Rationing Why was rationing started?

The aim of rationing was to preserve food supplies.  Ensure fair distribution and control rising prices.

When German submarines began targeting all merchant ships carrying food to Britain a system of rationing became inevitable.

As food became scarcer, prices went up.  For the wealthy price rises were an inconvenience.  For the poor expensive food meant long queues and less money to spend on other essentials.  Lack of food would lead to ill health and even severe malnutrition.

By the end of It was clear that Britain was facing serious food shortages. Panic buying led to worse shortages and so in January 1918 the government began a system of rationing. So that every one could be sure of a regular and sufficient food supply. An organised system of rationing could also control the prices of basic food supply.

Full scale rationing was in force by April  Sugar was the first item to be rationed and this was later followed by butcher meat.  By the end of the war almost all foods were subject to price control by the government.

Was rationing successful?  Rationing did ensure fairer supplies of food at reasonable prices.  The defeat of the U-boat campaign and the surrender of Germany by the end of 1918 meant that Britain did not have to endure serious hardships that would have tested the rationing system to its limits.

It was the Royal Navy’s blockade of Germany that caused starvation in Germany.  Lack of food and war materials were the main reasons for the defeat of Germany.  Perhaps victory belonged to the country that could manage its shortages the best!

The jute industry  Why was the rise and fall of the jute business a good case study of how the war affected Scottish industry?

The jute industry is a good example of an industry that was facing some difficulties before the war but received a huge boost as a result of the war.  After the war it then faced a rapid decline.  Run down machinery and a return to good old fashioned working habits were no match for the new industrial world that emerged from the Great War.  Foreign competition forced down prices and took away export markets.

What is jute, and why was it so important?  The jute industry was based in Dundee.  It employed thousands of people.  It employed 25% of the males and 67% of the females in the city.

Jute is a fibre grown mostly in Bangladesh, which was then part of India and within the British Empire.  The raw jute fibres were exported to Dundee and made into sacking cloth.

During WWI demand for jute soared as the need for more and more sacks for sandbags increased to over 6 million sacks in one month.  Jute was used for many other things, including feedbags for thousands of horses.  In a world without plastics, jute was the packing material!!!

The war years could only provide a temporary boom.  The good times could not last.  The demands of constant wartime production had put huge pressure on Dundee’s factories and machines.  When the war ended, the jute factories in Dundee were in need of fresh investment and repair.

Dundee businessmen should also shoulder some of the blame for the decline of the jute industry in Scotland.  During the war, Dundee’s jute industry was protected by a government ban on jute products being processed in Calcutta, India.  After the war the ban was lifted.  Even before the war some Dundee businessmen had started to develop the jute industry in the Calcutta area, thereby cutting out Dundee’s part in the business.

When the war ended, those same businessmen were ready to undercut the price’s charged for jute processed in Dundee.  As world jute prices fell along with demand for jute-based products, Dundee suffered.