Sugar Books During the WarThe following appeared in the Rock County Herald on May 15, 1942:APPLICATIONS FOR SUGAR BOOKS IN COUNTY 10,1769,456 Books Issued During 4-day Period of Registration Last WeekWith 1,349 persons registering Thursday, the last of the four days set aside for the purpose, a total of 10,176 applications were made for sugar rationing in Rock County during the general consumers’ registration Monday through Thursday of last week, stated V.M. Barrett, county superintendent of schools and director of the sign-up.The last day of the registration also saw 1,214 rationing books issued in the county, bringing to 9,456 the total of books issued during the registration.Must Wait Till 21st Persons not registered during the four days last week will not be able to register until May 21. After that date, they can register at the offices of their local rationing boards. Meanwhile, they will be unable to buy sugar. Many misapprehensions have arisen over the use of ration books, stated T.G. Driscoll, state rationing administrator. Grocers in a few cases have allowed consumers to buy only a half-pound of sugar for the first stamp in their ration book. Each of the first four stamps is good for one pound of sugar, Driscoll pointed out, and the pound in each case must last the owner of the book for two weeks. A purchase must be made with the first stamp before May 16, or it will be worthless. The second stamp will allow the purchase of one pound for each bookholder between May 17 and May 30. The third stamp in the same way will cover the next two weeks, and the fourth the succeeding two weeks. Value of the remaining stamps in the books will be determined later.Status Cleared UpA new regulation just received clears up status of persons eating in restaurants, boarding houses and college dormitories. Such persons were asked to register as individuals and get ration books, though these places are registered as institutional users of sugar and cannot use the individual books. Under the new rule, a person who arranges to eat as much as 12 meals a week in such an establishment must surrender his ration book to the operator of the place, who will return it when he quits taking as much as 12 meals there. A similar provision directs that persons going to a hospital or other institutions to surrender their ration books if they expect to stay as much as 10 days. The provisions are designed to prevent the ration book being used by other members of the family while the owner of the book is away from home. Donations to the Rock County Historical Endowment Fund can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, P.O. Box 741, Luverne, MN 56156. Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.