Seacoast NRG

Via Mother Jones magazine, I came across this website for the Ames (Iowa) Historical Society, showing artifacts of enforced conservation, otherwise known as wartime rationing.  Unlike our current war, the Second World War brought true hardship (beyond, say, giving up golf) to the entire home front, not just to Blue Star Families.  Saving energy and goods for the war effort were enforced by some 8000 rationing boards set up across the country by the US Office of Price Administration.  Among the many rationed items were commodities such as rubber and metals; everyday foods including sugar, coffee, processed foods, meat, canned fish, cheese, canned milk, and fats, such as butter; fuels, including gasoline, fuel oil, kerosene, and coal; and other items that we would normally consider necessities, such as tires, cars, bicycles, farm equipment, kitchen appliances, and even shoes and boots.  Consumers were issued ration books, tickets, and tokens to be presented when purchasing any of the rationed items.

To further promote conservation of gasoline and rubber (synthetic rubber was not widely available, and most natural rubber came from plantations that had been seized by the Japanese Empire), the national speed limit, for all roads, was set at a maximum of 35 mph (the so-called Victory Speed), car pooling was encouraged, and the production of automobiles was all but eliminated.  Gasoline rationing was enforced by issuing windshield stickers to all car owners, most of whom (including Bugs Bunny) were issued the “A” sticker, which limited gasoline purchases to just 4 gallons per week.

Now, what was I complaining about?