Evening star., 1940-12-30
Food Replaces Money in France,
Says Returning American
Champagne Standard Makes One Bottle
Worth 20 Liters of Gasoline

hol, which is manufactured from
beets, for gasoline.
In town, people are obliged to
haul food across the city in little
trailers behind bicycles or in hand
drawn carts. No one knows just
when the trains will arrive with
food from the country or how long
it will take to get it uptown from
the central market Consequently
the cook of a restaurant does not
know whether his days supplies will
arrive before the luncheon custom
ers start walking in.
Not every one is back home yet.
In some cases during the fight 1000
people poured into a town normally
housing 700 and not located in a
food producing district or well
served by the railroad.
What the Germans Take.
Just what and how much the Ger
man Army has eaten and carried
off. we do not know. A friend of
mine who had been a prisoner in
Germany and was released late in
August, told me that from his OBJ
servation not much of what was
taken out of France had reached
the German civilian population.
The estimate is that 100000 Ger
mans are mobilized. Possibly part
of the food taken out of France goes
to feed the garrisonS in Belgium,
Holland and Denmark One rumor
had it that so much butter was car
ried out of France that they had to
bring some it back for their own
use
The controlled press Is
trying to make the French believe
they are bringing food from Ger
many to feed France. Another friend
saw five Germans in Versailles busily
putting German stickers on sacks of
potatoes Just arrived from Brittany
One trainload Of French potatoes
was run over the border and back
into Alsace to give the impression
they came direct from Germany.
heard recently that 1000 steers came
into the Paris market one day and
the Germans promptly took 1000,
leaving only 200 for the rest of U.s.
1t is said that $4,000 tons of sardines
were taken out of Bordeaux at one
time.
Many Bans in Effect.
Private individuals or dealers are
forbidden to go to the farms to
buy directly. Everything must go
through the market. Likewise it is
forbidden up in the country to
transport food from one province
to another. To keep prices down, an
official tariff is issued each day, but
the old law of supply and demand
always holds good.
For instance. the official price of
butter in the Norman markets about
August Is was 10 francs a pound
The farmers passed right through
the butter market and on to the
nearest cafe, where they sold it at
16 under the table" as the French
expression goes.
Merchandise was seized and people
were fined, but the game went on
just the same. The first to pay the
higher price were the Germans
quartered on the farms. In fact
they bought so much butter and
eggs that very little was left to
take to town.
Everybody IN France is dealing in
food. Those who returned to their
homes early stocked up for the
winter. Others who arrived too late
will pay anything for food. and the
BLACK market" is hard at it. No
one cares much about having money.
1t is matter of I'll swap you some
ham for sardines."
The Champagne Standard.
The only official price to my
knowledge that holds is-one bottle
of champagne for 20 liters of gaso-
line. The wise boys start off with a
case in their car and wave a bottle
out the window when they pass a
German convoy on the road, and it
always works.
The most interesting deals in
contraband food are made by buying
back from the Germans at a rea-
sonable price what they have seized.
The head of a big food concern,
who had been taken prisoner, was
recently released in exchange for
100 tons of his merchandise.
Regarding the food ration cards,
each person is allowed 80 grams
of meat with fat and bones daily
for four days a week when meat
is sold, or 60 grams of lean meat.
This is about the value of an average
lamb chop. The other three days
one may buy fowl or rabbit provid-
ing you can find it.
The pork supply is practically fin
ished, as the Germans have requisi-
toned nearly all of it. You oc-
casionally get sausage. Fish is not
rationed, but is very scarce. A family
of five can get about half pound
of butter a week. Grease is also
rationed, so cooking is quite prob
lem, especially as there has been
no oil on the market for months,
One pound of sugar per person per
month is obtainable and l pound
of rice per month for a child under
3 years of age. The cheese ration
is about one-third of what one
normally eats.
There Is no more pure coffee