U.S. At War: M-Day for Civilians

U.S. citizens cannot legally buy a pound of sugar this week anywhere. Next week they will line up at their schoolhouses for rationing books, and on May 5 a new U.S. era will begin. For the first time, in the land of plenty, a common foodstuff will be doled out on ration coupons: one-half pound a week of sugar for each citizen until the end of June, an undetermined amount after that.

On May 15, 10,000,000 motorists in 17 States along the Atlantic Seaboard will also receive ration books. Harold Ickes’ gasoline shortage, on-again-off-again all last summer, is now a flat fact.

The first scare headlines predicted 2½-5 gallons a week. At week’s end motorists could breathe a little easier: their ration would probably be 25-30 gallons a month.

The U.S. civilian had now run smack against the facts of war. With ration books in pockets and purses, the citizenry would soon know that World War II was too vast and too desperate for 1918’s skimpy, voluntary, gasless Sunday belt-tightening. This looked like a real war.