Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-10

dent II is a fatality, was bound to come. The
problem Of gasoline is the problem OF power.
to supply cheap fuel for cheap engine.
II cannot he done by legislation. II can he
done, II Is being done today, by American
ingenuity and inventive genius.
On THE day when the motor buses Of Lon
" don were transported across the Channe
and transformed into motor transports tn,
gasoline problem was sublimated into tn,
problem of power. on that day every taXicat
! In Paris was commandeered and every pri
vate motor.driven vehicle i'm Berlin was in the
! Government service. Two weeks later the
motor truck the lorries and vans, were de
livering ammunition and food, were trans
ferring officers and men, were in every sense
the arteries of each army in the field.
The war is now being waged on basis of
motor power and, as a result, motor power
! is now being considered on the basis of the
war. Nothing could be less intelligent than
! to fancy that the price of gasoline can be
! arbitrarily reduced. that there is conspiracy
| against the small automobile, or that an en-
barge will settle the question. All Of these
things have some bearing on the matter. but
they all err in regarding the price of gasoline
an isolated phenomenon. 1t is, i'm fact
only a part of the entire problem of power
of power that propels.
The extraordinary development Of the in
ternal explosion engine known popularity in
the motor car is obviously the beginning of
the gasoline difficulty. 1t is within mortal
memory that gasoline was "A by.product of the
manufacture of petroleum and that it sold for
five or six cents gallon. Today accent
gasoline figures In the headlines as a possi-
bity. The significant thing in this increase
is not that a few exploiters are making
of lttt hat N M
calculable number of consumers become
dependent upon motor traction. The problem
of power is to reconcile the price of material
to the price of the engine using IT, A motor
car selling at $500 which demands a fuel
selling at 40 cents a gallon is an intolerablc
incongrulty.
More ways than one have been suggested
for such an adjustment. The restriction of
monopoly is an obvious way and is more in
keeping with American political traditions
than the proposed embargo on gasoline. But
the great American tradition, overshadowing
all political eXpedents, is its implicit and
justifable belief in invention. If ever there
was n manifest destiny" for America it was
framed in terms of human ingenuity. It is
only question now of the profitable area of
action in which this ingenuity may exert it.
self.
The Secretary OF the Interior has pointed
out that the present prices of gasoline bear q
definite relation to the demand, but seem TO
be only slightly concerned with the price or
production of crude oil. The -'eason for this
is two-fold and bears out what has been said
of American inventiveness. Ten years ago
only 10 per cent. or so of gasoline was eX-
tracted from Pennsylvania crudes the highest
type of petroleum. Today the yield is twice
nf
but because the designers of carburetors and
internal combustion engines have improved
their work, so that now gasoline Of higher
specific gravity can be utilized in them. The
other reason is the other side of the shield.
The gross yield, in any specific gravity, is
enormously increased by the perfection of
Cracking" processes-the method of taking
the gasoline from the crudes. The Burton proc
ess, patented and owned and sacred to the
Standard Oil Companies, produced 100000
barrels per annum. In February, 1915, the
Bureau of Mines brought out the Rittman
cracking process, which is at the disposal of
all producers and enables them to double
their output of gasoline, using in the manu-
facture all low grades of distlate from petro-
Ieum, including kerosene or crude oil.
The value of such patents is. however,
measurable. while the possibilities of inven-
tiOn are lnflnlte. New processes VIII lead eN-
ploiters to petroleum fields considered
unavailable. When the Cushing pool, in Okla
homa, went down from 100000 to 100000 bar
res day gasoline swooped upward and no
increase in production will prevent such
simply because the natural resources
are limited. Rittman will counteract Cushing,
but fall in Pennsylvania will counteract Ritz
man in time. Even the fact that 2,345,OOO,O 900
barrels of petroleum are lying in the soil Of
can hardly be comforting 10 one
who notes the irresistible increase in the use
of motors and gasoline engines
Mr.. Lemuel Gullver saw. in his travels, the |
work of a scientist who was extracting power |
from cucumbers and in that vision he intended |
to be ironic. But the irony is all the other |
way The sun and the waves and the tides |
have all been searched for power, and even |
tually they will be forced to give up their |
secrets. At the same time synthetic gaso- |
line" is announced from Germany-naturally |
from Germany, which trusts not to nature |
for her goods. The solution of the problem |
Of power will be found in every attempt made
by man to win something from nature which
she does not readily surrender TO his demand. /
II will not be found permanently in economy, .
nor in legislation, nor in any capacity Of the
human being except his capacity for circum-
venting even the forces of nature when they
stand in his way.