Plenty for How Long?

The Government suddenly began taking a rosy view of the U.S. food situation:

P: OPA Boss Chester Bowles declared a ration holiday on all meats except beef steaks and beef roasts. Meat stocks were on the increase and cold-storage space was critically short.

P: War Department officials suggested that some 600,000 agriculturally deferred 18-to-26-year-olds could now be spared from the farm for military chores.

P: War Food Czar Marvin Jones reported: "All along the production front, farmers have produced above schedule. . . . Just now there is no serious shortage of food of any kind." Specifically, the food boss promised more ice cream in May and June.

How long would the days of plenty last? Government experts hedged their bets: there were too many unknown quantities. Food needs abroad would depend on the speed of invasion. Warned cautious Marvin Jones:

"Because we have plenty now, it does not necessarily follow that we will have plenty later." Easygoing Secretary of Agriculture Wickard broadcast a warning that, despite recent point reductions on canned vegetables, the efforts of spare-time gardeners are still essential. (Last year 42% of the nation's vegetables were grown in Victory gardens.) Concerning meat, jut-jawed Chet Bowles flirted with a prediction: if this year's crops of livestock feed are only normal, meat rationing on the old basis, perhaps slightly less severe, will return by next winter. Should the feed crops fail, the meat shortages next winter may be "more acute," rationing stricter than before.

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