We'll manage without them
This was the message conveyed to the nation’s consumers by children participating in a drawing contest organized in 1916 by the Union française (French Union) and the Comité national de Prévoyance et d’Économies (National Planning and Savings Committee). Sending men to the front, requisitioning transport for the army, and halting economic relations with occupied countries and regions caused shortages throughout the country, but Paris was especially hard-hit. Shortages of staples triggered steep price increases, leading to the free distribution of rations of staples to the poor and rationing regulations for bread, sugar, meat, tobacco, and coal, and to control the costs of basic food items. These hardships were one way in which civilians contributed to the war effort, which were justified both on economic and moral grounds.
