The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-08-22
ButterSupply yLikely To h1proOe, But Sugar Continues Rdtioned
Butter on Your Bread. 3 Spoons 0f Sugar Soon A Reality
By JAMES THRAsHER NEA Stan Correspondent

NEA Stan Correspondent
 Washington, Aug. 22 = There's a great day coming, with three spoons Of sugar in your coffee, butter on your bread, and soap in the laundry tub. It's coming, but it's going to be delayed.
 The delay in butter may not De very long. It's almost certain to pc &he first of the fats and oils oil ra- tioning. Sugar will probably con tinue to cost points until sutncient reserves can be built up, and that IS going to be long and uncertain process.
 v-J Day found our sugar supplies at the lowest level of the war. The less obvious shortages of edible ana industrial oils show few symptoms of sudden improvement.
 It seems likely that the Depart, ment of Agriculture and OPA VIII proceed with caution in taking the restrictions of butter. OPA's gener- ositv was largely responsible for the ] recent shortage. The agency re- diced point values in the spring and l summer of 1944. Hungry civilian America promptly at e up wnat { should have been stored against a { long, cold and, as it turned out, al- most butterless winter.
 roo GENEROUS
 This same generosity contributed &o the fact that lard is lacking ana shortening is short. Lard was maos point free in March, 1944, anu shortening the following month. They weren't put back on rationlng Aill last March. So the reserves went down. Now we find that pigs are pretty scarce critters, and that the military set-asides on lard and most 1,ork products vii continue in force for some time.
 War work and increased buying power created an early and enorn- ous demand for fats and oils. we needed them, as the whole world did. for munitions, paints, linoleum' to grinding, and many other war necessary uses. We needed them III soap to wash the hands and clothes of industrial workers. We needeo them for the candy and baker pro- ducts and mayonnaise that our war wages would buy.
 But the non-Axis worlds supply X of fats and oils wouldn't meet the demand even before Pearl Harbor. Submarines in the Atlantic stopped whaling, Then the Germans ln- vaded Russia, and the Soviets lost large amounts of linseed oil, Wnlcn IS used there both industrially and for food.
 FOOLED SUPPLY
 Tn a few weeks after Dec. T. 194l, we lost the Philippines and other Far Eastern islands which had sup piled us with 3 billion pounds or fats and oils year. To counteract these losses the Allied nations ere ated the combined food board which pooled the fats and oils supply oI their own and friendly nations and allocated it according to need.
 The board also encouraged the production of peanut oil in North Africa, palm kernel and other lau- ric acid oils in the Mediterranean area, peanut, cottonseed, corn ana soy bean oils and animal fats in this country and the British dominions. But the supply remained short, and shipping shortages and submarine sinkings made it even shorter.
 Now Russian linseed oil pro- duction is again under way. The crop is in, but mills and refineries, destroyed in the war, must be re- stored. We have stopped lend-leas- ing fats and oils to Russia, but the program continues with Great Bri- tain. And we also have the new res ponsibility of helping to feed the liberated areas.
 ..We have abundant grain" one CPA official said, but you cant fed people flour and water. That's wall paste. You've got to mix flour X and water with fats to sustain lie.
 France is beginning to help her. self again in the matter of fats and oils, particularly animal products. But highways and train systems there are still in bad shape and transportation is major problem. Much of Hollands best farm land has been flooded. Bel gium is beginning to come back thanks largely to her colonies. And Denmark is able to sell some butter and cheese to the occupying arm- ies in Germany and also export some butter to England.
 Tn the Philippines and other oil producing regions of the East, ou1 problems are just beginning. Most of the coconut trees are still stand ing. But the Japs, to discourage guerrilla communications. destroyed the Filipinos' rafts and launches which used to take corpa orNinland waterways from plantation to mill and thence to shipside. Later, after we invaded the Philippines. the 1aps wrecked mills and ref1neries woWer generators and lines.