Ration Books

Sometime between October 1 and "after elections" U.S. civilians will receive their first big, comprehensive ration books. Chief reason for the delay is exact decision as to their form, and the technical difficulties the Government Printing office will have in producing 200 million copies (enough to provide for losses and to keep local ration boards from running short) and more than that number of application forms.

For the past month GPO has been busy experimenting with trial forms, which are modeled generally after the British books. About the size of a small prayer book (to fit easily into housewives' purses), they contain a variety of colored pages of perforated numbered coupons which may be torn out. This makes it possible without warning to hoarders to announce that beginning immediately a given series in a certain color will be the tickets for a newly rationed commodity.

Which of four basic rationing systems to use still bothers OPA rationeers, who are mulling over: 1) the unit system now in effect on sugar and gasoline; 2) the bloc system (e.g., tea or coffee on one coupon, with the privilege of buying either); 3) the value system (each coupon good for so many cents' worth of a commodity); 4) the point system (the government controlling the number of points for each commodity).

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