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all classes of products in order to allocate supplies in propor- 

 tion to tickets. 



It is difficult to obtain equity by rationing a part of the 

 meat supply and leaving the balance unrationed. Pork and 

 beef are rationed by the ticket system. Poultry has a price 

 ceiling, but is being rationed by market prices above the ceil- 

 ing prices. Theoretically, poultry should be rationed by the 

 ticket system as are other meats. Administratively, the case 

 for rationing poultry is not so simple. 



Even by the summer of 1943, rationing had not eliminated 

 meat shortages in deficit areas like New York City. Under a 

 ticket system, a shortage is likely to be more severe in deficit 

 than in surplus areas. 



The butter-meats-fat-cheese program may have been an 

 easy way out for the OPA officials, but it made rationing a 

 highly complex conundrum for 125 million civilians. 



It remains to be seen whether a government which grants 

 increases in incomes has the knowledge and ingenuity to 

 maintain equitable ceiling prices throughout the channels of 

 trade, control the volume of coupons, and vary their point 

 values in such a way that the diminishing supplies of food 

 will be distributed equitably. 



Much misunderstanding arises from the difficulties of dis- 

 tinguishing between the illusions of theories and the disillu- 

 sions of their administration. 



Ticket Rationing Means Strict Controls 



To make ticket rationing of meat work with low ceiling 

 prices, it would be necessary to inaugurate strict controls 

 from the farmer's farrowing pens to the consumer's stomach. 

 It would be necessary to plan in advance the correct number 

 of pigs that should be born. This would require considerable 

 foresight on the part of both the administrators and the pigs. 

 The gestation period for hogs, 112 days, is considerably 



