Bread Rationing Begins
The majority of bakers and purchasers have by now accepted bread-rationing as a disagreeable necessity. It was to be expected that there should. have been some dislocation in the trade last week- end. Unlike other rationing schemes this had been heralded bL months of discussion, swelled by some irresponsible Press warnings and people had had time to grow anxious. The waste caused by housewives who bought up far more bread than they needed might have been prophesied. So might the public's early wariness in buying cake, so that retailers had supplies left on their hands. Up to now the average consumer has had little idea how much bread he eats, and housewives had to find out how they stood before they used coupons for other foods. The new scheme is complicated by special difficulties. It is dealing with a highly perishable as well as indispensable product—and not one product only since it includes cake and flour. In spite of some defects, such as the over-high value of coupon units, it is on the whole ingenious and fair ; and also elastic with its arrangement for the exchange of BU with " points " coupons. But it will hit the poorest and busiest people most heavily, since bread is cheap and, provides an uncooked meal ; and it puts one more burden on to a weary public. This country could not have continued to enjoy unlimited bread while others starved. Many consciences, uneasy for a long time, are feeling relief that we are making a national effort to prevent waste. But the scheme is justified only so long as the interim between harvests makes At necessary, and the best news about it so far is that it may not be necessary for long.
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