Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Howard Herron 7 1
demonstrators.
premium then but. . . .
We had no more cars for sale and automobiles were a
Q: Did a lot of people have to jack up their cars during the duration?
A: No, nobody wasted gasoline but everybody cooperated with it as they
could and had plenty to eat but it was rationed.
Q: Do you remember if shoes were rationed?
A: No, I don't remember that, did you?
Q: Yes, I remember that.
A: No, I never did.
Q: I guess because of the rubber soles.
A: I never needed any shoes. I had plenty. But it lasted about six
years, I believe it was about six years. s hat's when I learned to. . . .
Q: What did or how did they ration things?
A: Stamps. Books of stamps. People smuggled them.
Q: Oh dear, a lot of that went on? Black market, is that what it was
called?
A: There was black market in meat then and things like that too. Some
wouldn't partake and some did, but it was that way with everything.
There were bootleggers, the country was dry. You wouldn't remember that
I guess.
Q: No, but Ive heard of that. According to some of the tales there was
quite a bit of that going on here in Auburn.
A: Oh tes. You didn't have to go far. There was home brew and what
they called Deigo Bed Wine. They'd shoot the barrel with ether some way
and you better not drink very much of that because it would make you
sick. I never was much of a drinker. I never partaked in that very
much.
Q: During that time had you ever heard of any rumors about any Chicago
gangsters being hiding out in Auburn?
A: Oh yes. I knew one time they came down here, they'd come down here
and load their trucks. There was a place out here south of Auburn that
was manufacturing this alcohol. And they had the big vats and everything,
concrete vats. And they'd go in to Springfield, they broke a wheel on a
truck and they had to get a wheel for that rtuck. Nobody was ever arrested
or anything else.
Q: People weren't being arrested for making their own booze then?