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This 1942 War Ration book was from World War II and was issued to my brother George E. Payne. It is signed by my father and the Registar of the Local Board Dot Goin Gray . (click on picture for enlargement)

Punishments ranging from ten years in prison and $10,000 fine were imposed for infractions of Rationing Orders and Regulations.

Much like prohibition there were things, especially beef, that were plentiful and being sold even here in Claiborne County. Many families flurished from the sale of this "Bootleg Beef".

Black Marketers

(A critique of the movie) A very interesting, but badly titled (at least for today) piece about the "black marketers" that were prevelant around World War II (and still around today). A beef racketeering group starts up, jacking up prices for beef and annoying some people when butchers want cash instead of ration stamps for their beef. The perpatrators of this are all put to trial. Astonishingly acted by (I'm guessing) amateurs who "are law abiding citizens who volunteered to show how black markets work", the main actor is the "lawyer" who puts in quite a dramatic performance that I was almost sure, until the end the guy was actually in court. The end IS kind of befuddling, when he turns to talk to the camera, but sort of adds to the charm of the whole piece. Highly reccomended!

When the United States entered World War II, the whole nation became committed to the war effort. "Victory gardens" and "Rosie the Riveter" were all the rage. Scrap drives and blackouts were part of life on the homefront.

However, rationing was the largest contributor to the war effort, by evenly distributing goods and reining in prices. A nation already used to doing without during the Great Depression continued to do so, despite a dramatic increase in buying power.

Consumer commodities were scarcely available from beef, butter, coffee and sugar to gasoline, shoes, tires and typewriters.

The food was needed for the boys on the front. The rubber, metal and gasoline were used in military machinery as U.S. factories were retrofitted to fill the needs of the military, and imports, including rubber, slowed to a trickle.

To reign in overeager shoppers, there had to be a mechanism with which to facilitate the rationing. Enter ration stamps, coupons, tokens, certificates and checks.

From 1942 to 1945, each family received ration books of coupons and stamps for each family member to procure goods. Ration stamps and tokens served a role as important as currency, and losing a ration book caused problems. Congress authorized rationing with the act of June 28, 1940 (which was amended by the Act of May 31, 1941) and later with the Second War Powers Act of 1942. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the authority, through executive orders, over the War Food Administration and the War Production Board. The Office of Price Administration received its authority from these two agencies.

Tires were the first item to be rationed, in January 1942. Quickly following were passenger automobiles, typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, coffee, stoves, shoes, meat, lard, shortening and oils, cheese, butter, margarine, processed foods (canned, bottled and frozen), dried fruits, canned milk, firewood and coal, jams, jellies and fruit butter, by November 1943.

Many different tiers of rationing went into effect. Certain items, like sugar, were distributed evenly based on the number of people in a household. Other items, like gasoline or fuel oil, were passed out on an as-needed basis. Restaurant owners and other merchants were accorded more availability, but many had to collect ration coupons to restock their supplies.

Meats and processed foods were assessed various point values, and households, depending on their size, would get a certain number of coupons worth 10 points. The flexibility allowed consumer choice, but meant making change for the coupons. One-point tokens (each bearing a two-letter combination) served to solve this problem and decrease the paperwork load of merchants and ration boards.

In exchange for the coupons from the merchants, ration boards delivered certificates to them to procure more products.

"The work of exchanging coupons for certificates was then being handled by some 5,500 local ration boards for the most part manned by volunteer workers. The work was largely of an accounting nature and was in addition to their primary function, the issuance of the ration program," Joseph A. Lowande writes in U.S. Ration Currency & Tokens 1942-1945.

Dot Goin Gray was the mother of Sonny "Possum" Gray - whose picture you see here at my brother Phil Payne's 58th birthday party in 1991.

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