A Rationing •Innovation
Larger supplies of canned meat, fish and beans have become available for consumption, thanks to efforts made on our behalf in the United States, and elsewhere and to the diminished successes of the enemy in the battle of the Atlantic. Lord Wootton has adopted a means of rationing these supplementary supplies similar to that which has been applied to the purchase of clothing. The new method could not be used for all =tides of food, since it is essential that the basic supplies of fresh meat, butter and sugar should be available at a certain place at a certain time. But in the case of additional foodstuffs, where there is a considerable range of choice, there is much to be said for not tying the purchaser down to a given store at which he is registered, yet enabling him to get his share, but not more than his share, of what the Ministry has allotted. No longer can the predatory consumer go round from shop to shop seeking what he may devour according to his prowess ; but he can still go from shop to shop, if he likes, buying within the limits of his ration ; and the enterprising retailer who has pleased him can replenish
his stocks on the surrender of coupons. It is suggested that this method of rationing, if successful, may be.applied to some other foods for which at present customers have to be registered. These supplementary supplies may provide something more than the minimum on which the nation can subsist, but it is foolish to suggest that they are luxuries which the country ought not to permit itself in time of war. Though doubtless we can do without them—as we may have to if sinkings of ships increase— some improvement in the nourishment of the workers will help them in the intensified struggle for higher production. Better food may mean more munitions.
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