The Effect on Needy Families of Suspension of the Food Stamp Plan

D U R I N G T H E 4 YEARS of its operation, the food stamp plan, administered by the Food Distribution Administration of the U . S. Department of Agriculture, enabled large numbers of families throughout the United States to improve their diets. Although the plan was established in May 1939, at a time of food surpluses, primarily to increase agricultural income by increasing the demand for surplus farm products, it also served to increase the food consumption of low-income families. Disappearance of food surpluses under the stress of wartime demands led to the discontinuance of the plan on March 1, 1943. The suspension took effect in a period of sharply rising food costs, when the purchase of sufficient food was increasingly difficult for families with small incomes. Since most of the families that had participated in the food stamp plan were recipients of assistance, an inquiry was made in March 1943 to ascertain how these families would be affected by its termination. Replies received from 44 agencies in 39 of the 47 States in which the plan was in operation and from 14 large city or county agencies include information concerning: (1) increases that had been made in the amounts included for food, in determining need in each assistance program, (2) plans for further adjustments to compensate for loss of food stamps, (3) the availability of funds to effectuate such changes, and (4) the ability of the agencies to aid families who had been participating in the stamp plan, although they were not receiving any other type of assistance. Administrators of assistance also volunteered considerable information on the ability of the assistance agencies to adjust payments to meet rising price levels and on the relationship of the stamp plan to the assistance programs. Method of Operation