3/12/2012:
Despite being in the middle of World War II, visitors to the North Dakota Winter Show in Valley City were enjoying the last hours of the sixth annual agricultural get-together on this date in 1943.
The final slate of events culminated in the popular livestock show. Top awards were bestowed on the finest Herefords, Shorthorns and Aberdeen Angus that proud North Dakota producers had to offer.
On just the previous day, the United States Senate had cleared the way for passage of legislation that would offer exemption from military service for all “substantially full time” farm laborers. The bill pending specified that farm workers must produce certain amounts of agricultural products, regarded by the secretary of agriculture, as vital to the war effort. Livestock and most of the food and fiber crops were on that wide-ranging list.
But, agriculture was also in the national news for America that day. The Fargo Forum’s headlines concerning the winter show were dwarfed by the banner headline that announced “MEAT AND BUTTER RATIONING ORDERED.” Meat, butter, other edible fats and oils, cheese and canned fish were now on the list to be rationed to the American public. The Office of Price Administration, known as OPA, would oversee the rationing.
Rationing began in 1942 with non-food items such as rubber, metals and gasoline. The first food rationing began with sugar in May of 1942. As the conflict progressed and valuable resources were directed toward the war effort, all Americans were called upon to sacrifice. To that end, rationing of standard American goods began. Rationing would continue until supplies of those selected items were deemed sufficient to meet with demand.
Ration booklets, stamps and even coins were used and monitored by a point system. Every person was given an allotment of points for all commodities. Points were allocated to all rationed items from prunes to petroleum.
Agriculture officials explained that the rationing estimate of two pounds per person, per week of meat, meant that much on the average. The point system did differentiate in meats, however. For example, Hamburger did not have as many points as steak.
When the initial meat and cheese rationing was announced, officials did not know how long it would last. It would not be until November 1945 – two months after Japan’s surrender – that meat rationing ended.
Dakota Datebook written by Steve Stark
Sources:
North Dakota 100 Years: The Forum 1988 Forum Communications Co. page 75