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[Special Bulletin : Addressed to Victory Speakers. No. 2]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

﻿SPECIAL BULLETIN
Addressed to Victory Speakers
Prepared Especially for Them by the Office of War Information and the Office of Civilian Defense
Issue No. 2—December 19,1942
YOUR FIGHT FOR MILEAGE RATIONING
It’s not going to be an easy job to convince some of your audiences that Mileage Rationing is necessary. The special Rubber Survey Committee, of which Bernard M. Baruch was chairman, showed that the sources of 90 percent of our crude rubber are now held by the Japanese; that we have in our stock pile not even enough crude rubber to supply our military needs up to June 1, 1944; that we face the possibility of collapse if we cannot produce enough synthetic rubber by 1944 to make up the deficit; that we are not yet sure how much we can produce synthetically, and that Mileage Rationing, therefore, is the only way to save rubber and help stave off such a catastrophe.
Despite this evidence, selfish groups have been misleading the American people through whispering campaigns and the printed word, telling them that Mileage Rationing is not necessary. It will be your job to show that these groups are wrong. You will have to combat their objections, listed below, with the answers that every Victory Speaker should know:
Objection No. 1: The United States has enough rubber. Consequently, we do not need Nationwide Mileage Rationing to keep from wearing out our tires.
A. The Baruch Report states: “We find the existing situation to be so dangerous that, unless corrective measures are taken imme-diately, this country will face both a military and civilian collapse . . . In rubber we are a ‘have not’ nation.”
Objection No. 2: There is plenty of gasoline.
A. Yes, there is, in all but the East Coast area, but burning gaso
line to run a car wears out tires. The Baruch Report states: “Gasoline rationing is the only way of saving rubber. Every way of avoiding this method was explored, but it was found to be inescapable. This must be kept in mind: The limitation on the use of gasoline is not due to a shortage of gasoline— it is wholly a measure of rubber saving. That is why the restriction has to be Nation-wide. Any localized measure would be unfair.”
Objection No. 3: The 35-mile-an-hour speed limit is enough to save the rubber on tires.
A. It definitely is not. Cutting speed is just one important step to save rubber, but by itself it doesn’t
save enough. Distances driven must also be cut.
Objection No. 4: There is no reason why a person should not drive as far as he wants if he wants to. If his tires wear out, he can always use streetcars or busses.
A. The Baruch Report states: “Tires on civilian cars are wearing down at a rate eight times greater than they are being replaced. If this rate continues, by far the larger number of cars will be off the road next year and in 1944 there will be an all but complete collapse of the 27,000,000 passenger cars in America.”
Eighty-six percent of all Ameri-, cans depend on automobiles for transportation. Fourteen percent depend on busses, streetcars, railroads, and other means of trans-
IMPORTANT NOTICE
A few months ago, partly because of shipments of gasoline to the American forces in North Africa, supplies of gasoline in the 17 States of the Eastern Coastal area were drastically cut.
At the same time, A rations were also cut, so that reserve supplies of gasoline could be held at reasonably safe levels.
By December 19, when this SPECIAL BULLETIN went to press, it had become necessary, in order to maintain those safety levels, to make further cuts.
Accordingly B and C rations were reduced throughout the entire Eastern Coastal area, and A rations in West Virginia were reduced to conform with those in the 16 other States.
If you are a Victory Speaker in any of the 17 States affected by these changes, please bear them in mind when you consult material on Mileage Rationing which you will find in the Victory Speaker.
portation. It is obvious that the equipment serving the 14 percent will never be able to accommodate the 86 percent. If your tires wear out, you’ll walk.
Objection No. 5: Business will suffer.
A. Of course business may suffer, but the amount of dislocation that will take place in the average business because of National Mileage Rationing will be trivial compared to what would happen if we wore our tires to the rim. Mileage Rationing is designed to save rubber in tires so that essential driving to and from work and essential trucking may continue. If we should allow our tires to wear out, through indiscriminate driving, business would come to a disastrous standstill. The majority of workers would be unable to get to offices, factories, and stores—and trucks, which in 1941 traveled 18 percent more ton-miles than the railroads, would roll to a stop throughout the country.
Objection No. 6: The men who thought up Mileage Rationing are all from the East.
A. That is false. Seven of the ten men who devised the Mileage Rationing plan are from the West.
Objection No. 7: Most people in some States like Indiana have already reduced their driving voluntarily to the point where mileage rationing is not needed.
A. That is not true. The facts show that between September 1941 and September 1942 the sales of gasoline in the rationed East dropped 43 percent and only 18 percent in the nonrationed area.
Objection No. 8: The distances áre greater in the West.
A. Yes, they are, but if driving those distances is essential, drivers will be able to get rations for that purpose.
Objection No. 9: Advertisements have repeatedly implied that reclaimed rubber tires will be available to all—when the OPA releases them.
A. Those advertisements never said reclaimed tires would be given
to all motorists. Only those drivers who use their cars for essential work can get reclaimed tires. Under National Mileage Rationing—if all of us drive under 35 miles an hour, and if our synthetic rubber program materializes—it is the Government’s intention to provide tire replacements when they are needed for essential driving.
Objection No. 10: Why has mileage been rationed nationally when Congress asked to have it postponed?
A. Congress did not ask that Mileage Rationing be postponed. National Mileage Rationing entails a necessary, vital sacrifice. No one in Washington likes to make citizens carry out the many tedious tasks necessary to stretch our limited rubber supply, but they must be carried out—now.
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Mileage Rationing inconveniences many Americans. But most of them, when they are made to realize the necessity for such stiff
measures, will be glad to cooperate. However, they won’t take Mileage Rationing lying down. They are going to ask questions and you Victory Speakers have got to be able to answer them.
In this connection, it is important that you call the attention of your audiences to the fact that the Government, too, is conserving rubber. Recently, Assistant Secretary of War Robert Patterson said:
“The shortage of supply is so serious that we in the Army have had to cut our requirements for crude rubber almost 50 percent. We have had to replace rubber treads for tanks with steel treads— that’s how short we are.
“We are desperately in need of all the rubber we can get—civilians must help us by conserving the tires they now have. If transportation bogs down, then plane and tank production breaks down. Those who would risk crippling transportation take the chance of crippling our fighting forces.”
The War Isn’t Won Yet
The war isn’t won yet, and you, as a Victory Speaker, must fight against a rising tide of optimism, the result of spectacular victories in November, to convince your audiences that rationing regulations must be rigidly adhered to.
For instance, the North African expedition carried more than 700,000 different items of equipment, including bridges and locomotives. From now on, in weight, far more than half of the supplies that go to North Africa will consist of fuel and lubricants. That means tankers, and less chance than ever for more gasoline on the East Coast for automobile driving.
Broadcasting from London on November 29, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said:
“I know of nothing that has happened yet which justifies the hope that the war will not be long or that bitter and bloody years do not lie ahead.
“Certainly the most painful experiences would lie before us if we allowed ourselves to relax our exertions, to weaken the discipline, unity and order of our array—if we fell to quarreling about what we should do with our victory before that victory had been won.
“We must not build on hopes or fears but only on the continual, faithful discharge of our duty, wherein alone will be found safety and peace of mind.”
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1942
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