Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-03-21
.wHY.DoEs GASOLINE GO Urg

The fact that hundreds of thousands of citizen
are not only consumers but compulsory consumer
Of gasoline, has given rise to many investigation
regarding the rapid advance in the price of til;
fluid II is doubtful whether any one other comm
dity has recently awakened more universal intere
than the advance in the price of gasoline. 30 wild
spread is the complaint against the increased pri'
that the United states senate has taken a hand ;
solving the riddle; the department of justice hi
been working on the problem; The department {
commerce has become deeply interested and ii
federal trade commission has probed to some exten
the latter reporting ais follows:
The oil industry is an unusually complex one.
The prospecting for oil, the purchase or lease of
oil lands the drilling of wells, and the proyi-
sion Of tanks for crude storage in the field, form
more or less distinct branches of the crude-oil
industry The crude oil must be gathered
through network of pipes to some central point
for shipping and then il must be transported by
trunk pipe line or tank car to the refinery. Mil
lions Of barrels are carried by pipe line from
Oklahoma even Us. Ear as the Atlantic seaboard
At the refinery Large supplies must he stored to
provide a stock of crude oil which will insure
CONTINUOUS operation. In refining, the different
crudesI yield different products, and Iefineries
vary from the "skimming plant" which takes
of gasoline and sells the balance largely as fuel,
to the Ncompete run" plant that gets not only
naptha and gasoline, but also kerosene, lubricat-
ing oils and greases, parafin, floor oils road
oils gus OIL fuel oil, tar, asphalt and coke Then
the refined products are marketed, and the Iarg.
er companies own and operate tank ears and
ships, tank stations and tank wagons Any
thorough investigation of even the gasoline sit
uatDnmlone involves a consideration of the en-.
tire petroleum industry from the production of !
the crude petroleum. TO the consumption of the :
refined products
There Is no effect without cause, and the ques
ton naturally arises to just what cause has wal
ranted the increase in price of gasoline
In listing up the properties and assets Of th
companies manufacturing the product, we find tina
they havt the same pipelines. They are using th
same tanks for storage There has been no incieas
n the distribution agencies and they are all appar
emily Following the same means of operation. The.
have certainly not increased wages Summing nj
all things concerned, there are no advanced condi
tons that would warrant a rise in the price iron
~ II cents gallon in April 1915, to % cents
the present time.
There Is an obvious reason for the extreme ,higI
countfics, gasoline soaring with the rest In Eng
land the present quotation for gasoline is 40 to A
cents gallon, but the war had been in progress fo
many months before the latter part of 1915, a
which, time the price Of gasoline here in Honolulu
was quite steady at II II cents gallon.
According to the law of supply and demand i
would be but natural and expected that increase,
consumption would he followed by increase in price
According to the best figures obtainable there wer
in the hited States in 1915 over 81 900 licensed
BY the end of 1917 the number o
estimated to be in public use in III,
United States is 3,0OO0O0 Allowing 500 gallons
Of gasoline for each automobile, which is fair es
innate the autos for 1917 will require 800 900 OO
gallons against 1,O0O,OOO,0OO gallons consumed il
1915. But this increase for the number of autos
for 1917 has not yet taken place. while the rise ii
the price of gasoline has already occurred far ii
advante with the prospects Of going still higher
Therefore the present high price cannot be laid Il
the large increase in the number of automobiles
Notwithstanding the fact that few oil well,
have diminished their flow somewhat, the output o.
producing companies during 1916 steadily in
creased.