Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1919-10-22
SUGAR SCARCITY HITS
CHRISTMAS TREES
WORSE THAN EVER
Candy Canes And Toys win Be Fewer
This Year Than They We're
Last

The striped candy canes and the red
blue and green candy animals that
hung on the Christmas trees and add
ed the touch of vivid decoration to
the store windows decked with holi
day goods are going 10 be conspicu
ousIy absent this year.
The sugar shortage Is TO blame
This kind of eonfection is nearly all
sugar and the manufacturers. with
supplies shrinking every day, are econ
onizing by cutting ouI the hard can
dies and keeping their factories going
with rooos that require little sweet
ening
Candy canes and the other Christ
mas candies were scarce last year The
enforced war economy was the cause
then. There was a little to be had
and this supply was eagerly seized.
for Christmas is not complete, from
the children's viewpoint anyway un
less there are candy canes and gaudy
ANIMALS to play with and eat,
secretly Worse This Year.
Bat this year the scarcity will be
worse In fact, there will be none AT
all unless some dealers have old stock
left from three years age Fortunate,
indeed, are those families who do not
lee their children car the candy tree
decorations Il he erd CT the holidays,
bur save them from year to year.
Sunday schools and churches where
it has been a tradition OF years stand
ing TO hold Christmas--'f festival
with tree, Santa Clause. candy canes.
ending with the distribution Of little
colored boxes OF hard candies, will be
especially hard hit. There will be
very little OF this hard candy available.
There is very little of the hard mix
ture in the market, a local manufac-
turer. specializing on the Christmas
trade, said today. Manufacturers all
over the country are not making the
sugary hard varieties any more, but
are turning out now only the sim
aplest and plainest candies.
Chocolate covered fruits and nuts, a
few creams and plain drops, favored
with horsehound, peachstone, etc, are
about all the sorts now being made
This situation will continue as long
as the sweetening is scarce. Now is
the season for making Christmas
goods. There seems little prospect OF
relief for months yet, so the Christ
mas trade is bound TO suffer
Retail prices of candy have begun tc
rise as a direct result of the shortage
An announcement came this morning
to the local trade from a big manu-
facturer in Boston announcing an in
crease on his brands which will out
to about 5-cent rise in the retail
stores.
The equalization board has sent out
a notice urging that everybody cut
down his candy allowance to the min
imum to increase the sugar supply
for the needs of the home. The sit
uation in the city is about the same
A little sugar is available. but any
supplies offered are quickly snapped
up.
The "sugar hunt" is row one of the
housewives chief activities. Some
groeers are getting little and are
putting their customers on a rationed
allowance of one pound every day or
SO. Food Administrator Killian ex-
poets some information from Washing
ton authorizing him to ration the
sweetening for the whole State, but
nothing has been heard yet
Some changes in the fair-price list
compiled and issued by Mr.. Killian
will be made some time Through his
executive secretary, W. J. Bienemann
he is having an investigation of the
meat situation made to determine what
effect the butchers strike will have on
prices and to what degree that effect
is justified by conditions.