Evening star., 1942-03-03

liOdL ucI Nv uCdIss
There Is Just enough squirrel
blood in all Of us to make US want
to lay aside q reserve store against
possible rainy days to come.
It Is . credit to us and to our
patriotism that few II any of us
are tucking away things that We
soon won't bS able to get any more.
But, brother, we might as well b
honest and admit that We are Itch
ing to.
I, for one, 60 Is rounds with my
conscience every day.
Every time I walk into Q store
and the clerk tells me I'VE won't
be getting this much longer" or
well, when that's gone there won't
be any more" or That's the last
Of that" temptation lets me have
1t right between the eyes.
I came so close to becoming
Americas No. / canned dog food
hoarder the other day that 1t scares
me to think about 1t. It never had
occurred to me that the pups and
pooches of this country are soon
going to have TO 60 back to table
scraps because Of the tin can short
age. When learned Of this, and the
grocer told me he was down to his
last two cases Of dog delcacies, I
had to shut my eyes and recite
firmly to myself, "I pledge allegiance
to my flag and to the republic for
which 1t stands ." TO keep from
buying it all.
When I walked out Of the store
with the one can I had gone in to
buy, I undoubtedly was q finer,
stronger man, but 1t was q narrow
squeeze.
I talked to q delicatessen pro-
prietor and he said his customers
and their consciences fought a run.
ming battle in his place every day.
They come in to buy q raft Of
the things that are getting scarce,
but more times than not patriotism
wins over greed" he said. Every
one knows that spices and canned
fish are getting low. among other
things. but no one has tried to buy
out my stock"
Without detracting one whit from
the patriotic feelings Of Us Ameri-
cans, I am sure that one Of the
reasons that there has been 50
little boarding, Is that hoardins, Ike
your sins, will find you out.
II there isn't any tuna fish on
the market and q man serves .
tuna fish salad or sandwich in his
home, you very well know how he
happened to have it. If six months
from now q man breaks out in .
rash OF new white-wau tires for
his car, he won't be able to explain
them by saying he picked them of q
tree. It will go without saying
that he beat the gun and boarded
himself q batch Of rubber.
The same goes for clothes. II the
rest Of US are wearing lapel-less
coats and cufi-less pants and q
gentleman comes striding by in q
new suit covered with cuffs and
lapels, we'll know that the only
title to give him Is that Of best
dressed hoarder.
But to get back TO my original
idea Of the Governments listing
the things that one may hoard with
peace of mind, 1t would offer all Of
us natural hoarders an escape. We
would have the pleasure Of boarding
and building up q secret closet full
Of items without harming any one.
Personally, would like to hoard
ice cubes II it's all right with Uncle
Sam. There never has been q time
in my home when there were enough
Ice cubes. Let guests drop in and,
before they have been there 80 min
utes, I am either knocking on q
neighbor's door or on my way to
the Ice plant. Think how nice 1t
would be to have three or four
closets Just filled with ice cubes.
distributed by MeNaught Syndicate, Inc.l