The Ration Racket

After a life of only three weeks, the gasoline rationing plan has revealed one flaw which would wreck the whole program even if the number of consumers holding unlimited privileges were cut to the absolute minimum. The very existence of X-cards, regardless of the number of them actually issued, has made gypping so easy that there is no way of detecting it.

This, the newest of all rackets, is so simple that a moron could work it. A station owner, patronized by an A-card holder known to him, sells ten gallons of gas and clips but one coupon. The extra seven gallons, if there is ever a question raised, can be explained away as a sale to a second customer holding an X-card. There is no means of checking the story, for the station owner is careful not to sell more over the limit to a stranger who might be an OPA investigator. Cheating of this type has been common ever since rationing went into effect.

The cure is just as easy to devise as the gyp itself. A requirement that all X-card holders obtain books of coupons, each worth a definite number of gallons, would solve the riddle. There need be no limit on the number of tickets a person may have, but every purchase of motor fuel must be accompanied by an exchange of coupons. Total sales for each station could then be easily checked against the number of coupons clipped. Some such arrangement, if adopted, would mean that New England's chances of having gas next fall need not depend on the activities of petty racketeers.