The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-10-22
There Just Amt
Going TO Be Much
Coffee Scarcity
Not a Myth
But There'll Be Plenty
OF Beans and Eqos
BY r. t. SHORT

BY v. I. SHORT
7 oOKS Of smazement - almost
Il Northumberland on the
faces Of customers in three down.
town food stores the other night.
The shelves usually filled with
coffee were empty.
where's the coffee" one after
another asked.
There just amt any" was the
reply.
That started a parade to down.
town tea and coffee store, only
to be confronted with the sign,
"Coffee quota for today all gone
For several weeks there have
been rumors of coffee rationing.
but nobody believed 1t until the
bare shelves confirmed it. The
present situation is only a begin
ming. Coffee drinkers might Just
as well begin to taper off and
figure out something else in which
to dunk the doughnuts.
But though we may be short of
some of the commodities to which
we are accustomed. the latest
bulletin from the office of war
information brings the comforting
information that the way 1t looks
now there won't be any shortage
of protein foods for year any,
way, and lot of hardy folks
have raised those foods.
These supplies of protein foods.
the bulletin says, will be suffi-
cient to supplement the meat
allowance under the government
share-the-meat program, and will
be sufficient during the next II
months to maintain the high health
standard of the nation.
The agricultural marketing ad-
ministration points out that with
one notable exception supplies of
most of the high protein foods
available for civilian use during
the next IL months either will
equal or exceed the available sup
plies of the past IL months. The
exception is some manufactured
dairy products, in which about
a 10-percent decrease in consumer
supplies is foreseen if we fill our
military and lend-lease commit
ments.
There will be plenty of eggs.
Poultry supplies are not so strong,
but the secretary of agriculture
is asking poultrymen to produce
an extra 1000, 900 of chickens this
fall and winter for fricassees and
roasters.
Supplies of dry edible beans and
dry peas, the two most important
legume sources of protein, will be
greater than last years supplies
and fully adequate for all civilian
needs, despite the large quantities
needed for our armed forces and
allies. Production of dry beans,
plus the carry-over, will supply
about 100000 pounds this year,
against 1,7SS, 100000 pounds in
1941. After military and lend
lease requirements are met, there
will be approximately loo, 900, 900
pounds for civilian use, or substan-
tally more than was available
last year.
Stocks of grain, from which the
nation normally obtains a very
large proportion of its proteins'
are so abundant, the department
of agriculture says, that we al
ready have on hand about two
years food supply. There are
available right now, for example,
300 million more bushels of wheat
than last year; our total stocks
being over a billion and a half
bushels.
Coming and Gong
Portland mother writing to The
oregonian wants to know how the
pinball operators get by the law
which says minors must not be
allowed to play. She cites in
stances of boys spending most OF
their income trying to lure nickeis
from a machine in which the cards