SPECIAL BULLETIN

Addressed to Victory Speakers

PreparedEspecially forThem by theOffice ofWar Information and the Office ofCivilian 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 immediately, 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 gasoline 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-milean-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 transIMPORTANT 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.

•

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