An Urgent Plea to Tenants, approved by the War Production Board and paid for by industry

An Urgent Plea to Tenants, from the Salvage Division of the War Production Board and catalogued at 1941, asks apartment dwellers not to throw waste paper down the incinerator, lists military uses for it, and pictures nine items to save. Its footer reads "Approved by War Production Board. Paid for by industry" (NAID 513847).

The sheet asks tenants to keep paper out of the incinerator

The sheet is red, mostly text, with small pictures of nine things to save, from bags and boxes to rags, tin cans and fats. The archive describes its readers as apartment tenants.

FROM THE SALVAGE DIVISION OF THE WAR PRODUCTION BOARD

AN URGENT PLEA TO TENANTS:

There is a Critical Shortage of Waste Paper - More Critical than at any time since the War began! Waste Paper is a vital "Weapon of War". Bomb Bands, Shell Containers, Aircraft Signals, Ammunition Chests, Parachute Flares, Overseas Containers and other Military needs are made in part from converted Waste Paper. Don't destroy it! Don't throw it down the incinerator. Save it!

URGENTLY NEEDED FOR WAR PRODUCTION: [...] AND DON'T FORGET FATS AND GREASES

APPROVED BY WAR PRODUCTION BOARD. PAID FOR BY INDUSTRY.

The footer says who approved it and who paid

The most useful line is the last one: "Approved by War Production Board. Paid for by industry." A tenant can weigh a plea differently once he knows who stands behind it, and this one tells him that a federal board approved the message and private industry covered the cost. The sheet does not say which companies paid, and the FRAME record does not name them either.

The claims are a list of uses, not a set of figures

The archive tags card stacking for the chosen list of military uses and glittering generalities for the "Weapon of War" label. The sheet gives no tonnage and no shortage figure. It names six products, says they are made "in part" from waste paper, and asks the reader to act. The request is voluntary: "Don't destroy it! Don't throw it down the incinerator. Save it!"

Later paper appeals on this site: Save Waste Paper, the 1944 four-step sorting poster, and Declare a Paper Holiday, from 1945.