THREE CANS OF PEAS PLEASE

This chart, prepared by the office of price administration, shoes the most widely sold canned foods with their approximate weights and point values. The sizes of the vegetables in the top row are known as No. 2 cans. If a person bought three of these cans of peas, for example, during March, he would just use up his 48 points of coupons allotted each person for the month. He could then purchase no other canned, dried, or frozen goods in March, but other member of the family could with their coupons




The above article was a special notice dated February 1, 1944.

Token program begins February 27. One point red tokens will be given in change for Red Stamps and one-point Blue Tokens for Blue Stamps. Stamps will be worth 10 points each. Tear stamps out across Ration Book instead of up and down. The following stamps become valid on February 27.

MEATS AND FATS
Red Stamps A8, B8, and C8 good for 10 points each from 27 FEB - 20 MAY.

PROCESSED FOODS
Blue Stamps A8, B8, C8, and D8 27 FEB - 20 MAY

PROCESSED FOODS
Green stamps G, H, and J good 1 JAN-20 FEB
K, L, and M good 1 JAN-20 MAR

MEAT AND FATS
Brown Stamps V 23 JAN-26 FEB
Brown Stamps W 30 JAN-26 FEB
Brown Stamps X 6 FEB-26 FEB
Brown Stamps Y 13 FEB-20 MAR
Brown Stamps Z 20 FEB-20 MAR

SUGAR
Stamp No. 30 Five pounds 16 JAN-31 MAR

SHOES
Stamp No. 18 (Book one) good for one pair indefinitely. Airplane Stamp No. 1, (Book three) good for one pair indefinitely.

FUEL OIL
Period No. 2 coupons good for ten gallons per unit through 7 FEB

Period No. 3 coupons good for ten gallons per unit through 13 MAR

Period No. 4 and Period No. r coupons good for ten gallons per unit 8 FEB though 30 SEPT.





When we cleaned out the Johnson house after Erna died, we found rationing books and coins. Old Trunks wants to offer just what these books and coins worth today. As you read, think about just how these rules would affect you today.





Gas Rationing
Each vehicle had a sticker in its window. This told the person at the pump how much gas you were allowed.





A: Four gallons a week allotted. No pleasure driving. Gas generally pumped by women as the men were in the service.





B: Green, Eight gallons a week, issued to people doing work for war effort, i.e industrial.





C: Red, physicians, ministers, mail carriers, and railroad employees





R: Farm





T: Truckers, unlimited fuel





X: Congress and other VIP

It appears that when you applied for your new ration book you had to turn in your old one. If you were hospitalized for greater than 10 days, you needed to turn your book in and get it when you were released. If you died, your family was to turn the book in.

There were so many rules! One of the advertisements had to do with mail order shoes. The packet of rationing stamps clearly states not to tear out the stamps, rather present the entire book. But if you were buying mail order shoes, one was allowed to tear out the shoe stamp and send it with your order.

There were so many forms! If you wanted sugar for canning, fill out a form, if you wanted a fridge, you filled out a form. And we remember that if we wanted tires.....fill out a form.





There were also lots of information put out by the government including charts and graphs which helped families understand how many tokens or stamps it took to buy specific items of food.


Old Trunks wonders just how much all of this rationing affected the people in New Solum township. Although everyone was rationed, these folks most likely had a victory garden, perhaps chickens for eggs and an occasional chicken in the pot, and beef which supplied milk or meat. The concern would be sugar for canning, did they get the sugar they asked for on their canning sugar form?


Perhaps they lumped together trips to town for doctor's appointments, groceries, and visits. We know they couldn't use gas for just pleasure. It was almost like the business trips we used to take when Daddy would have some far off product he wanted to see first hand and charge it as an expense, (he could do that, it was his company).


In a discussion with my sweet Thomas, fishing came up. He told me we would, under the rationing of WWII, walk to the river and fish on crowded banks with others casting for food. That reminded me of something Ken said in an email of late, "I can recall Northern Pike runs in March in Northern Minnesota. Growing up around Smiley and Kratka townships the fish would often get caught out in the fields when the water dropped after a thaw. They would spawn in 6 inches of water. Naturally we thought this was a great waste and we would take them. The local game warden was usually hot on our trail but we never had a direct encounter with him because everyone always knew where he was. it was just a shame to see those nice big fish going to rot in the fields". Waste not!


Rationing seems complicated to me. There are so many rules. Yet, I would guess that any child of ten at that time could walk to the store with the coupon/ration book, buy what its mother wanted and understand the concept.


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SHOES AND SOCKS

As previously mentioned, shoes were rationed during the war. Before we talk about it, Old Trunks needs to ask, how many pair of shoes do you buy in a year?

Americans were limited to 3 pairs of leather shoes per year when shoe rationing went into affect. Would shoe rationing be seen as a problem for the Anderson family? With four children in the family would they run through a lot of shoe coupons? Would they put a lot of rubber half-soles on shoes, or that gummy substance which could spread over holes in crepe soled shoes?

The military program, already taking about a third of the available leather, called for more leather goods during the last half of 1944 than during the first half. And the leather supply was getting tighter: that year the U.S. would have only between 23 million and 24 million hides for both civilians and armed forces, as against 19 million in 1939 for civilians alone.

We need to think in terms of style available. High heeled shoes and evening slippers where made for women, patent leather shoes and sandals for men, and scraps were used for bows as decorations.

Use any color leather. (Previously permitted: black, white, Army russet, town brown, natural colors.) Still barred: two-tone leather shoes.

What about nylons? Did all women do as mother did and paint a black seam up the back of her leg with an eyebrow pencil? Nylon was needed for parachutes! I wonder what would happen if these ladies got out in the rain?

How many pair of shoes did you have at one time? I got two pair a year, one at the beginning of the school year and another sometime around March. The only others were either sneakers for gym OR snow boots. Mother, on the other hand, had a closet floor lined with shoes. What I didn't know at the time was it was, for the most part,it was a collection. That is, they were collected, or at least that is what she said. I can understand that because an eight year old wanted to know why I had so many crystals and I told her it was a collection. Perhaps, little people have a hard time understanding the over time concept.

Mother dressed up. She had dress up shoes. The story is that she walked pigeon toed when they were first married and Daddy bought Mother her first pair of heels and taught her how to walk in them. Mother had a long stride, she would start walking and really move. It is no wonder she would tell me to walk to the side. I took short steps!

Daddy had dress shoes and Wellington's and a pair of blood colored tie shoes. His shoes never wore out. It was during the era when one used paste polish. I didn't know HOW to polish with paste but I did try and rather than rath on me, he took them to the shoe repair shop and had the dry crusted polish removed.

My sweet Thomas stated that his shoes were always bought with room to grow. Ever have that? Slip and slide until they fit, wear them until your toes crunched? He bought a dozen pair of sneakers all at once before I moved here. When he opens a new box they are called his 'town shoes', the previous become his 'boat shoes', the 'boat shoes' become his 'yard shoes' and the 'yard shoes' are discarded. One summer, in his 'town shoes' we went to a zoo like animal farm. A goat stepped on his bright white 'town shoes'. Alas, they were forever, and still are known as his 'goat shoes'. And yes, he still does have new ones in the closet.

Do you remember a shoe shop in your town? Do you remember the smell of the shop? I LOVED the smell of dye. Coloring shoes was a big thing. If you fell into a mud puddle in your white Easter shoes, you just had them colored navy. If your buff suede got clamp marks from roller skates, they were colored black, (never mind the suede being flat and the shoes being really ugly).

Considering what a nice job the shoe repair shop on LaBree Avenue next to the Sam Plow Barbershop did, I decided that in order to get the color navy and the color red I wanted, I would have shoes dyed. I bought two pair of leather shoes and brought them in to have them dyed. I did not expect to have dye slopped on the inside and on the bottom of the shoe. The leather itself is fine, just don't take them off so people can see the messy job.

Shoes do collect. Really. If you are brand oriented, they last forever. Well, of course they do if you never wear them! It is the time of the year when I change out fall/winter for spring/summer. Some of them have seen very light use, yet the toes will be stuffed with tissue and put together in a laundry basket until next fall. Out will come the sandals and the canvas.

What are the most important shoes I have? A good pair of leather sneakers to fish in. There is forward motion in your shoe when you cast and cast and cast for bass. Can't fish in sandals, the flies bite my toes!

I am thinking about mother and how alarming it was to see her wearing SAS. I just never thought she would get to the point where high heels were no longer part of her royal carriage. I am thinking about Ella and all the shoes she had in boxes in her house when the house was cleaned out and sold. I am thinking about the number of shoes all of us collect over time and the new shoes we buy to replace them only to find they don't feel quite the same. And I am wondering if I will ever be at the age where I will have elastic shoe laces because the oxfords I need to help me balance will be the same shoes I can no longer tie myself.

But for now, I will slip into my open heeled, closed toe County Finn's and my suede Merrill's, knowing those black shoes need to be set aside until fall only to find something in the closet that feels like my foot is being in a rocking chair.

Shoe fetish? What's that?

Nylons? What are those?

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HOW LONG DO YOU EXPECT TO LIVE?

HOW LONG DO YOU EXPECT TO LIVE?



More Americans have been killed in traffic accidents since Pearl Harbor than have been killed in battle.


Out of every thee persons killed in traffic accidents in Minnesota in 1942, was a pedestrian.

Check your walking habits with pedestrian rules below and mark your score.

DO YOU

Cross streets only at intersections or marked cross walks? I try to jaywalk whenever I can and since I was trained to cross only at intersections since childhood, I know it is wrong. That is an No


Look left and right before crossing making sure that entire crossing can be made safely?
I do look, and look again. But what I remember most about this rule is when Bud, at four, started crossing the street by himself to go to Kevin's. He would stand in a 'ready, set, go' pose, then take off running as fast as he could. Yes


Cross only at the green light or go signal?
No

Obey officer's direction where officers direct traffic?
Yes. For all of you that had sixth grade boys directing traffic to get children across major streets, (Main Avenue) in Thief River Falls, you know you better mind.

Carry light or display something white at night to reflect light from automobile headlights?
Yes. During a very cold winter when Rachel was in fourth grade, daylight savings time went into effect in February. School started at 8:30 then, which made it 7:30. We took the kids to school because it was still dark and everyone had dark coats.


Walk on left side facing traffic if walking on the roadway and give way to approaching vehicles?
Yes, and ride your bike with the traffic.


Always get into the vehicle on side nearest curb?
Not as the driver in our bucket seat society! There is a child care service on our street. Mother's put there little children into car seats on the roadside, not the curb side. The child service is just after one turns out of the alley unto the avenue. Loading children from that side means doors open and adult on the street. No


Look left and right when crossing roadway from between or around parked vehicles?
Yes. In a busy town in lake country, people walk between parked cars all the time. It is like their is an unwritten rule in Walker that you walk between the parked cars, stop, and lean on the parked vehicle before you cross.


Stay out of the street while playing?
Yes, however, my brother Greg, and his friends played street hockey and would cuss out the cars that honked their horns AND ran over the goals. For those of you who don't know about street hockey, you have to go back far enough to realize MOST of the streets in TRF were not paved. When the snow started in covered the gravel and when the grater cleaned the streets, it did not blade down to the gravel. Road hockey players used two clumps of hard snow for each goal. They played in their overshoes using a puck and a hockey stick. When a car wanted to pass, they boys would ignore it. Thus, the car would honk their horn, the boys would cuss, and the driver of the car would purposely run over the 'goals'.


Watch for oncoming traffic when catching or leaving car or bus by car?
Yes. I have always had a concern about a car taking off my door.


If your Yes score totals 8-10, you may live to be a ripe old age.

If your Yes score totals were 6-8, you may expect to get hurt before long. ME!

If your yes score totals 5 or less, stay in your own yard--You are living on borrowed time.

OBEY THESE RULES DAILY AND ENLIST IN THE WAR ON ACCIDENTS


If only it was that simple.

DOWN ON THE FARM PART TWO

TWO LEGGED PIG
Have you ever actually seen a two legged pig? Well a pig was real it was born in the spring of 1940. The pig that was born has only two front legs and vestiges where the rear leg should be. It’s a smart pig too, it’s learned to balance itself on its legs and wobbles like a duck.

FREAK CALF BORN

A three legged calf was born to a Shorthorn cow on the Andy Anderson farm near here. The calf is perfectly formed in every respect with the exception of having only one front leg. Despite his physical handicap, the calf gets around very well and takes its regular place at the feedlot. Mr. Andersen intends to keep it alive as long as it is able to make its way in the cattle world.

TWO PIGS BORN

Two pigs were born on August Pitzer Farm and due to their very much to their deformed condition, died soon after birth. One had the backbone only partially extended while the other resembled an elephant having a large elephant like ears and a trunk extending from the four head. A large eye appeared to replace that part of the face usually covered by the nose.

TWO SETS OF WINGS FOR THIS ROOSTER
This rooster has a double-barreled wind up that puts New’s cock world to shame. The rooster possesses an extra set of wings, underneath his normal pair, and although they are somewhat smaller they are distinct and active. The rooster’s feet also are unusual, and then there are five toes on each foot instead of the usual three toes the owner thinks the bird ought to be a sideshow.

SAVING PIGS
While on the subject of pigs and oddities, let’s talk about killing pigs to save their lives. Doesn’t that seem like a bit of a paradox? A sty caught fire in 1874. Before assistance came, two of them were prematurely done brown, just cooked to a turn, and the others were so badly warmed that it was deemed a matter of economy, not to say mercy, to slay them in order to save their lives.

TWO BODIED PIG
A freak pig with two bodies, one head, eight legs and 8 feet, three ears and two tails was born in a litter on a farm on the outskirts of Ellsworth, Wisconsin. The pig, in spite of it’s a double deformity, live 25 minutes after birth.

SHE MADE WHOOPEE

No wonder hopes Gertz went out of fashion -- -- or have any? In February 1865 a valuable column worth $50 belonging to a family in St. Paul died after showing signs of distress for several days. It was found on examination after words that she had swallowed a piece of steel hoop from a women’s hoop. The piece was about 5 inches in length.



TAIL FREE CALF
A heifer calf with out a tail was born on the Foley farm recently to a Guernsey cow. The parent had previously given born to several calves which were normal.

TRIPLET CALVES
Triplet calves were born to a Jersey Holstein cow.

THREE YOLKS
A lady broke an egg one day recently and found much to her surprise that it contained 3 yolks, all perfectly formed. The egg was larger than ordinary and she would have not been surprised to have found two yolks but three is rare!

PIG BORN WITH TWO HEADS
Otherwise normal in every way, the pig had two heads that converged in the middle, having two fully developed snouts and mouths. The pig had only two ears; but three eyes, a larger one growing out of the converged part of the head. The pig died at birth.

TWIN MULES

born to mare. Both healthy and give evidence that they are going to do their share of pulling the plow and other farm equipment about the farm, unless their mule nature is too strong and they refuse to do their share of work that has been done by their mother in the past.

STRANGE AS IT MIGHT SEEM
As strange a sight as one might see greeted Mrs. Reinke and her son-in-laws family as they returned to their farm. In the middle of the farmyard, impaled on a six foot post, was their valuable bull, dead. It is believed the 1,500 pound animal, in playing with other stock in the yard, reared in the air and came down atop the post.

PAIR TWIN COLTS IN TWO YEARS
The birth of twin colts is considered a rare phenomenon, being at least 10,000 to one but considered more rare is the fact that six year old mare on the Larkin farm presented her owner the second pair in two years. The colts are thriving. The twins are not identical, one being roan and other sorrel, like its sire, a Belgian.

MISSOURI LAW OF 1909

270.200. In all counties and townships that have adopted or may hereafter adopt the provisions of this chapter, every owner or other person having the legal care of any domestic animal of the species enumerated in section 270.010, who shall knowingly and purposely refuse to restrain the same from running at large, when its age, deformity, blindness or other infirmity would render nugatory the law providing for the sale thereof to pay costs and damages to any party who might take up said animal, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than twenty dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding ten days.

Guess Old Trunks will keep its four legged duck at home!

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SAVE ON RUBBER --ZAP THE JAP

Go back in time to 1942

The city of Thief River Falls hired a full time clerk to take care of county tire rationing. Her name was Barbara Votava and she would be working from 9-12 and 1-6, M-F and from 8-12 on Saturday.

Now, she was the clerk, not to be confused with the board which actually met each Friday and looked over the applications for the week and decided who would receive certificates for tires and tubes.

The quota for April of 1942 was as follows:

Eight tires and eight tubes; issued for light trucks and cars.

Additionally, For heavy trucks and buses, the allotment was 35 tires and 29 tubes and 29 retreads or recapped tires.

Because of the rationing, tractor tires and tubes were chargeable under the truck tire quota.

Certificates for the month of March were issued as follows:

HWMehrekens, one tire
OB Storien, one tube
Theodore Beulke, one tire, one tube
Mike Rendal, from Trail, two tires and one tube.

Heavy trucks and buses:
Arnt Wedul of Hazel, three tires and three tubes
AJ Borry, four tires and four tubes
O Sabo of Goodridge, one and one
LB Hartz, five tires and one tube
Bridgeman Creameries, one and one
Melvin Kolstrand of Goodridge, one tire.
Thief River Falls Seed House, two tires

The rest of the tires were certificates for retreating tires or obsolete tires. Old Trunks does not know what the term obsolete tires is.

People got into the act by donating old garden hoses.

Shoe repairman donated old heels and soles.

People with rubber mats in their car trunks were asked to donate them.

The Boy Scouts in Ohio discovered a “rubber mine” at the gravel pit.

The Scouts assisted in removing rubber heels from shoes donated to Goodwill Industries. These were, of course, shoes that could not be used by another person. This was the era when people wore their shoes out, often times lining the soles with newspaper to salvage them for even more wearings.

In an effort to do everything possible to help in the war effort, one lady trained her dog to dig up and bring home nothing but scrap rubber, all of which she was adding to the collection.

This was the era of our parents. We know they where cajoled into giving up all the extra tires except one. What we don't know, is how many where stored in trunks and locked sheds and garages.

PEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL RUBBER!

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V MAIL Part II

Children are finding V Mail while cleaning out attics and old trunks of their parents. Perhaps one of your family members were in the service and you have already found them.



Look at the example of the letter, see the black marks in the letter? These are areas that are censored. That means that every letter that was written to servicemen and letters servicemen sent home were censored. Yes, those are censor marks. If the letters should fall into enemy hands, the V Mail would not give the location away.





Reduction in the size and weight of the letters translated into more space for crucial military supplies on cargo planes; one advertisement explained that 1,700 V-Mail letters could fit in a cigarette packet, while reducing the weight of the letters in paper form by 98%. Transport of the letters by plane minimized the chances that the enemy would intercept the letters, although writers were reminded to delete any information that might prove useful to the enemy in case some V-Mail was captured.




Americans on the home-front were encouraged by the government and private businesses to use V-Mail. Letters from home were compared to "a five minute furlough," and advertisements that instructed how, when, and what to write in a V-Mail reached a peak in 1944. Letters were to be cheerful, short, and frequent.





V-Mail made it possible for servicemen halfway across the world to hear news from home on a weekly basis.



We know that Cliff wrote to his family on a regular basis. We know that Cliff would tell his sister, Ella, how many missions he had flown. I understood that he would send gum wrappers; that wasn't it at all, he coded how many packages of gum he ate and that told her how many missions he had flown.

Recently, Ralph, the youngest of the Rye children, came to Minnesota to visit his sister, Ella. Ralph talked with his neice about Victory mail and how thin the paper was. Yes, Ralph did remember those letters.

V MAIL Part 1

V- mail pictures of children under one year of age or sons or daughters that were born after the serviceman left the country may now be sent.

Photographs must be limited in size to not more than 1/3 of the correspondence space on the V-mail form and must appear on the upper left portion of the space. V- mail pictures of children must be of children under one year of age or sons or daughters that where born after the father left the country. It may include the person holding the child.



V, or Victory mail, was a valuable tool for the military during World War II. The process, which originated in England, was the microfilming of specially designed letter sheets. Instead of using valuable cargo space to ship whole letters overseas, microfilmed copies were sent in their stead and then "blown up" at an overseas destination before being delivered to military personnel. V-mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space could be reserved for war materials. The 37 mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack. The weight of that same amount of mail was reduced dramatically from 2,575 pounds to a mere 45. The blue-striped cardboard containers held V-mail letter forms. The system of microfilming letters was based on the use of special V-mail letter-sheets, which were a combination of letter and envelope. The letter-sheets were constructed and gummed so as to fold into a uniform and distinctively marked envelope. The user wrote the message in the limited space provided, added the name and address of the recipient, folded the form, affixed postage, if necessary, and mailed the letter. V-mail correspondence was then reduced to thumb-nail size on microfilm. The rolls of film were sent to prescribed destinations for developing at a receiving station near the addressee. Finally, individual facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mail was then delivered to the addressee.


If it sounds odd to you that pictures may now be sent, think about this. All the letters were microfilmed. NOW MAY BE SENT refers to the technology and scanning equipment which would scan a photograph.


Stay tuned for part II.

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