WHEN IT WAS SINK OR SWIM

 This bright (I hope) idea is going to take more than one post. The US didn't have social media during WWII. This is probably a good thing. One of the few topics I remember from my college level US history class, circa about 1970, was that the US didn't really need rationing during WWII. That it was more to bring the country together than a real necessity. I thought my instructors were full of it then and I still do. 

"Mandating that I wear a mask is a violation of my civil rights!" I still am not sure how we ended up here with this attitudte. Can you imagine Sturm and Drang if this attitude had been prevalent during WWII. Let's start with tires. Tire sales were halted on December 11, 1941. Rubber came from SE Asia. And those countries rapidly fell to advancing Japanese armies. Synthetic rubber was available but production capacity was nowhere near demand. Especially with rubber needed for war production. Once the rationing system was set up regions were allocated available tires based on vehicle registrations numbers. 

A national speed limit of 35 mph was instituted as much to conserve rubber as gasoline. You had to apply for a gas card and when you applied you had to admit how many tires you owned. You were allowed five. More than five? You turned them over to the government. The Wickipedia article didn't specify if this was outright confiscation or if you were paid for them. Heck these were the days when most folks only owned one car anyway. You received a sticker for your car. The type of sticker identified how much gasoline you were allowed per week. And you were expected to limit your driving to essentials, Sight seeing was discouraged. Then, as now, so many folks tried to get around the rules tht special courts were set up to deal with the scofflaws. 

An A sticker was the lowest priority and entitled the holder to three or four US gallons per week. B stickers were issued civilians working in industries vital to the war effort and entitled you to up to eight gallons per week. C stickers were issued to individuals considered extremely vital such as doctors. Article didn't specify how much fuel they were able to purchase. An X sticker was avaiable for clergy, fire and police departments and civil defense workers. Probably for official vehicles rather than individual vehicles. 

Can you imagine the fire works if Americans living today were told how many tires they could buy (if any), how much fuel they could buy, how far they could drive. You could hear the screams out beyond the Oort Cloud. Oh, and you could pretty much forget about buying a new car. There were approximately  a half million unsold cars when sales were haulted on January 1, 1942. When sales resumed sale was limited to doctors, clergy and I would imagine police, fire departments and civil defense units.

 Industrial capacity was ramped up for war production. Remember the US was not only preparing to arm US troops but we were preparing to supply equipment to Britain and the USSR. Thanks to the U boat wolf packs it was the middle of 1943 before the convoys delivered more cargo to our allied than was lost at sea.