West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1881-04-20
OUR VOLCANO LETTER.
vo1cANo, April II, 1881.


your .journal-and not by any
means the lea8t--is pfomptness in
publication. AS regularly as
"Wednesday evening comes, the
FREEMAN makes It's appearance
flied TO the bsin WITH dhec.iul read
ing matter, adding a full measure
of happiness to thehome circle OF all
who are fortunate enough torcceiy9
it. In newspaper publication.
punctuality covers a multitude OF
sins in spelling and geography,
and ought to have covered the SIN
of that lawful mistake" Of q few
weeks ago, which caused such COM
motion among the pcdants.
Our Parko1Ybprg oil market is
below par-the price offered being
below the cost Of production. With
in the past two weeks prices drop
ped from 81 10 to 80 cents per bar
rel and back again to $l,l0, the
present market quotations. At this
price but very little Of the product
will find its way to Parkeraburg
dealers, for the reason that all Lots
for sale are being quietly taken ia
by men who have managed to get
'1ittle ahead," and who have sense.
enough to know that it is worth
more, and viii bring more in due
season Possibly the A. & B. pro
duct of this region could be sold at
$1,75 per barrel, without loss to the
operators, but there is no profit in
the producing business at less
figure than $500 per barrel,
The effect Of 81, 10 oil has caused
the producers to organize and to
adopt plans for the purpose of real
ling the worth Of their product. In
this they do not propose to be arbi-
trary and hold their oil at higher
price than the dealers can afford to
pay, but they do propose to tho
roughly test the question whether
the oils Of West Va. possess any
merit over the light oils Of Pennsyl-
vania III is found that they do,
it is the purpose Of the organization
to demand value for value.
On the subject Of tie merits Of the
oils of this region and the light oils
ofPcnnsylvania, the producers have
been led into confusion by the in
constituencies practiced by the deal
ers. Last summer the Consolidated
paid $1,25 per barrel for the same
quality of oil that they now offer
but 81, 10 for. The price Of refined
oil last summer as compared with
prices to-day was from I to / cent
lower per gallon, and yet they tell
us that all this difference in the
price Of crude is on account of the
low price of the refined product. #
this is so, then we may attribute
the prices forcrudc of last summer
to the 'festcring love" Of the Con
solidatod and not to any superior
merits Of our oils over those of other
regions. ~.
1t is well known that the light
oil market of Pennsylvania docsnot
effect the market price of the oils
produced in the Franklin (Pa.) dis
trict. These Franklin oils, of 80
@32o gravity, sell at S4,00@s4,50
per barrel at the wells to-day. Why
do these oils so readily command
the prices named? Parkersburg
dealers tell us that it is because of
the "cold test" these oils stand, but
they fail to tell us Of the other rea-
sons, which are:
list. Thorough organization of the
Franklin producers.
I'd. One sellerof all the oils pro
duced in the Franklin district.
Sd. The worthlessnessof the light
oils Of Pennsylvania for the manu-
facture of lubricating oils without
oils of heavier gravity and cold test
tomix with and give body and life
to the light oils, thus forcing deal
ers in lubricating oils to pay Il far
price for the Franklin product.
Now the "C' & I'D" grade oils of
w. Va. are equal in cold test quail
ties to those of Franklin, and are
much superior in lubricating prop
critics, our "B" grade oil being as
good a lubricator as the Franklin
product, and yet our market for
these grades ISL, 10 for 3D." $500,
for &C" and $3.50 for Cd" Why do
not these grades of W. Va. oil COM