Clothes WIll Be Worn

War or no war, best-dressed men in Europe have been bebowlered Britons. To them and their wives last week came a rude shock. In a surprise announcement the Government let it be known that there would henceforth be strict rationing of clothes.

The rationing order was put into effect to make sure that Britain's scant supply of clothing, footwear, cloth and knitting wool would be distributed as evenly as possible. Under the scheme everyone will get 66 clothes coupons a year, must surrender some with each purchase he makes. A man's suit will take 26 coupons, a woman's dress 11, shirts 5, pajamas 8, galoshes (adult) 4, bathing suit (adult) 4, silk stockings 2. Bombees will get extra coupons.

All through Whitsun weekend, before rationing went into effect, there was a frantic scurry to stock up from pushcart peddlers and any stores that were open. In London's famed Petticoat Lane, 50,000 men and women surged around the Jewish street market, bought an estimated 500,000 coupons' worth of clothing.

Most people, however, took the rationing with great good humor, plotted how to include unrationed tablecloths, drapes, narrow ribbons in their couture. Looking forward to the worn ensembles, shiny elbows and frayed cuffs of the future, President Oliver Lyttelton of the Board of Trade sugar-coated the pill: "I know all the women will look smart. We men may look shabby. If we do, we mustn't be ashamed."

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