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The OPA does not have either the appropriations or the 

 manpower to police even a small proportion of the price and 

 rationing regulations that have been issued. Therefore they 

 appeal to the patriotism and good citizenship of labor unions 

 and consumers' organizations. This is not likely to be effec- 

 tive because people are not quite convinced that there is 

 anything particularly wrong in one person having a little 

 more of this or that food than another. 



Folks react in all sorts of ways to their laws. They do not 

 oppose Sunday baseball. But they are unanimously opposed 

 to kidnapping. They not only will report it to the police, but 

 will go out and help catch the culprit. People are unani- 

 mously opposed to those who drive through a red light. Their 

 ire will rise and they will blow their horns, but they will not 

 report it to the policeman or help catch the violator. 



In a land of abundance, people are not easily convinced 

 that they should report the man who bought meat in the 

 black market. That one neighbor has more meat than an- 

 other produces no resentment. One is much more likely to 

 ask: "Where did you get it?" and "What did it cost?" than 

 to report it to the police or to the OPA. If some get around 

 a food regulation, others want to do the same thing, and 

 feel little sense of impropriety. 



To suppress black markets in food, it is necessary to have 

 a high percentage of the people willing to report, accom- 

 panied by a real police force willing to enforce. Furthermore, 

 there must be unanimous agreement that the practice is bad 

 for the community. One reasonably safe prediction which 

 one might offer in these uncertain times is that John Q. Pub- 

 lic is not likely to be a snooper reporting black-market op- 

 erators, nor is he likely to be a policeman helping to catch 

 violators. People have difficulty convincing themselves that 

 it is inherently wrong for some to have more meat than 

 others. There are many who legitimately have lockers full of 



