Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-25
Candies
Out
For Duration
Xmas Shortage Not
Just Temporary;
Here's the Dope
By Betsy Cas,UeH,
Women's News Editor.

Women's News Editor.
Those early bought chocolate Santa
Clauses, cigarettes and turkeys that
the youngsters pulled out OF their
stockings this morning probably will
be the last they will see for the du-
ration. This holds good for chocolate
Easter eggs and Dummies, Valentine
hearts and other novelties to which
American children have become &C
customed.
Effective December Is, the use OF
chocolate in manufacturing such
items is prohibited by Conservation
Order M-145. This will release for
the use of our armed forces addi-
tional stocks of chocolate and cocoa
to provide breakfast cocoa and choc-
olate bars for the men in the serv-
ice, for workers in war plants and
for the children themselves.
Candy, in general, has gone to
war. It forms an extremely i'm
portant item in the fighting mans
life, from its use as simple pleas
ure, to its vital need in his last
ditch" extreme emergency food
package-ration D as 1t is called.
This contains hard chocolate and
sugar-lots Of body fuel, little bulk.
Twelve hundred plants are turn
ing out the candy needs for hard
working civilians and men in the
services. The industry not only
fills the orders OF the armed forces
for ration D. but supplies the con-
centrated ration K, which includes
dextrose tablets, chocolate and
chewing gum Gin case drinking
water Is limited. These are used
by paratroops and other fighters far
from field kitchens. In addition to
these demands, the candy industry
is trying to meet civilian demand
for candy that normally averages
about Is pounds per capita annually.
So it's easy to see why the restric-
ton on the chocolate gew-gaws, ami
mails and what not. And it's also
easy to see why the chewing gum
picture shows scarcity. Those
packets of gum that you tucked in
the toe of Juniors stocking last
night assume a new importance.
Needed as it is by the fighting men
and a heavily increased civilian de-
mand putting severe strain on
supplies, 1t Is no wonder that the
chewing gum industry is being hard
put to it to keep up with what the
public expects Of 1t. Added to this,
sugar rationing, inability of manu-
facturers to increase production and
the extreme difficulty of obtaining
gum base have made the picture a
grim one indeed.
In recent years the manufacture
Of chewing gum has consumed an
nually approximately 90 million
pounds of sugar, about II million
pounds of corn sirup, 8 million
pounds of chicle and II million
pounds of other gum base. Edible
oils and f1avoring extracts were also
used.
Well. you know what the sugar
situation is. You know what the
shipping setup looks like-and there
hasn't been adequate shipping space
for the many pounds Of chicle that
used to be imported from Mexico,
Guatemala and British Honduras.
Thus far no satisfactory substitutes
have been found for the gums from
the Far East that, with chicle, make
the base Of your chewing gum, al
though it is hoped that Mexican
and South American gums will re-
place them before long. But there's
still that shipping problem.
II you're not too tired after the
long Christmas Day, you might get
the children together for a quiet
hour and paint them a little picture
OF just how the chocolate they are
giving up and the chewing gum
that is so scarce now for them can
perhaps save the life of one of the
men fighting to keep them safe and
free in their warm homes.
1t will give them a sense of par
ticipating in this great struggle that
will do them real service in develop
ing their patriotism and those char
acteristics essential to every Ameri-
can citizen. Children like concrete
examples that they can understand,
and here is one that clearly illus
trates the importance of sacrifice
and the need for perfect per-
Torrance from even the littlest cog
in great machine.