Rationing In Germany CAST-IRON SYSTEM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 3 December 1940, Page 2

Rationing In Germany CAST-IRON SYSTEM

While the British blockade and the continuous blasting by the K.A.E. of the enemy’s oil refineries and stores, shipbuilding yards, and munitions works are exercising ail ever-increasing pressure on Germany’s war production and wearing down her supplies of es sential materials, it would be wrong to write off the enemy’s stringent rationing of food and other necessities as a proof of weakness. Food shortage does undermine morale —and health—more than any other single factor, but measures to eke out exisling supplies and provide against shortage in the future may be a source of encouragement. Tt is. in fact, not rationing that will break German morale, but the actual lack of food, and that is not likely yet. though the existence of so wide and so complicated a system of rationing will scarcely bo an emollient to public temper if the strain of war continues and increases. German Rationing' Severe Germany entered the war with the whole apparatus of rationing complete. It was not a wartime measure, hut part of the change-over from pence to war economy started almost as soon as the Nazis came into power. The rationing of food and other goods was only one section of the Nazi economic policy which included State control of trade, foreign exchange and raw materials. The fear of hunger still lingers among the German people as a legacy from 19IS. They had not been well fed for a long time before this war, and any system calculated to guarantee regular rations, however small, aud applied equally to all classes of the community, was bound to win approval. The system is stringent and the rations are small. Unlike the British system, German rationing is not confined to food. All textile goods, for instance, clothes, underwear, and hosiery, are rationed, each person's annual quota of these goods being decided by a complicated system of points in which the various articles of wear have different values. Sewing thread and darning wool are rationed, which makes it more difficult to patch up old clothes in place of new, and there are ration cards for boots and shoes, coal and soap. In houses with central beating the tenants must hand over coal coupons. Soap must be sent with washing to the laundry. New soles for shoes are only permitted if patching is impossible. Food And Fixed Prices But the core of the German system is food rationing. First of all, the sale of some articles is forbidden altogether, such as coffee, whipped cream and a wide variety of sweets. Then there are the rationed foodstuffs: bread, flour, all sorts of meat (including sausages and cooked meats, but not poultry or game), all fats, milk, eggs, sugar, jam, marmalade, semolina, rice, macaroni, apples and coffee substitute. The German list of rations is fixed i for short periods, and the German people study the changes as they have become accustomed to study the official list of maximum prices published every Sunday for several years. These fixed prices are themselves a basic part of the German rationing system. Nominally, most articles, whether rationed or not, can be sold only at prices fixed by the authorities, and evasions are severely punished. It is widelj remembered that in the last war illegal trading and profiteering throve and caused great discontent in Germany. There are “black” markets even now, it is true, but it is generally believed that everyone is receiving a fixed ration at a fixed price—though the ration is often small and the price high—and the German is even more used to fixed prices than lie is to rationing. Another feature of the system which wins popular approval is the special provision made for special sections of the working class, for expectant mothers, for Instance, and for heavy workers. Germany And Britain But nothing can obscure the strictness of the German rations themselves. They are fixed for the month: 4£lb. of all sorts of meat, cooked as well as uncooked ; 17oz. of butter, the supply of which has temporarily improved since the occupation of Denmark and Holland; 12oz. of margarine or oil; of cooking fat; about 18oz. of dried products such as rice, semolina, macaroni, etc.; 14oz. of jam; 7oz. of cheese; 14oz. of coffee substitute; and 104 oz, of bread a day. Compared with British rations, some of these items may seem at first glance not ungenerous; but it should be realized that these are actually the maximum amounts that may be consumed. In Britain, no ration cards are needed in cafes, restaurants, canteens, or other catering establishments for any foodstuff. In Germany, not a single pat of margarine, lump of sugar, portion of meat or sandwich can be bought without handing over a coupon. This, indeed, is a conspicuous difference between rationing In Britain and in Germany—the fact that the German ration (and very many more foodstuffs are rationed in Germany) represents the absolute upper limit of consumption. From this fact, which really reflects the more fundamental fact that food is plentiful in Britain and liable to run short in Germany, spring many of the important differences in the methods of rationing adopted in the two countries. Nor do the rigours of German rationing end with the wide scope and complexity of the actual rations. In addition, there are regulations restricting consumption by other means. On certain meatless days, butchers’ shops are closed and no meat dishes may be cooked. The quality of tlie food sold is controlled. No fat can be used in the making of the cakes sold in cafes and i restaurants; the amount of malt in German beer has been drastically reduced; the bread sold in shops has to conform closely to regulations prescribing a mixture of flours: the manufacture of full-cream cheese is only allowed in certain summer months.' What Of The Future? All this makes up a very rigid regime and its strictness would not be an encouragement. to the German people in times of real difficulty or possible defeat. Nevertheless, us the “Economist” says, it is not a real weakness so long as the rations are large enough to ensure a sufficiency of food and clothing. The German workman is neither well fed nor well clad, blit he is not hungry or ragged yet. It may indeed prove that another winter or, still more surely, two further winters, will bring out tlie most dangerous consequences of this ascetic system in the shape of ill-health and sickness. In the long run, however, the situation may be very different. Actual shortage cannot be held permanently at bay. While British rations are intended to conserve shipping space and foreign exchange, German rations are designed to put off the evil day when tlve inability of Germany under war conditions to feed herself from her own resources will lie made apparent: and that day cannot ho put off forever.