Here's a War Job All America May Be Proud Of

Washington DC: United States Office of Price Administration, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944. Ephemera. Very good. A Second World War homefront poster encouraging Americans to participate in price-control efforts in order to keep inflation under control. The main graphic shows two women reaching for their baskets of groceries. The woman from 1918-the First World War-finds the basket out of reach. The "modern" 1944 woman can easily place her hands on food. According to the legend, these two scenarios are both based on the 53rd month of the war. Somewhat problematic, from a statistical point of view, is that in both cases the time period is based on the start of the wars in Europe; the US joined much later. However, this actually tends to understate the effectiveness of the management of the US economy during the Second World War, which was less after three years than that experienced in the first war after one year.

The full text reads (ellipses in the original): Here's a war job all America may be proud of. The rise in wartime cost of living today is less than half the World War I increase... only the patriotic cooperation of the public and businessmen with the government's price control program made this record possible... let's keep up the good work by keeping the Home Front Pledge: "I pay no more than ceiling prices... I pay my ration points in full.

The poster design is by Fred G. Cooper, a cartoonist known for his lettering style. He is credited on the back (verso) of the poster, where an explanatory text and instructions for posting may be found.

14-1/8 by 19-1/2 inches. Folded, as issued, with a bit of creasing. This is an original World War II poster, not a reproduction.