Rationing stamps for gas and sugar was given out, depending on how many was in the family. You would get a little booklet of stamps and when they were gone, you couldn't buy anymore. Even with the stamps, you could only buy so much gas at a time.  People during the depression raised a lot of beets and they cut off the tops and were taken to a sugar factory to make sugar. The gas rationing stamps were only good for so long.  I guess this is why Daddy had some left.