The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-08-05
Petroleum us n Commercial sta
ple-Observati0nS CONCERNING
u Leading Interest. -.

pIe-ObservationS CONCERNING
% Leading Interest. Isr,,,55,
The petroleum trade has been quite re.
ylved OF late. The following from the
New York Commercial Advertiser Of yes
terday Is an opinion from an outsider
Of the great and increasing Importance Of
tho trade: LIZ. lt.g. Il
soil, oil, everywhere, oil on the side.
walk, oil on the piers, oil on the rail, and
oil in the air, ships are soaked with oil.
Comparatively few outside Of the trade
are aware Of the importance which Pc
troleum has assumed among our leading
exports. 1t may be stated, in word, as
regularly giving employment 10 more
ships-to larger amount OF tonnage
than any other single commodity, not ex-
cepting grain; and Of late 1t Is attracting
more general attention on account OF the
advance in price, thereby aftording lar.
ger margin for reducing. Prices, which
opened in January last at Isle for refined
have advanced to 17ac a16sc,-the mar
ket still rising, both here and in Europe.
The magnitude Of transactions may be
seen by glance at the following summa-
ry OF exports for the last seven months,
since the beginning OF the present year, In
comparison with 1874. n
From New York, gallons. 6, 1000 1852, OOs
From other ports. ,oOl,4G 42Ss',Sl
Total. ...,.. HIGHEST
Same tImc 10 2ss, ics
S1 tuu IN
A better idea Of the part petroleum
plays in the commerce OF New York Is
afforded by the statement that in single
week ending 18th instant not less than
twenty-eight vessels left this port with
cargoes Of petroleum and fifty more were
loading. The statement ia in no respect
remarkable, except that 1t indicates the
magnitude Of q leading interest. When
the former whaling fleets on the Attic
Ocean had their rendezvous at New Bed.
ford, Nantucket and New London, no
thought could have been more remote
than the possible discovery Of a substitute
for the whale in the coal fields Of Penn
sylvania, or that the boring Of wells into
the bowels Of the earth would snrpass in
results the thrusting Of numberless har-
poems and the "chopping OUT OF noun
tains Of blubber from a whales back.
But so It Is. The lapse OF twenty-five
years sees the whaling fleets OF the
United States (which then, comprised
nearly 700 vessels and represented an In
vestment Of So, 900, 000) for the most part
Superseded by another class oil vessels
taking their departure from New York,
Baltimore and Philadelphia for all parts
Of the known world. OF late even China
and the East Indies consume the oleagin-
GUS products from our mines very largely.
Tho common impression among dealers
is that production is below consumption.
This Is the view generally expressed,
sometimes very likely with an Interior
purpose. However this may be, an ,arti-
Gle which has sold as high as 81 12t, q
gallon, and all the way down TO eleven
cents Tin 1873, when there was no profit In
the buSiness), Is now supposed to be SELL
Ing at an intermediate price on the sup.
posed legitimate basis Of supply and de.
mand. The production seven years ago
reached about $1,000 barrels per day; It
Is now about $4,000 barrels, and, not
withstanding all effort made TO increase
the volume, there seems to be no new ter
ritory to explore. The wells, too, are
more readily exhausted, requiring new
ones to be bored. Added to this the stock |
In Europe Is represented 10 be much re.
duced, while the use OF petroleum
everywhere is steadily growing. There
is also general feeling that when the
usual "home trade" opens, early in Sep
TENDER, when jobbers begin to lay in their
winter stock, prices will rule even higher
than now. Until lately II was an ocea-
sion Of surprise that with the extraordin-
airy low prices prevailing, and at which
It could be produced, so little had been
done to adapt petroleum to various do
nestle purposes and the industrial arts,
but much progress has been made in this
respect, sufficient, it may be, to absorb
all surplus production,