The Government's Ban Of Sliced Bread...!

We all know that during WW1 and WW2, the government did a lot of rationing and, in some cases, even banning of certain items to help the war effort. Some of these worked and others were doomed to fail. Take the ban of sliced bread for instance.

While it may have seemed like a good idea on paper, the banning of sliced bread turned out to be one of those rare times when the government backed down.

. The sliced bread ban

Americans were asked to conserve bread by observing “Wheatless Wednesdays,” during World War I, but during World War II, the government took its rationing a step further. In January 1943, the U.S. War Foods Administration instituted a ban on what had once been advertised as “the greatest step forward in the baking industry”: pre-sliced bread. The rule was intended to save on wax paper and metal. Since pre-sliced bread required more wrapping than a whole loaf to keep it from going stale, the government assumed they could easily conserve paper and curb demand for metal bread slicer parts by having people cut it themselves at home. The public response proved how wrong they were. Bakeries argued they had more than enough supplies on hand to meet demands, and housewives criticized the law in the media. “I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household,” began one woman’s letter to the New York Times. Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard eventually bowed to the pressure and rescinded the ban after only three months, admitting, “the savings are not as much as we expected…

It doesn't happen often, folks, but it does happen. From time to time, the government does actually listen to the will of the people and act accordingly. Hey, we'll take our victories when and where we can, right?

Coffee out on the patio this morning, before it gets too hot, OK?