War Ration Wallet- WWII (part 7) Waste Fats

The need is urgent as the next page states.   Save your "Waste Fats".  Not a single drop of bacon grease, meat drippings, frying fat, etc., etc...every kind in use is to be saved.  Don't throw away a single drop.  Read why below:

Today we are certainly saving our "fats", but it seems that it is around the waist.

War Ration Wallet-WWII (part 6) Conserve

The next pages of the wallet show "Roasted Coffee Credits" and a suggestion to "Share Your Car".  Conserve gas, tires, and autos is the motto.

Office of Price Administration must have gotten into many lives and households during this period of our history.  Also, Shenandoah, Iowa must have been a busy place.  Conserve!  Recycle is the motto now.

War Ration Wallet - WWII (part 5) Rubber

The need for rubber to aid the war effort was given in detail by the next two pages of the wallet.

It was called "The Rubber Situation".   Facts are given for at least the year 1943 to include the year 1944.  The "War Needs" as compared to the "Crude Supply" are listed, along with the hope that "synthetic" products will help meet the projected needs.  All this was to allow the holder of the War Ration Wallet to a single pair of "Rubber Footwear".

My Dad tells the story that his Mom (my Maw maw) sent him the slip for shoes while he was stationed in Germany.  His new shoes arrived, and in a short period (only worn once) they were stolen from under his bunk.  Guess at this time, there were a lot of folks without shoes!

War Ration Wallet-WWII (part 4) Essential Activities

The "C STICKER" was to be place on the automobile and represented those who were defined to have "essential activities".  The follow page of the War Ration book list these activities.

Of course, official government or Red Cross business was first on the list.  School teachers and school attendance were next. [4 or more in same vehicle.]  Then came the mail delivery, newspaper, and "newsreel" all before the physician, surgeon, and veterinarian.   The Public Health nurse was listed just before "Embalmer".  The minister, priest or rabbi followed the embalmer! [seems like it should have been the other way around...:-)]

Are you on the list?  No gas for you if not! 

War Ration Wallet-WWII (part 3) Distilled Spirits

One unit of wines in excess of 14% alcohol by volume it reads.  Void if detached follows.  That was stamp 28 as shown below.   You could also get one pair of shoes, and a 5 pound bag of "pure cane sugar". ["Every Kind For Every Use"!]

Thus continues the rations during WWII on the home front.  Don't waste paper...it is needed for defense.

War Ration Wallet - WWII (part 2) The Stamps

Ration stamps were the next section of this wallet.  They were numbered in order starting with "Ration Stamp No. 1".  On the front side of the stamps were military symbols such as a tank, airplane, ship, etc...

On the back of the stamp was the name "sugar", "coffee", "spare", "flour", etc., etc.

A gasoline and mileage ration sticker was required to be placed "...only in that location which conforms with the state law."  A "Gasoline Ration" and "Mileage Ration" sticker was included on the 4th page of the wallet.  There is no information given as to where the correct location on the "vehicle". 

Let's see now; sugar, coffee, and flour to be rationed.  I wonder how many cups of coffee it was good for on a typical day?

War Ration Wallet - WWII (part I)

Rationing was part of the daily life during the war years of World War II.  A family was given a "War Ration Wallet" which gave the admonition: " When you think of  RATIONING ... Remember what our boys are doing WITH those things we are doing WITHOUT! "

The following few posts will give a copy of each page of such a wallet.  It is given to help remind us in this day of easy access... that it was not always so.

Official looking, yes.  The front cover page is shown above.  It also listed a suggestion to buy war bonds which became part of the American thought process of the day.

The second page gives a warning.

 

A "Ration Board" existed which followed "Rationing Orders and Regulations".  You could received up to 10 year imprisonment or a $10,000 fine, or both, according to the warning page shown above.  It is not given as to what consisted of a violation or how one would go about making such an infraction.  The books were numbered and a record of their issue must have been kept.  The "Office of Price Administration" seem to control the access, control and removal of these books.