The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1943-07-22
- 49,
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TODAY
and
TOMORROW
By DON ROBINSON
RACKETS
By DON ROBINSON

In almost every town In .Amefl-
ca there seems to be a group OF
me-first enthusiasts who have
managed c. soafIt ways to
get around practically every reg
ulation enacted to meet wartime
conditions.
Although the great majority of
us have shown that we are will
ing to do our part and sacrifice
whatever must be sacrificed to
hurry the winning of the war, the
me-first contingent knows all the
latest wrinkles in buying gaso-
line without ration coupons, buy
ing black market meats and
chickens, how to get away with
pleasure driving, where to buy
bootleg canned goods without
spending ration points and how
to take full advantage of the
suckers" who insist on sticking
to the rules.
Most of these people come from
a comparatively wealthy class
who can afford the luxury of do
ing business with small-time rae
keteers. If chicken can be obtain
ed from a butcher who is opera
ting a wartime meat speakeasy,
they'll pay a dollar a pound or
whatever price he is asking to
satisfy a desire for chicken. If
gasoline dealer will overlook
coupons if his palm is CREASED"
they are glad to pay tribute to
him for having the courage to
break the law.
LOOPHOLES policemen
One of the reasons the ration
chiefs in Washington have to
grind out new regulations each
day is to patch up the loopholes
which our smarter set have dis
covered in the rules issued the
dav before.
1t works something like this:
The OPA rules that the people
in the East may have 112 gallons
of gasoline each week. An I'M
scrupulous gas station owner dis
covers that many truck drivers
still have more coupons than they
need. He arranges to buy gas
coupons from the truck driver,
i gets extra gas with them and sells
it to his customers at an inflated
price. To curb this practice, the
OPA cuts down on the !; 'otment
to truck owners. Desperate to
continue getting this extra prof
it, and encouraged by certain GUS
toners to get them extra gas no
matter how, the gas station own
ers become easy prey for peddlers
of stolen coupons. Realizing that
some automobile drivers are still
getting lot more gas than they
are allotted, the OPA is finally
forced to curb the driving of hon.
est and dishonest drivers alike
by banning pleasure driving.
There will probably be no end
to it. For as soon as the pleas
ure driving ban was enacted, the
smarter set" thought up all
kinds of excuses for getting ex-
ira gas for necessary travel. They
planted Victory gardens in the
neighborhood of their golf cours-
es, discovered business customers
next door to their favorite fish
ing spots and began covering all
the funerals near their summer
homes.
It all boils down to the fact
that the me-first crowd will re-
fuse to be regulated unless an in
dividual policeman is assigned to
watch each one-and then what's
going to stop them from bribing
their policeman?
MUDDL1NG =. OPA
don't mean to infer that the
people are entirely to blame for
the increasingly complicated
problems of rationing. 1 am glad
to join with anyone who thinks
OPA stands for Official Pande-
monium Asylum and there is no
doubt in my mind that bureau
cratic muddling is causing a lot
more trouble than the uncoop-
erative attitude of a small group
of people.
But no matter how bitter some
of us may feel about how things
are being handled in Washington,
that is no reason for making
things worse by refusing to play
our small part in the war pro-
gram. A soldier may not like
the way his superior officer han
dies things-but that's no reason
for him to decide not to start
shooting when the enemy ap-
proaches.