NEW RATIONS

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 25, 29 January 1918, Page 7

NEW RATIONS

SIR ARTHUR YAPP'S SCHEME

A GRADUATED SCALE.

.(PROM OHR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 16th November,

Sir Arthur Yapp's new scale of "voluntary" rations, when placed in- comparison with Lord Devonport's scale of last winter, gives the impression that we have certainly rounded the corner of our food difficulties; "and that is a' most dangerous impression for people to get now-a-days. If anyone notices that only one ship of more than 1600 • tons was put down last week there is a danger of hats being thrown up and banquets held to celebrate our deliverance. '

In point of fact, Sir Arthur Yapp urges the same severe economy as we were placed under a year ago, but his scale of rations is a considered one, graduated according to the kind of employment. Here it is:—. "' N . Weekly Bread. . Ration 1b oz Men- on heavy industrial work or agricultural work- 8 0 Men on ordinary industrial or, other manual work •• 7 0. Men unoccupied or on sedentary work.-.,., 4 8 Women on heavy industrial work or on agricultural work ......... 5 0 Women -on ordinary industrial work or in domestic service ... 4 0 Women unoccupied or- on sedentary work , 3 8 Other Foods (for all adults) Cereals, other than bread .-' 0 121 Meat 2 0' Batter, margarine, lard, 0i15,., and „ fats ....T .. ' 0 10' Sugar .„ -^—.J* 8 Children. ,' Children, to receive ''reasonable" rations; no definite scale laid down".' Lord Devonport's scale was.:— Bread .'.' 41b per week Or flour for bread-making 31b per week Meat 31b per week Sugar ....,..../ ..;...'. 31b per week ■^^ (Afterwards reduced to 41b. ) mammr . Lord Devonport's flat rate for all classes of work was, of course, absurd 1. The new scale gives a. double allowance to men engaged in heavy manual work, and only reduces the allowance in one class, namely, .fco women unoccupied or on sedentary, work. In a definition Sir Arthur Yapp says: —Cereals.—The "bread" rations include, all • flour, ■ whether used for bread or for cooking. Flour may be taken instead of bread at the rate of fib of flour, for every pound of bread. The "other cereal" rations include oatmeal, rice, tapioca, sago, barley, meal, cornflour, maizemeal, dried $eas, beans, and lentils, and all cereal products except bread and flour. The weight given is the weight of the dry article as bought. If the full bread ration is not used, the amount saved can be taken in other cereals at the rate of fib of cereals for every pound of bread saved. Meat.— The "meat, ..rations include the average, amount of bone, which may be taken as one-quarter of the weight of the actual meat. Any parts of meat (such as rump steak, bacon, or suet) which are bought without bone must count ior one-quarter more than their actual weight. Poultry and rabbits may be counted at half. ,-their actual weight. The meat, rations include suet. Exchange of bread and meat.—Any person may tnkfc 'hul! a pound of meat over and above his meat ration in exchange for half a .pound of bread, to be deducted ■■from., his bread ration. Similarly, any person may take half a pound extra of bread in .exchange for meat. -Other foods.—The consumption of milk. and cheese, must be,restricted as far as possible. These .foods should. be reserved for persons for whom they are indispensable. A more 1 extensive use should be made of fresh vegetables and fruit, and, in particular, of potatoes, which are not rationed. This season's excellent potato crop supplies the means of observing the prescribed rations without, privation, and it must not be wasted. The rationing scale is still'voluntary, but in the case of sugar the allowance will ibe legal after 14th December. ... TIGHTEN YOUR BELTS. , In the course of a speech at Keighley, Sir Arthur said: In a great world struggle famine might be the arbiter, and food might play as important a part as armaments, and it was infinitely better that men should tighten their belts now, and suffer a certain amount of inconvenience, than .that > the war should be lengthened or end in an incpnr elusive peace. It mus,t riot be forgotten that every . man sent from the United States to fight in France would have to be fed and clothed from overseas, and all that meant tonnage. Every boat- . load of food that couid be saved would mean another boat available for soldiers frojn the other side of the. Atlantic. He appealed to every town and to' every household to think of food-saving in terms of ship-saving, and to count sacrifice at table as one of the, ways of which to transport America's brave soldiers to the battlefields of Europe. Sir Arthur Yapp said he was initiating that day a League of National Safety, in which every "citizen could at once enrol himself, signing, this simple promise and fulfilling it" day by day without remission :—"I realise that" economy in the use of all food and the checking of all waste helps my country to complete victory, and \ promise to do all in my power to assist this campaign for national safety:" The league was no plaything, no whim or fancy, but an appeal for quiet, regular self denial. He asked for five, or even ten, million members by Christmas; he wanted 10,000 pioneers within the next few days. There was no membership fee. They paid not in cash but in service. The badge would be an anchor. Following are the New Food Controller's injunctions : "No cream 'should bo used except, for infants and children; .as little milk should be used as possible; no sugar taken in tea; as little tea as possible should be used, and the morning cup should be given up. No more than one egg should be taken, in any form in one day. No.;bread shouM be eaten at the midday or evening meals. Bacon and ham, essentially the foods of the poor and the working-classes, should be used ; sparingly. All banquets and public dinners should *be given up."-