Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-26
GASOLINE PRICES

ernment report on gasoline
supply and prices and the relation OF
the two. The committee which made
the investigation holds that the situa-
tion may be summed up as follows;
The consumption of gasoline is
rapidly increasing.
/ The production of crude has been
| generally Regarded as near its
maximum.
Some Immediate relief may be sf-
forded by means of the following:
The use in internal combustion
engines of heavier distillates ap-
preaching Kerosene.
An acceptable kerosene carbure-
tor would at once go long way
toward relieving the present short
age of gasoline.
General use of cracking pro-
cesses whereby gasoline is made
from kerosene and other less Valu-
able petroleum oils. Such crack
ing processes are being rapidly de-
veloped and promise near relief 1t
is practicable to produce gasoline
from Kerosene; gas oil, tuel on.
present-day cracking process. and
no oil should be used for fuel that
has not been so treated.
Increasing the production OF
crude to furnish the necessary sup
plies of gasoline, but this is not to
be recommended if il increases the
output of distillates for which there
is no market
Looking to the future, the report
says, benzol may be considered as a
substitute for gasoline and oil-shale
as a substitute source of gasoline.
Benzol, n hydrocarbon not greatly
different from gasoline. is recovered
as a by-product in the manufacture
of coke. At present benZol is not
likely to find favor with automobile
owners in the United States as a sub
stitute for gasoline, although in gen
eral use in Europe. The objections
made to it as motor fuel.are that il
requires adjustments in the motor,
and that the quantity of it available
will be so limited as to preclude wide
spread distribution and ready avail
ability at every crossroads corner,
which the gasoline user has come to
expect.
The quantity of benzol produced in
by-product coke ovens in the United
States in 1915 was approximately a.
600, 900 gallons, and at the present
rate of production, and taking into
account new plants under construc-
ton, the output in 1916 will be at least
22,OOO,0O0 gallons, or about 100000
barrels. This quantity will be con-
sumed in the manufacture of eXplo-
sives, dyes and chemicals such as
carbolic acid, a type OF demand how
ever, that is expected to be much
smaller following the termination of
the European war, which has result
ed in the present high prices. Under
normal conditions the price has been
20 cents or less a gallon.
The quantity of coal now made
into coke is 60.0O0,OOO to 10000, 900
tons annually and as under present
practice the yield of benzol is two gall
Ions from the ton of coal, the uni
versal use of by-product ovens would
increase the present production of
benzol to over 100000 barrels. The
coal reserves available for the future
production of benzol are enormous
but production of benzol as a substi-
tute for gasoline can not be expected
TO draw on these reserves faster than
the demand for coke and for by
products other than benzol justifies
the coking or distillation of coal.
The oil shales in Colorado and
Utah constitute an undeveloped re-
serve of petroleum, to which atten-
ton was directed by the Geological
Survey in 1901. Field Investigations
of these deposits are being carried on
by the survey to ascertain the distri-
button and richness.
Certainly, one of three things must
happen-gasoline prices must be re-
duced by increase of supply, a sub
stitute must be found or automobile
ownership will become much more
restricted than at present