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Equality for all has but one justification in a rationing 

 system that of apparent simplicity. Equality as a test of 

 equity makes it easy to write the rules. The administrators 

 know that equality is not equity, but despair of attempting 

 the more complicated problem of distributing goods in ac- 

 cordance with any other measure. Consequently, the keynote 

 of most rationing programs is equality for all, and the pro- 

 gram is sold to the public on that basis. The assumption is 

 made that there is some particular virtue in equality. 



Though equality may be the battlecry of the regimenter, 

 both man and nature bear testimony to its non-existence. 

 Variation is the basic law of nature. No two leaves are alike. 

 They do not receive the same amount of sunshine nor would 

 they make equal growth if they did. No two men contribute 

 exactly alike to the war effort. Equality is a fetish ; the law 

 of nature is that everything should vary, and that the most 

 productive should be encouraged. 



The Russians may once have tried to supply everyone from 

 the cradle to the grave equally with the good things of life, 

 but as they accumulated experience, and especially as they 

 became involved in war, they discarded this early test of 

 equity and rewarded people in proportion to their effort, 

 which was the old test of equity under capitalistic price ra- 

 tioning. Russians at heavy work get X amount of food. Those 

 at less heavy work, X minus one; the next group, X minus 

 two, and so on. It has been reported that those that con- 

 tribute nothing to the war effort look out for themselves. 



Sooner or later this nation must decide whether the war 

 worker should have, say, three pounds of meat per week, 

 the newborn babe none, and the octogenarian one pound. 

 Perhaps a war worker should have had two cups of coffee at 

 each meal. The farmer in western Kansas who cannot grow a 

 garden should have a larger allotment of canned fruits and 

 vegetables than a farmer hi other parts of the United States 



