The following letter from straw hat manufacturer Thomas Foster, of 12 Cromwell Road, explaining why be believed food rationing should be introduced, was published in The Luton News on November 29th, 1917:

We are all wondering when this miserable scramble for food will cease. In some towns food is very plentiful, at others there is great scarcity. It is quite certain that rationing is the only means of securing a fair distribution of food.

What is the use of telling people to economise when they cannot buy food, let alone economise? We are constantly told that compulsory rationing 'may be found necessary' and 'this is the last appeal to the honour of the nation'. What in the names of heaven do food hogs care about honour? They care for nothing but satisfying their own greed. In the meantime the decent and moderate part of the community are being kept short of almost all necessary foods.

The Bishop of London said last week, referring to the food hogs: "It is the superhuman courage of our mercantile marine that has saved us so far. We have no right to gamble with the lives of these men. The man or woman who does not live within the rations is gambling with the lives of those glorious men. It is more than likely that the food question is going to be the deciding factor in the war."

Such talk as this has been going on for over a year, and yet this serious matter is still being trifled with. The greedy part of the community care nothing for talk or warnings. Nothing but drastic action will ever move them. Let us share and share alike, and thus avoid this most humiliating hunt for food,

In the name of common sense, why - if the food question is a matter of life and death to the nation - is it still being tampered with? How ludicrous is the position. On the one hand we are being warned and threatened by the Food Controller that we shall have to have compulsory rationing all round if we are not more moderate in the use of foods. On the other hand we have the great mass of the people everywhere looking forward to compulsory rationing as a relief.

Indecision is, and has been throughout the war, our greatest enemy. We see it in every conceivable direction. At this crisis in the life of the nation we want men in power who have the courage of their convictions; men who when they are convinced that any measure, however difficult, is vital to the nation's interests, will overcome these difficulties and, in defiance of all criticisms, accomplish their purpose.

It is absolutely certain that this war can never be won, nor the hearty co-operation of the people assured, by the present half-hearted methods. When, oh when, will out 'wobblers cease from wobbling'?