox Street, Scrap Metal Collection
Pensacola Fat Saving for War Rationing 1943
World War II Point System for War Rationing Purchases 1943
Pensacola World War II Request
for Gasoline Rationing 1942