United States Food Administration General Orders for Public Eating-Places, Notice No. 3
A printed notice sets twelve numbered orders for hotels, restaurants and other eating places on bread, meat, butter, cheese, sugar, cream and waste, with red and black type and a closing pledge line for the proprietor to display. It is mostly regulation, but the instruction 'Be patriotic, observe the rules of the Government, report those who do not' attaches patriotism and peer reporting to compliance, and the display line turns the notice into a public signal of conformity.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- October 21, 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Food Administration (Los Angeles City office; Hotel and Restaurant Committee)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Food Administration (Los Angeles City office; Hotel and Restaurant Committee). National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-82.
Text on the object
[newspaper clipping pasted at top left: TWO KINDS OF MEAT / MADE LEGAL AGAIN. SAN FRANCISCO ... Ralph P. Merritt, Federal Food Administrator for California ...; remainder illegible] [red handwritten annotation at top: partly legible, '... Do not take away'] [...]S THIS WHERE YOUR PATRONS CAN SEE IT [Uni]ted States Food Administration [GEN]ERAL ORDERS FOR PUBLIC EATING=PLACES Notice No. 3 Superseding All Previous Notices. October 21, 1918 For the purpose of the following general orders public eating-places shall be defined to include all hotels, restaurants, boarding houses, clubs, dining cars, and steamships, and all places where cooked food is sold to be consumed on the premises. A FAILURE TO CONFORM TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ORDERS WILL BE REGARDED AS A WASTEFUL PRACTICE FORBIDDEN BY SECTION FOUR OF THE FOOD CONTROL ACT OF AUGUST 10, 1917. GENERAL ORDER 1. No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served any bread or other bakery product which does not contain at least 20 per cent of wheat flour substitutes, nor shall it serve or permit to be served to any one person at any one meal more than 2 ounces of this bread, known as Victory Bread, or if no Victory Bread is served, more than 4 ounces of other breads (such as corn bread, muffins, Boston brown bread, etc.). Sandwiches or bread served at boarding camps, and rye bread containing 50 per cent or more of pure rye flour are excepted. NOTE:--The exception of SANDWICHES from the limited portion rule is general and not confined to sandwiches served in boarding camps. NOTE:--No public eating-house shall serve any bread product whatsoever at any time except upon the special order of the customer. GENERAL ORDER 2. No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served bread or toast as a garniture or under meat. GENERAL ORDER 3. No public eating-place shall allow any bread to be brought to the table until after the first course is served. NOTE:--When a meal consists of ONLY ONE COURSE the bread may be served concurrently with the meal. GENERAL ORDER 4. No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served to one patron at any one meal more than one kind of meat. For the purpose of this rule meat shall be considered as including beef, mutton, pork, poultry and any by-products thereof. GENERAL ORDER 5. No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served any bacon as a garniture. GENERAL ORDER 6. No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served to any one person at any one meal more than one-half ounce of butter. NOTE:--No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served any butter at any time except upon the special order of the customer. GENERAL ORDER 7. No public eating-place shall serve or permit to be served to any one person at any one meal more than one-half ounce of Cheddar, commonly called American, Cheese. NOTE:--The service of cheese with salads and the use of cheese with cooked dishes, such as macaroni, Welsh rarebits, etc., should be avoided. GENERAL ORDER 8. No public eating-place shall use or permit the use of the sugar bowl on the table or lunch counter. Nor shall any public eating-places serve sugar or permit it to be served unless the guest so requests, and in no event shall the amount served to any one person at any one meal exceed one teaspoonful or its equivalent. [… remaining text omitted: General Orders 9 to 12 and the note on patrons' own food] BE PATRIOTIC, observe the rules of the Government, report those who do not. Any violation of these rules will be prosecuted. Changes in these regulations of which the Food Administration will endeavor to keep you informed may be expected at any time. JOHN F. LAMBERT, Chairman Hotel and Restaurant Committee. LOUIS M. COLE, Food Administrator for Los Angeles City. THIS PLACE APPROVES THE ABOVE AND WILL COMPLY
General Orders 9 to 12 and the note on patrons' own food are omitted to fit the schema length limit (4000 characters); they are legible on the image. The pasted clipping and handwritten note at the top are partly illegible.
