RATION BOOK 



6497 



RATIONING 



Ration Book. Book issued in 

 Great Britain under the Rationing 

 Order, 1918. The books had to be 

 registered for the purchase of 

 sugary fats, butcher's meat, arid 

 bacon, and detachable counterfoils 

 or coupons of various colours Were 

 provided for successive weeks. 

 They could be used only by or on 

 behalf of the holder to provide 

 rationed food for himself or for 

 members of the same household. 

 In the event of the death of the 

 holder the book had to be given up 

 to the registrar of deaths. Special 

 ration books were issued for sailors 

 and soldiers on leave. 



A second ration book was issued 

 towards the end of 1918 with extra 

 spaces for extended use. These, 

 however, were not required for 

 long, as when food supplies began 

 to come in freely, rationing became 

 something of a dead letter, though 

 it was not finally abolished for all 

 articles until the end of 1919. See 

 Bread Ticket. 



Rationing. The Central Em- 

 pires were compelled to adopt a 

 system of rationing food at an 

 early period of the Great War, and 

 the advantages and errors of that 

 system were already apparent when 

 the menace of food queues in 

 British towns towards the end of 

 1917 made it necessary to consider 

 the rationing of the population of 

 Great Britain. 



The first food to be rationed was 

 sugar. This was carried out in 



H Pfi77501 MINISTRY OF FOOD. 



No. b " 8UJ SUGAR 



REGISTRATION CARD. 



I dwin to poicUM my .uppli* o Sog fat 

 s houieliold bora : ' 



Aiimt ...L?X:<*fmff. 

 - I hereby dedtre that no othcrfttgir Beg 

 Jf Curd b*s been signed oniriuil! aCipj> 



Initiab .-...... 



Mttrict 



MINISTRY OF FOOD. 

 No.G 67750.1 SUGAR 



REGISTRATION CARD. 



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I AUra*. 7.e..J3fW1< 



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fi Retulec Wth whom Iho U(uei>old bu rtgUlaced; 



D. S 



The butter and margarine card 

 was based on the principle 

 adopted throughout Europe, 

 i.e. the allocation of a definite 

 j quantity by weight fop each 

 5"''""-'"T,i. The meat card 



MINISTRY Ol FOOD. 



NATIONAL RATION BOOK (BJ. 



Ration Book. Reduced facsimile of cover of 2nd ration book containing 

 coupons which were given to tradesmen on purchase of goods 



Rationing. Reduced facsimile ol 

 sugar card and counterfoil of 1917 



1917 by the issue of sugar cards 

 from London, entitling each indi- 

 vidual to purchase a certain quan- 

 tity of sugar per week from a re- 

 tailer selected by the purchaser. 

 The quantity might be varied as 

 circumstances dictated. This cen- 

 tralized method involved an elabo- 

 rate system for the notification of 

 removals, etc., and would have 

 been difficult to apply if it had 

 become necessary to ration all the 

 staple foods. 



As evidence of shortage of other 

 foods in various localities became 

 apparent, the local authorities were 

 permitted to develop local card 

 systems, and even to move sup- 

 plies from one shop to another if 

 queues developed. It was found 

 that a very small deficiency caused 

 exaggerated alarm, and led to long 

 queues and to hoarding in a small 

 way. When the consumption of 

 imported meat, of margarine, and 

 other articles by the army and 

 navy made a real inequality be- 

 tween supply and normal demand, 

 it was decided to institute a 

 national system for the rationing 

 of these articles, and to make it 

 sufficiently elastic to cover bacon, 

 lard, tea, cheese, and other com- 

 modities in case of need. Although 

 uniform methods were laid down, 

 administration i.e. the issue of 

 cards, the registration of custo- 

 mers, and to some extent the 

 supervision of supplies was left to 

 the local authority acting through 

 a local food committee. Individual 

 customers had to be registered 

 with particular retailers and each 

 retailer supplied with his quota 

 of food. 



was on a new and ingenious 

 system, framed to meet the 

 case of a commodity varying in 

 value and demand according to the 

 portion of the carcass sold. The 

 coupon represented not a fixed 

 quantity, but a money value, and 

 the prices shown on the schedule 

 hung in butchers' shops showed 

 prices fixed as closely as possible 

 in accord with the food value. 



The registration system in- 

 volved reorganization of the trade 

 in the rationed article in order 

 to secure that each retailer might 

 be supplied with the quantities 

 required to meet the demands of 

 his registered customers. No 

 system of ration cards can be suc- 

 cessful without a corresponding 

 organization of supply and dis- 

 tribution at all stages. It was 

 necessary to have control at each 

 point, while the maintenance of a 

 reasonable reserve was highly de- 

 sirable. 



Before any system of individual 

 rationing was attempted it had 

 been necessary to regulate sup- 

 plies and prevent the competi- 

 tion bound to arise as soon as 

 any signs of shortage were evi- 

 dent. Importers, wholesalers, 

 and retailers of the principal 

 foods were registered, each being 

 allowed to dispose of a certain 

 percentage of the supplies he 

 had held in 1916. The retailer 

 was "tied" to his wholesaler, and 

 the wholesaler to his importer. 

 But in munition and other centres 

 changes of population made it essen- 

 tial to modify this system. In the 

 case of margarine, the consumption 

 of which was enormously increased, [ 



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