The Onslow County News And Views

New York Cafes Are Closing Doors
Because Of Acute Food Shortages

New York—(AP)—High-living New York, greatest peace-time consumer of thick steaks and fresh eggs, has tightened its belt and settled for cold cuts.

But on the East Side you had to take your cold cuts in sandwiches. Delicatessen stores refused to sell them to take out.

It was far from famine but it was prompt confirmation of what government officials had predicted—that the food shortage would grow worse with the end of the war in Europe.

Many butcher shops closed throughout New York's five boroughs. Housewives stood in line two hours for hamburger. Hot dogs stands ran out of frankfurters for the first time within memory.

More than 300 restaurants will close June 1, said Paul Henkel, president of the Society of Restaurateurs, and the number will be "doubled or tripled" a month later unless there is more food.

Federal agents and food dealers alike blamed the black market for part of the shortage, but markets department inspectors, stopping inbound poultry trucks, reported no violations.

Joseph Cohn, counsel for the New York Council of Wholesale Meat Dealers and the Meat Trade Institute, said 110 meat wholesalers of the 150 in the metropolitan area before price controls started had been forced out of business.

"Every one forced out," Cohn said, "has been replaced by 10 or 15 fly-by-nights, dealing in the black market, and getting most of what meat is available."

Cohn said the city's meat supply is tightening up, day by day. And shipments into the Long Island City poultry terminal dropped to 30,000 pounds recently—lowest in history—as Kosher dealers, protesting a "price squeeze," continued a boycott.