El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-04-08
HIGH PRICE Of GASOLINE WILL
soon DROP, SAYS CAR EXPERT
Factory Engineer Dopes Out" the Fuel Situation and
Sees Much Lower Prices Close at Hand; Foreign
Oil Fields Will Soon Ship Their Product to
United States and B freak Present Prices.

ct CAN'T see the reason for all this
excitement about the price Of
gasoline" says Horace T.
Thomas, chief engineer Of the REQ Mo-
tor Car company" nor can understand
why some folk, who ought TO know bet
ter. take the matter so seriously.
"Of course II there were the slightest
chance Of 80 cent gasoline In the near
future, or even a chance that the pres
ent prices would continue IL would be
different. But anyone with even the
most superficial knowledge Of condi-
tions knows that is impossible.
mo one worries about the price or
aluminum-though that is now twice
Its normal price. Nor brass. nor lead.
The price Of steel is high-but no
body supposes for a moment that those
prices will obtain after the European
was Ia over War conditions ana war
prices is the answer to the gasoline
situation as 10 the others
Conditions IN New York.
so FAR aB New York Is concerned
that cltv ia an exception 10 every rule
anyway. At this time II Is imposing 20
ship freiFht into New York 50 most OF
10 is hauled from far distant points
and the rest is shipped In by express,
That is the reason for New YORK 30
cent per gallon. and, Of course, il is for
the moment only.
"Yc are exporting tremendous guam
titles Of gasoline TO Europe. In TACT
since the Galician. Romanian and Rus
sian fields are inactive, We are sup
plying the world with gasoline as well
as all other petroleum products.
II noticed the other day that Il big
tank steamers had cleared on the same
day-ths biggest day S9lpmen,t ever
made And every available tank snip
Is ia service The Standard Oil company
~ rushing work on 80 OF the largest
tank steamers ever built.
Europe Uses Much.
Why inst think Practically all the
cooking at the front is done with gaso-
line Then there are 10000 motor trucks
TO be fed, as well as myriads Of greedy
airplaneE. Every automobile IN Europe
Is doing double duty-and little atten-
ton can be paid TO economy in that
service. Tremendous quantities are de-
stroyed. too. IN storage places by enemy
aircraft and shells.
surely there's ample reason for the
present shortage and for the present
prices They are war time conditions;
that Is all. And they will end with the
war In fact We arc at the peak now
prices viii 80 no higher and may be ex-
pected 20 come down any day.
incidentally, have IL on pretty good
authority that oil producers like men
in other lines. have been quick 10 take
advantage OF the situation and 10 tenn
norarily advance prices just because
they could. In fact I am told that in
ton purposes, a very large proportion
Of tho oil wells Of this country are ac-
tualiy plugged, they are not pump
ing. Nor are these wells controlled by
standard OIL They are independent for
tho most part Right now there are
100000 barrels Of crude petroleum i'm
the big reservoirs on the hill at Oil
city, held for $500 per barrel and
spectators are paying that and more
There's war brides for you,
Foreign Oils Available
But YOU say, could not the pro
ducers keep prices up by a continuation
Of those tactics? The answer is that
ion normal peace times. just as soon as
gasoline in this country approaches 20
cents per gallon. Russian and Asiatic
oils come IN in floods. Oil like water,
soon finds its level-economically as
well as physically.
Some will recall that just before the
war broke out, people on the Pacific
coast became alarmed at the soaring
prices and feared they would continue.
A company was financed to bring
Asiatic gasoline Overland Immediately
thereafter Pacific coast points got the