Evening star., 1913-12-07

! Members of Congress were startled
somewhat this past week when they re-
| ceived report show
| Wasting of ing that In a single Oil
Natural Gas. COO worth m Of natural
gas is wasted each day while the oper-
ators are obtaining an output Of less
than 10000 barrels OF oil. valued at ap-
proximately $4,000 This means a yearly
waste Of natural gas valued at approx
mately $25,OOOOOO in one oil producing
section.
| This waste of 1915 worth Of nat
| ural resources for every one dollar 5
worth taken from the ground did not
strike the congressman who read the re-
| port as good business practice, and it is
| probable that further petroleum and nat
| ural gas Investigations by the bureau OF
| mines will be authorized, with view of
| encouraging the more economical devel-
| opment and use OF the oil fields OF the
entire country.
| Secretary Lane of the Department OF
| the Interior. in illustrating the need for
| further natural gas and petroleum In
vestigatiOns. has called attention OF con-
gressmen to the following recent report
received by the bureau Of mines regard
| ing the Gushing field of Oklahoma
/ 1.-THE maximum yield OF oil from the
Cushing field for a long period has been
considerably less than 10000 barrels per
day. The average value OF Oil at the
highest market quotation probably lies
below $4,000 per day. During this time
there has been wasting from drilling wells
not less than O.OOO.O00 cubic feet of gas,
while the waste from flowing wells is per-
haps in excess of 2O00OO.OOO cubic feet.
making a total daily waste OF 3OO.OOO,OOO,
which at the domestic rate of 25 cents per
a i'm
fuel or matter of perhaps $2O,OoO day
to the oil producer.
"It is not only possible to conserve this
gas but it also is possible In many cases
to manage the wells SO that they can
furnish oil without allowing the gas 10
ducer is to get the oil and let the gas
escape There are other fields In the
United States where enormous daily
waste of gas occurs
shown the oil operators in number OF
fields how they can obtain oil without
| wasting the natural gas and IL is ex-
pected that Secretary Lane Will recon-
tions In a line Of practical conservation
wherein many millions of dollars worth
Of the purest fuel and lighting resource
may be saved and made available TOT 1u-
ture use.
The cooperative laundry in farming
communities. operated along much the
same lines as the coop
| C0.0nerative erative creameries, is an
innovation which gov
TaxM Wo1A. ernment agricultural ex-
perts believe will mark the passing OF the
family washtub and the emancipation OF
| the farmers wife from a large part or
the drudgery which is sapping her
strength and energy and Fastening the
movement of the younger generation to
| the cities Two of the departments OF the
government-Agricult and Interior
are vying with each other in plans for
| Tightening the tasks of the farm woman.
The reclamation service of the Interior
| Department and a number OF the Du-
| reaus Of the Department OF Agriculture
| have already begun to put practical sug-
| gestionS into effect.
The washtub must go and the cooper
ative laundry take it's place. This is the
| idea upon which the reclamation service
| has just begun the announcement OF
| the labor-saving invention which is ex-
pected to go a long way toward relieving
| the farm home Of one of its heaviest bur-
| dens. The governments men on the irri-
| cation projects say that the washtub as
4 an instrument of torture, which has filled
| the days of the farmers wife with de-
spair and her nights with troubled
| dreams, is doomed. The back to the
land" movement gets much of its impe-
1 tus from the fact that better things now
obtain in the farm home than ever before,