These photos record the situation that the United States began to distribute shoes during World War II.

This article comes from FOTO, a visual immersion experience, with a simple goal: to bring you the most beautiful, eternal and unforgettable picture in the world. On February 7th, 1943, * * * reported the official statement of the United States on footwear in four columns. The statement explained that from February 9, Americans need a special coupon to buy a pair of shoes. Everyone receives three such coupons every year. The quota for shoes has arrived. 1March 943, American food during World War II, Alfred T. Palmer's War Information Office (/UIG via Getty Images), facts of life during World War II. The army's efforts have passed a lot of meat, dairy products, sugar, tires, gasoline, nylon and other staple foods. In order to ensure that consumers can get basic products at reasonable prices, the Office of Price Management (OPA) of the United States issued coupons, which cautiously restricted everyone's consumption. No coupons, no candy and no shoes.

In order to ration sugar, the coupons in the war ration book ensure the fair distribution of the national sugar supply. (Anthony Porter Collection /Getty Images) Shoes are supplied by * * * because leather and rubber are in short supply. (Especially rubber, because Japan controls Southeast Asia, most of the rubber in the world is produced in Southeast Asia.) In order to avoid serious shortage, OPA set the upper limit of footwear purchase and issued new regulations on the types of footwear that manufacturers can produce. Only four colors are allowed-"black, white, brown and army brown", and two-color shoes are prohibited. To the disappointment of fashionable American dressers, OPA prohibits wearing boots exceeding 65,438+00 inches, high heels exceeding 2 inches and 5 inches, and "fancy tongue, non-functional decorations, extra stitches, leather bows, etc." . The resort is also feeling the pressure: men's sandals and golf shoes are considered unnecessary and no longer used. There are some exceptions. If your shoes are lost or stolen in a flood or fire, you can apply for a special certificate to buy a new pair. Postmen, policemen and other hard-working people are also exempted from responsibility. Subsidies will be given to cases such as orthopedics and pregnant women shoes. Otherwise, the restriction of three pairs of shoes is firm, but OPA thinks it is better than the other pair: the shoes produced by the shoe factory are so unattractive that people will not buy them unless they absolutely need them.

These young ladies are trying on some white models in a shop in Delan West Street, Lower East Side of new york. 1943. (Arthur Fellig)/ International Photography Center /Getty Images) This project has not been ignored. An editorial in * * * said that consumers bought shoes they didn't need, instead of wasting coupons. The Times said angrily that rationing led to "the biggest shoe buying frenzy in American history". On the last day, many people crowded into a shoe store to buy 17 war ration shoes coupons. Washington, DC, June 1943. (History /Corbis via Getty Images)

Photographic evidence shows that * * *' s fears may be exaggerated: in the above photo, when the first coupon is about to expire on June 1943, a photo taken in a shoe store in Washington, DC, business seems to be booming, but shoppers managed to keep their clothes. Over time, people have found creative ways-not always legal-to avoid rationing books. From the price point of view, if customers don't have coupons, less cautious shopkeepers may look at them differently, while enterprising brokers buy and sell coupons on the black market.

Recently, the business of a shop at 92 Third Avenue has doubled, which sells factory waste and second-hand shoes that are not affected by rationing. (Arthur Fellig/)/International Photography Center /Getty Images): Second-hand shoe stores have made a good breakthrough. Creative manufacturers have introduced shoes made of materials that * * * * does not provide: mainly plastics, but also "pressed carpets, felts, old brake lining materials and even recycled fire hoses." (Below, a model of women's shoes made of non-quantitative materials. )

Three models show shoes made of materials that were not rationed during World War II in Chicago, Illinois, USA from 65438 to 0944. (Global Historical Archives /UIG via Getty Images) It is said that shoe rationing lasted for more than three years. 1in late June, 945, more than a month after the end of the war, Chester Bowles, president of OPA, called it "one of our most successful projects". Bowles said: "Giving everyone something less and refining the sense of sacrifice is exactly the meaning of this kind of effort. OPA ensures that there is enough "availability".

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