S tudia H istorica S lovenica
duced on 24 June. Families that exceeded the limit on the ownership of flour and cereal were temporarily denied bread cards, until they ran out of their own supplies. The regulation brought a novelty to farmers, as their rations, in comparison to the city rations which were still subjected to the daily limit of 200 g of cereal, were increased to 240 g of flour and 300 g of cereal per day. In the coming weeks and months, the government repeatedly interfered in the supply of the population and, with constant new provisions, introduced or expanded restrictions on the supply of food.49 This was becoming unbearable for people who were experiencing ever more frequent tensions that often ended in physical altercations. As reported by the Slovenski gospodar newspaper, farmers in cities were often targets of anger of the urban population who saw rural merchants as usurious people who used war for the winding of prices and making of profit. Preserved is a report of an event at the Maribor market, where a farmer was trying to sell her dairy products and the enraged crowd attacked and insulted her, smashing her bottles and thus destroying her daily milk yield. One potato seller was assaulted with fists and bags.50 Due to the lack of food, prices increased uncontrollably. The Straža newspaper reported that "/…/ urban stores selling flour, rice and potatos (in Freihaus and Viktring streets) again raised the price of flour. Bread flour which used to cost 52 farthings now costs 54 farthings."51 Less than a year and a half from the beginning of the war, prices in the Austrian part of the Monarchy went wild. Himmelreich notes that, from July 1914 to December 1915, prices in Austria increased by as much as 104 percent.52 The problem in Maribor was that the city population saw farmers as usurious people who must have had more than enough food if they were able to sell it. Despite the rationalisation of food and the limitation of sale quantities, the state had no effective mechanism to control the implementation of administrative measures. Each one of them was a burden to the public officials or provoked the need for new employment. In April 1914 (before the war), the Municipality of Maribor made a projection of annual costs incurred by the city bureaucratic apparatus. The data showed that the city municipality allocated
49
"Krušne karte za celo deželo (Bread cards for the entire country)", Straža newspaper, 23 May 1915, No. 42, Year 7: 4; National Code of Kingdoms and Provinces represented in the National Assembly, No. 75/1915; National Code of Kingdoms and Provinces represented in the National Assembly, No. 113/1915; National Code of Kingdoms and Provinces represented in the National Assembly, No. 167/1915. 50 "V obrambo kmečkega ljudstva (In defence of the rural population)", Slovenski gospodar newspaper, 15 April 1915, No. 15: 1. 51 "Maribor", Straža newspaper, 3 May 1915, No. 35: 4. 52 "Zopetno zvišanje cen (New price increase)", Straža newspaper, 27 September 1915, No. 77: 4; "Maksimalne cene za krompir (Maximum price of potatoes)", Straža newspaper, 11 October 1915, No. 81: 2–3; Himmelreich, Namesto žemlje črni kruh, 15.
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