Nationwide gasoline rationing coming was the headline in the Telegram-Tribune September 10, 1942.
Gas rationing was the recommendation of committee charged with managing the nation’s rubber supply. They reported to President Roosevelt that a national speed limit of 35 miles an hour was needed and they wanted to reduce the annual national average driving distance from 6,700 to 5,000 miles.
According to 2011 statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation the average driver clocks about 13,500 miles annually. About twice the average 70 years ago.
The U.S. did not have a ready supply of synthetic rubber and the material was vital for the war effort.
Camp San Luis Amphitheatre was under construction Sept. 11, 1942, expected to be finished in two months.
A $12,000 mission style amphitheater was under construction at Camp San Luis Obispo. On the bank of Chorro Creek it would seat a maximum of 12,000 and was designed by Tom Hing. He was born in Milwaukee of Chinese parents. His wife and three of his children were still trapped in China by the war. He had worked there as an engineer for several years.
The facility was planned for large camp shows or mass class instruction and expected to be finished by Nov. 1.
Sept. 18, 1942
The new $20,000 Odd Fellows hall at 500 Dana St. was to be dedicated the next day.
San Luis Obispo city school lost 13 percent from the all-time-high enrollment of 2,423 the previous year. One third of the 307 student drop in enrollment were students of Japanese descent sent to relocation camps far from the coast.
The Chamber of Commerce was organizing volunteers to harvest sugar beets, tomatoes and other fall crops. An unprecedented labor shortage was threatening the harvest.
Soviets were fighting building by building in Stalingrad. Fall rains a few days earlier were an indication that the Russian winter was coming. In places German troops had reached sight of the Volga River according to United Press Correspondent Harrison Salisbury.
The battle of Stalingrad raged on as San Luis Obispo dedicated a new Odd Fellows hall. Telegram-Tribune Sept. 18, 1942
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