A number of communal kitchens have been established with great success—­many being in London.  At these thousands of meals are prepared—­soups and stews, fish, and meats, and puddings, every variety of dishes, and the purchasers come to the kitchens and bring plates and jugs to carry away the food.  Soups are sold from 2 to 4 cents for a jugful, and other things in proportion.  These are established under official recognition, the Municipalities in most cases providing the initial cost.  The prices paid cover the cost of food and cooking, and the service is practically all voluntary.

The first propaganda work was, as I have said, done by the War Savings Committees, and our big task was to try to make our people realize how undesirable it is to have to resort to compulsory rationing.  We are rationed on sugar and we do not want to adopt more compulsory rationing than is necessary.  Compulsory rationing, in some people’s minds, seems to ensure supplies.  It does not and where, under voluntary rationing, people go round and find other food and get along with the supplies there are, under compulsory rationing there would always be a tendency to demand their ration and to make trouble about the lack of any one commodity in it.

Compulsory rationing to be workable must be a simple scheme, and no overhead ration of bread, for example, is just.  The needs of workers vary and so do the needs of individuals, and bread is the staple food of our poorer classes.  They have less variety of foods and need more bread than the better-off people.  Compulsory rationing may have to come, but most of us are determined it will not come till it is really unavoidable and we are appealing to our people to prevent that, and masses of them are economizing and saving in a manner worthy of the greatest praise.

The rationing we appealed to our people to get down to, was three pounds of flour per head in the week, 21/2 lbs. of meat and 1/2 lb. sugar.

The King’s Pledge, which we had signed by those willing to do this, all over the country, pledged people to cut down their consumption of grain by one-quarter in the household, and the King’s Proclamation urged this, and economies in grain and horse feeding.

An old Proclamation of the 18th century appealed to our people to cut down their consumption of their grains by one-third and was almost identical in form, and copies signed by Edmund Burke and other famous people were shown in our Thrift Exhibitions in Buckinghamshire.

We arranged meetings for the maids of households in big groups to explain the need and meaning of economy in food with great success.  Every head of a household knows that the maids can make or mar one’s efforts to save food, and we have found many of ours admirable, and willing to do wonders in the way of economy and saving.

If compulsory rationing in more than sugar comes as it may, the basis of rationing will, we believe, be worked out with as much consideration as possible of the needs of the workers.