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The ticket-rationing system operating in conjunction with 

 a hobbled price mechanism inevitably tolerates black mar- 

 kets because it cannot help itself. 



The ticket system was assumed to solve the problems of 

 both inflation and deflation. In fact, one of the important 

 sales points of the ticket sytem of rationing is the prevention 

 of inflation. Inflation has been used to scare people, as has 

 the ghost in the cemetery. Many have been effectively scared, 

 but it has not yet been demonstrated that this system of 

 rationing will prevent inflation. 



In a rationed economy the state is supreme and the indi- 

 vidual does not count for much. The government tends to be 

 of the state, by the state, and for the state. 



Equality Is Not Equity 



The ticket-rationing system has certain tests of equity. In 

 its kindergarten state the test of equity is for all to share 

 alike from the cradle to the grave. Each person, whether an 

 infant, munitions worker, farmer, bank clerk, bar-tender, or 

 octogenarian, receives title to the same amount of meat, 

 sugar, and canned pineapple. Either the baby and the octo- 

 genarian are overfed or the war worker is underfed or both. 

 This measure of equity is a far cry from that established by 

 price rationing. This test of equity has not and will not stand 

 the test of time. It is already breaking down. Some unused 

 tickets are given to friends or sold to the neighbors without 

 any pangs of conscience. Such activity upsets equality as a 

 measure of equity and attempts to re-establish equity as it 

 was under a price economy. In many rural communities un- 

 used tickets are given to the groceryman, who is thus enabled 

 to sell extra food to those who want it. Rural areas eat well, 

 even under a rationing system. All are given equal numbers 

 of tickets ; since the farmers and townspeople live in part off 

 the land, the tickets are a supplement rather than a ration. 



