The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1916-06-22
rapidly increasing and total enor.

unity to the Panama canal, to north
South and Central American points
gives them unique value. Three
hundred and fifty miles of steamer
transportation and 175 miles of pipe
line across the Isthmus of Tehuante-
pee will deliver this oil on the west
coast of Mexico at a point so advan-
tageously located that 1t completely
commands all markets south of Los
Angeles to an including Chile.
"lts location is fortunate for the Uni
ted States, for it is probably the great
source of supply to which the United
States must turn in the not distant
future"
What is possible and probable in
regard to oil is eXemplifed in Califor-
mia, which has no coal. Oil has come
into broader use there than anywhere
else in America. That state, which
has less than half the population of
| New York City, consumed last year
| 11O,OO0,OOO barrels of oil, or more than
a third of the total production of the
United States. Today, to meet its
needs, California imports oil from
Peru If New England consumed oil
in the proportion that California does,
it would require 9OO,OOO,0OO barrels a
year to supply that comparatively
small territory.
The United States burns more than
6OO, 900, 600 tons of coal annually. Four
barrels of oil equal one ton of coal in
heat units. On the fuel end alone
therefore, if oil supplanted coal, the
United States has a present capacity
of at least 2,4OO,OOO,OO0 barrels of pc
troleum a year. And America is grow
ing and will continue to grow.
The oil question has been brought
home to millions of persons by the
recent pronounced advance in the
price of gasoline. With another mill
ion cars added this year to the pres
ent number actually in use this gaso-
line price situation will become more
acute unless a change comes over the
phase of things.
But the dependence of the automo-
bile upon oil is of minor Importance to
the world at large compared with the
dependence of general industry on oil.
Not wheel of a locomotive moves
without oil. More and more agricul-
ture is turning to the tractor and a
multitude of gas engines to do its
work Every steamship needs oil for
fabrication. More and more new
ships are being built that have oil for
fuel. Not a battleship or torpedo
boat is being built that is not to be oil
driven. Coal takes up a large amount
of valuable space. BY reason of its
bulk and the large amount consumed
in attaining speed it limits the radius
of war vessel'c action. If coal is not
within easy reach fleets are helpless.
And coal makes such smoke-smoke
that betrays the presence of warships.
The oil smoke is controllable. 1t can
be burned to make no smoke On the
other hand the Smoke screen" made
Intentionally by destroyers closing the
air drafts, is an essential part of
battle tactics in every fleet today.
Oil makes the ideal fuel for the ship
and more particularly the warship, 1t
is cheaper, cleaner, easier and quicker
to take aboard; can be stored as bal
last, drawn on as needed, carried in
bulk sufficient to carry a vessel half
way around the world, and it makes
little or no smoke, unless smoke is
desired.
The Diesel engine will drive the
steam engine off the sea.
There is a vast waste in coal. There
is great economy in oil.
If America is not to be hampered
greatly in its development, if it is
not to halt the constantly increasing
drain on its coal fields it must supple
ment its supply of oil.
There is no way known by which
this can be accomplished except by
drawing upon the Mexican supply.
Mexico has been termed the trea-
sure house of the world This is be
cause of the vast quantities of gold
and silver and copper drawn from
wonderful deposits in the centuries
since Cortez. Immense as are the
riches of Mexico in gold, silver and
copper it is richer in oil than in all
the other minerals combined.
Pennsylvania has $4,000 oil wells,
Oklahoma has 10000 California has
| 10000. Mexico has less than 65 in the
light oil district; yet one well in Mex
leo, the Cerro Azul No 4, produces
almost as much as all the wells of the
| Oklahoma fields. In the territory al
ready proven by one company there
is ample room with one we'll to each
10 acres for the sinking of $500 wells.
If the supply should be conserved by