Horatius at the Icebox

The average U.S. citizen found the President's food-saving program pretty frustrating. If foodless days had been decreed by law, the thing would have become a sporting matter of eating and dodging the Feds. But being put on the honor system had thrown the country into a nail-biting state of indecision, and also seemed to make it feel hungry.

At week's end, the average restaurant operator was developing ulcers, anxiety and severe tension. Most of them piously --and some even happily--guaranteed compliance. Hollywood's phony prince, Restaurateur Mike Romanoff (who sometimes allows his bulldog to sit up at the table with him and eat meat), said: "I will do anything to avoid the horrors of rationing." Some did it glumly. Manhattan's famed steak house, Gallagher's, closed on Tuesday, ran a newspaper ad which read:, "No Steaks, No Gallagher's." But in most cases it was not quite that simple.

Partial Compliance. Customers seemed to develop a sudden and irascible yen for meat on Tuesday and eggs on Thursday; when refused, dozens stomped out to go elsewhere. When the average restaurant owner heard that his competitor was serving eggs on an eggless morning, he usually rolled his eyes, lifted his hands and did likewise. A crafty minority solved the problem by asking customers not to order forbidden foods and looking patriotically askance while serving those who did.

But millions had accepted the President's program, at least momentarily, and some took to it as if they expected to submit to lie-detector tests twice a week. In Dallas, greying Mrs. Anna Myers patriotically quit feeding bread crumbs to an assortment of bluebirds who haunt her backyard. But the bluebirds turned up their beaks at birdseed and only pecked at the crumbled corn muffins she offered them later in the week. Most housewives were taking things easier, and the majority were complying in part--like Mrs. Eleanor Sorenson of Indianapolis, who decided to observe meatless Tuesday, but not eggless Thursday.

Debate. Almost everyone had objections to the meatless, eggless and poultryless days. The most repeated objection was that everyone would eat poultry on meatless Tuesday and meat on poultryless Thursday and thus defeat the purpose of the program.

Some housewives, in an extremely irritable mood about food anyhow, used the plan as an excuse to blow off steam. Millions cried: "I haven't money enough to buy meat or poultry every day anyhow, so what difference does it make?"

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.