Hoarding Days

Is it as American as apple pie?

In Cleveland, a crowd of 50,000 besieges three downtown butcher shops. A California woman collects 8,400 cans of food. And the run on sugar and sugar substitutes is so great that many beehives are stolen for their honey.

Shades of the future as more shortages cripple the country? No, this outbreak of hoarding occurred during World War II just before the Government imposed rationing. Now, as the lines at gasoline stations conjure up new visions of shortages, the question again arises whether Americans will embark on more hoarding sprees.

Some commentators on American behavior think that today's sporadic hoarding of gasoline is an isolated phenomenon unlikely to spread to other products. Says Sociologist Amitai Etzioni: "People have a very emotional stake in their cars. It's not rational and subject to the usual calculations." But others view it more seriously. Says Harvard Historian Frank Freidel: "Hoarding is an absolutely typical American trait."

Indeed, many social scientists warn of a "shortage psychosis" and see the jittery outbreaks of minor hoarding during the '70s--runs on saccharin, beef, coffee and canning lids--as a sign of a major problem ahead. If uncertainty is allowed to continue, says Johns Hopkins Behavioral Scientist M. Harvey Brenner, "then people are really likely to do panicky things."

One lesson learned during World War II is that hoarding of one item can cause a run on another. In 1943 the rationing of shoes touched off hoarding of clothes, and the rationing of canned meats and fish started panic buying of canned vegetables and fruit. Another lesson is that scarcity is not essential to hoarding. In 1973, reporting a Congressman's fatuous remark that supplies might grow short, TV Host Johnny Carson touched off nationwide panic buying of toilet paper.

One key ingredient in all hoarding, explains U.C.L.A. Sociologist Ralph Turner, is public distrust. Says he: "The ordinary human being knows that Government authorities and business leaders give a lot higher priority to keeping the populace calm than to telling the truth."

Factors other than a loss of faith in government may also be at work: a competitive culture, high anxiety about the economy and conflicting reports on which shortages are long-term or temporary. Says Sociologist Jackie Boles of Georgia State University: "At times like this we need strong leadership to jolt people out of this competitive behavior. Unfortunately, our leadership has said, 'Yes, we have an energy shortage,' and 'No, we don't have an energy shortage.' People are operating in a vacuum of leadership." Adds Brenner: "The public will try to get the facts themselves, and when no reliable facts are available, they will create their own drama."

As that drama unfolds, the only verifiable fact is that lines are forming, and anyone reluctant to join may not get his share. Says Detroit Psychologist Philip Owen: "If an individual sees a line, he's apt to get into it, even if he doesn't know what it's for." Social pressures against overbuying disappear; everyone can hoard in good conscience.' One refrain dates back to World War II: "I'm just stocking up before the hoarders get here."

Hoarding could become more severe than it was during the war. Says Princeton Historian Eric Goldman: "Rationing was resented then, but it was temporary; all we had to do was win the war. Today's nagging feeling about shortages comes from being helpless, [that] we aren't going to get out of this easily."

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