Shoe rationing started the rumor that clothes rationing was coming. Fed on fear and selfishness, the rumor grew fast and fat. By this week it had snowballed into a buying wave that no denial from Washington could stop; department-store sales averaged up to 100% above this time last year; soft-goods counters were stripped bare; women went hog-wild over anything wearable at any price, of any style.
> One Cleveland shopper ordered 75 pairs of stockings. Another got four coats, sizes 10, 12, 14, 16, for her growing daughter.
> A Los Angeles matron...
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