thirty years of the twentieth century, the extensions of land employed for agriculture were reduced considerably. As we shall see, once World War II was launched, shipments of basic foodstuffs to Puerto Rico began to decrease thus provoking a rapid increase in prices and a worsening of the precarious daily food supply of the majority. In the second part of this article, I describe government faced the crisis. I how Tugwell’s attempt to place into perspective the role of various agencies in the creation of an emergency program implemented in Puerto Rico which strengthened the role of the government to the point of making it all powerful in the area of food distribution At the end, I reflect on the adjustment of the people to the paternalistic role of the state as provider of food. The measure of the crisis: Prior to 1942, the Puerto Rican population had suffered serious food shortages. The years between 1929 and 1932 were especially severe. The characteristics of the initial years of the Depression, however, were different from those during the 1942-43 period in that the crisis centered on the cost and not on the lack of food supplies. During the wartime prices would certainly increase, but because of food shortages. Although per capita income per family continued to decline from the prices for goods continued to increase, during the war period the ability to mid 1930’s onward while obtain food on a daily basis reached its lowest ebb because fewer ships would reach the ports in Puerto Rico. As a consequence, the tonnage of food supplies (cereals, dry vegetables, meats and salted fish, canned goods, and fats) decreased greatly. This occurred in conjunction with spiraling prices, few possibilities of stable employment in agriculture, and reduced wages. The level of dependence on basic food imports can be better understood if we consider that between 1935-39 Puerto Rico acquired 91.8% of all its food supplies from the United States. This subordination would have an important socio-economic impact particularly in view of the fact that the
thirty years of the twentieth century, the extensions of land employed for agriculture were reduced considerably. As we shall see, once World War II was launched, shipments of basic foodstuffs to Puerto Rico began to decrease thus provoking a rapid increase in prices and a worsening of the precarious daily food supply of the majority. In the second part of this article, I describe how Tugwell’s government faced the crisis. I attempt to place into perspective the role of various agencies in the creation of an emergency program implemented in Puerto Rico which strengthened the role of the government to the point of making it all powerful in the area of food distribution At the end, I reflect on the adjustment of the people to the paternalistic role of the state as provider of food. The measure of the crisis: Prior to 1942, the Puerto Rican population had suffered serious food shortages. The years between 1929 and 1932 were especially severe. The characteristics of the initial years of the Depression, however, were different from those during the 1942-43 period in that the crisis centered on the cost and not on the lack of food supplies. During the wartime prices would certainly increase, but because of food shortages. Although per capita income per family continued to decline from the mid 1930’s onward while prices for goods continued to increase, during the war period the ability to obtain food on a daily basis reached its lowest ebb because fewer ships would reach the ports in Puerto Rico. As a consequence, the tonnage of food supplies (cereals, dry vegetables, meats and salted fish, canned goods, and fats) decreased greatly. This occurred in conjunction with spiraling prices, few possibilities of stable employment in agriculture, and reduced wages. The level of dependence on basic food imports can be better understood if we consider that between 1935-39 Puerto Rico acquired 91.8% of all its food supplies from the United States. This subordination would have an important socio-economic impact particularly in view of the fact that the