door The 1916 Distributiewet (Distribution Act) entered into force on August 19, 1916. There was a shortage of food in the Netherlands and a lot of things were going on. Sometimes a shortage was created, such as that of potatoes.
Potatoes were distributed through a special system, but at the same time potatoes were being exported to Germany. In return for this the government received fuel, which was deemed to be more important than potatoes. This eventually resulted in the “aardappeloproer” (violent demonstrations) in the Summer of 1917.
Employees of the Distributiewet organization enjoyed postage freedom. Unlike with other postage permits, these documents were not sent as “Dienst” (official) mail, but usually with a “Uitvoering Distributiewet” cancellation/cachet. For us collectors the labels shown here are of course much more attractive.
