Evening star., 1942-02-22
Broader System
Of Rdtioning
Held Vital
Shift to Competing
Products Only Adds
To Shortages
By FKANK MacMILLEN,
Wide World Business Writer.

HEW YoIh, req. Zl.-In1S Is
the story of old George, an tndi-
vidualist If there ever was one, who
doesn't like rationing on principle.
but thinks we ought to have q lot
more Of it-quick.
I don't present Georges views as
typical Of business men," though he
is recognized economist in his own
right, because old Georges views are
never typical Of any one but old
George.
But Georges opinions are always
lusty, and sometimes they add up
to what seems like good sense.
From now on, listen to George:
"The next thing you know, they'll
be rationing blue shirts" George
said.
What good will it do? 1t won't
do any good. of course. People will
buy white shirts. or brown shirts or
plum -colored shirts, and then they
will have to ration all kinds Of
shirts.
I'm fact" George said, "just be-
cause they ration blue shirts, people
will buy more white, brown and
plum -colored shirts than they need.
you don't believe it?
Cites Gasoline Results.
"Well, what happened to that gas
curfew thing? Did people buy any
less gas? No. they just bought it
earlier in the day and jammed the
gas stations up between and 7 in
the evening. And they usually
bought couple Of extra gallons,
just in case.
And what happened to sugar?
"And when the girls knew the silk
was going to run out. they solved
the problem very neatly; they each
bought a dozen pair Of nylon stock
ings, so the nylon is running out
and the Government needs it, any,
way. for parachutes.
Where does this get us?" George
wanted to know.
And, never at a loss to answer his
own questions. George said:
Nowhere. Out of the frying pan,
/ into the fire"
The housewife didn't do It ALL
George said. Some of the manufac-
turers were just as dumb"
mo metal for outsides Of gadgets?
Well make them out of plastics."
Nobody ever seemed to think.
George complained, that plastics
were very complicated chemical
compounds, that required many
kinds of materials. including several
sorts of acids that were more ur-
gently needed elsewhere.
mo" George said, "it's just silly
to think that you can ration one
kind of scayce material without
rationing the things that compete
with it.
Hoarding Encouraged.
''You just drive the demand into
the competing product, until that Is
4 all gone-and even the competing
product will 60 too fast because con-
sumers, already frozen out of the
original product, will be afraid the
competing product will run out, toe" ="
But, George said, nearly every.
thing nowadays Is competing with
something else, so the chain is vir-
tually endless.
What we need" George said. as
real rationing system that will con-
troll everything that is scarce or even
looks like it might become scarce as
| it tries to fill in for some other
material
lnv,sf fk,iy1J ~ Iyoc y,aYfaI IiF-
ference where the rationing starts.
at the raw materials or in the retail
store just before the goods move to
the final consumer.
Some kinds of goods are much
easier to control at the production
stage, some at the wholesale level,
some at RETAIL why quibble?
'As long as this business of freez-
ing the consumer out Of first one
thing and then another goes on.
there Is every temptation to hike
prices, to bootleg scarce things, and
in general to gum up whatever
regulations there are apd to stick
the consumer for a fat price.
I'm supposed to be just an old
economic royalist," George said.
but this way of doing things just
doesn't make sense"
Little Fellow Is Stuck.
Since George doesn't seem to be
much better fixed than average.
We took this to be a reference to
the fact he once held an important
Government post, in the '20s.
Said George:
"Once you get into the price
angles of the half-and-half kind
of rationing we have now, you see
that it's the fellow who has rela-
lively the least to spend who is
stuck with it. The fellow who has
the most to send can always buy
the substitute, even if it costs more.
And anyway" said old George.
since the Government-that's all
of us-right now is the biggest buy
er of nearly everything, why do
we fiddle around with a loose sys-
tenn that lets a lot of us, as con-
sumers. compete in the market, one
way and another, with Uncle
Sam?"
Well, anyway, that's what old