Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Of War and Agriculture
by Steve Stark
March 12, 2019 — Despite being in the middle of World War II, visitors to the North Dakota Winter Show in Valley City were enjoying the last hours of the sixth annual agricultural get-together on this date in 1943.
The final slate of events culminated in the popular livestock show. Top awards were bestowed on the finest Herefords, Shorthorns and Aberdeen Angus that proud North Dakota producers had to offer.
On just the previous day, the United States Senate had cleared the way for passage of legislation that would offer exemption from military service for all “substantially full time” farm laborers. The bill pending specified that farm workers must produce certain amounts of agricultural products, regarded by the secretary of agriculture, as vital to the war effort. Livestock and most of the food and fiber crops were on that wide-ranging list.
But, agriculture was also in the national news for America that day. The Fargo Forum’s headlines concerning the winter show were dwarfed by the banner headline that announced “MEAT AND BUTTER RATIONING ORDERED.” Meat, butter, other edible fats and oils, cheese and canned fish were now on the list to be rationed to the American public. The Office of Price Administration, known as OPA, would oversee the rationing.
Rationing began in 1942 with non-food items such as rubber, metals and gasoline. The first food rationing began with sugar in May of 1942. As the conflict progressed and valuable resources were directed toward the war effort, all Americans were called upon to sacrifice. To that end, rationing of standard American goods began. Rationing would continue until supplies of those selected items were deemed sufficient to meet with demand.
Ration booklets, stamps and even coins were used and monitored by a point system. Every person was given an allotment of points for all commodities. Points were allocated to all rationed items from prunes to petroleum.
Agriculture officials explained that the rationing estimate of two pounds per person, per week of meat, meant that much on the average. The point system did differentiate in meats, however. For example, hamburger did not have as many points as steak.
When the initial meat and cheese rationing was announced, officials did not know how long it would last. It would not be until November 1945 – two months after Japan’s surrender – that meat rationing ended.
Torkel Njaa’s German Shepherds
by Merry Helm
March 13, 2019 — Torkel Njaa was born during this week in 1870 in Thime, Norway. He pioneered in Griggs County with a farm in the Sheyenne Valley southeast of Cooperstown. Njaa was well known for his experimentation with cereal grains and livestock, and some of finest horses and cattle in the county came from Torkel’s farm.
In 1914, Njaa wanted a good watchdog and decided try importing a German shepherd. He was impressed, imported several more and started breeding them for sale. The quality of his dogs gained widespread attention, selling in all parts of the country, including Hawaii, and also the Philippines. Torkal’s canine industry reached its peak in about 1924, but the popularity of German Shepherds continued to grow and ended up becoming a nationwide fad.
Welfare in North Dakota
March 15, 2019 — Thirteen million people unemployed; 5,000 failed banks; industrial production down 45 percent ; home building down 80 percent . When? Between 1929 and 1932. It was the beginning of the Great Depression, which lasted roughly 10 years.
North Dakota was not spared. On this date in 1938, the director of the state welfare board reported more than one in three people were on public assistance, and four out of 10 farm families needed emergency aid in January. More than 60,000 households required some form of welfare that month, at a total cost of over $2 million. McKenzie County was hardest hit, with eight out of 10 people needing help.
Some public assistance was provided at county and state levels, but most was delivered through federal public works programs and the Farm Security Administration.
“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, or subscribe to the “Dakota Datebook” podcast.
