Editing Sliced bread (section)

==1943 U.S. ban==
In 1943, U.S. officials imposed a short-lived ban on sliced bread as a wartime conservation measure.<ref>Levenstein, Harvey (2003). ''Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America''. University of California Press, p. 82.</ref><ref>Burton, Bill. "[http://www.bayweekly.com/year01/issue9_4/burton9_4.html Liberty: Best Thing Since Sliced Bread]". Bay City Weekly, January 25, 2001. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013012537/http://www.bayweekly.com/year01/issue9_4/burton9_4.html |date=October 13, 2006 }}</ref> The ban was ordered by [[United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture]] [[Claude R. Wickard]], who held the position of Food Administrator, and took effect on January 18, 1943. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', officials explained that "the ready-sliced loaf must have a heavier wrapping than an unsliced one if it is not to dry out." It was also intended to counteract a rise in the price of bread, caused by the [[Office of Price Administration]]'s authorization of a ten percent increase in flour prices.<ref name=rescinded>{{cite news |title=Sliced Bread Put Back on Sale; Housewives' Thumbs Safe Again |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/03/09/archives/sliced-bread-put-back-on-sale-housewives-thumbs-safe-again-wickard.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 6, 1943 |page=16 }} ban took effect Jan 18; explained as paper-saving due to ready-sliced loafs needing heavier wrapping; also explained as cost-cutting measure; unpopularity of measure; rescinded March 8; "four month's supply" of [[wax paper]] in the hands of bakers.</ref>

In a Sunday radio address on January 24th, New York City Mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]] suggested that [[bakeries]] that had their own bread-slicing machines should be allowed to continue to use them, and on January 26th, 1943, a letter appeared in ''The New York Times'' from a distraught [[housewife]]:

<blockquote>I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the [[morale]] and saneness of a [[household]]. My husband and four children are all in a rush during and after breakfast. Without ready-sliced bread I must do the slicing for toast—two pieces for each one—that's ten. For their lunches I must cut by hand at least twenty slices, for two sandwiches apiece. Afterward I make my own toast. Twenty-two slices of bread to be cut in a hurry!<ref>{{cite news |first= Sue|last= Forrester|title=Ready-Sliced Bread Favored |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D15F63D59147B93C4AB178AD85F478485F9|url-access=subscription|work=The New York Times |date=January 26, 1943 |page=18 }}</ref></blockquote>

On January 26th, however, John F. Conaboy, the New York Area Supervisor of the Food Distribution Administration, warned bakeries, [[delicatessens]], and other stores that were continuing to slice bread to stop, saying that "to protect the cooperating bakeries against the unfair competition of those who continue to slice their own bread... we are prepared to take stern measures if necessary."<ref name=conaboy>{{cite news |title=Bread-Slicing Ban Extended Further |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/01/26/archives/breadslicing-ban-extended-further-bakeries-and-delicatessens-are.html |work=The New York Times |date=January 26, 1943 |page=16 }}</ref>

On March 8th, 1943, the ban was rescinded. While public outcry is generally credited for the reversal, Wickard stated that "Our experience with the order, however, leads us to believe that the savings are not as much as we expected, and the War Production Board tells us that sufficient [[wax paper]] to wrap sliced bread for four months is in the hands of paper processor and the baking industry."<ref name=rescinded/>

A theory of the ban was that the bread slicing machines used replaceable hardened steel for the slicers. This type of steel was essential to the war effort. Rather than to try monitoring production and usage of this type of steel, preventing the sale of sliced bread would stifle demand from bakeries for fresh slicers, thereby making the steel more available to the war effort.{{CN|date=October 2022}}