Bottom of the Bowl

In mild embarrassment, OPA last week finally took note of the new sugar shortage. It let out the news that the rations of industrial sugar users will be cut 10% (they are already using 20% less than in 1942). This will mean less candy and soft drinks.

The new cut is the result of OPA’s freehanded passing of the sugar bowl last summer. As one OPAster ruefully said: “We went overboard on the allowances for home canning and I’m afraid the housewives kind of did us dirt. Their good intentions just went wrong. They didn’t do as much canning as they said they would do and now we’ve got too many sugar coupons out.”

One reason that OPA cannot make good on these sugary promises is because another well-intentioned promise went sour. The War Shipping Administration promised that more ships would be available to haul sugar into the U.S. from Cuba, where warehouses are bulging with 1,000,000 tons, bought & paid for by the U.S. But the pinch in shipping is still too tight. Furthermore, U.S. beet-sugar growers harvested only 1,100,000 tons this year—more than last year, but still a big 500,000 tons less than the 1942 crop. Also, in 1944 about 900,000 tons of Cuban production were diverted from sugar to high-test molasses for industrial alcohol.

Thus, the supply of sugar for civilians in the first ten months of 1944 was reduced to 6,650,000 tons. But civilians swallowed 5,973,000 tons, biting deeply into reserves. Now, reserves are down to 677,000 tons, lowest on record. OPA still hopes to stave off tighter rationing of civilians. But if the cut to industrial users does not save enough sugar, OPA will have to balance its books by either: 1) invalidating all sugar stamps up to a certain date; or 2) reducing the value of stamps which become good henceforth.