The Washington herald., 1917-08-21
HOLLAND LETTER
The Biggest Daily
Financial News Feature of
the Counhy's Best Newspapers

.
millions of oil-producing lands in
California and in Wyoming are to be
opened to development. When Pres!-
dent Bedford, OF the Standard Oil
Company. speaking not as an oil pro-
ducer, but as one OF those associated
with the government in perfecting
preparations for the war, made an ap-
peal to the owners of automobiles
that they curtail their excursions and
joy-riding so that the gasoline supply
would not thereby be imperiled by
those who sought its use purely for
pleasure, it was the common under
standing among oil producers that in
this statement was a hint delicately
expressed to the government itself
For what avail would it be greatly to
decrease the demand for gasoline by
those who use automobiles for pleas
ure If millions of acres of public do
main known to contain vast quantities
Of petroleum were closed to the pion-
NNAo VI " Nllt tAplOl IltslutllN btu-
ford, President Sinclair and others
in private conversation were reported
to have intimated that If the govern
ment would allow the public domains
to be open to exploration and produc-
tiOn there probably would result in a
short time a vastly increased output
Of crude oil. in fact enough OF an in
crease to make any consideration Of
fWaNH
for pleasure purposes of no impor-
tauce.
There remains, however. consider
able constructive work to be done IL
production OF oil in California and
Wyoming is sufficient to avert the
threatened crisis. All the oil pro-
and a great deal Of expense are in
volved in prospecting for new oil
properties. The prospectors are men
Of expert qualifications. They expect
TO he We'll paid, and IL has been sug-
gested that It might be worth while |
as war emergency measure to grant |
prOspectOrs subsidy or bounty so /
that they could feel assured that salts |
factory remuneration would come to |
them for their work
What the prOspeCtors and oil pro- !
ducers have been compelled TO meet |
with In the way of obstacles is shown /
by their experience in Wyoming. Sur |
face indications were that there was |
a large supply of oil in Wyoming and |
the operators and prospectors dared |
to face exposure and even the dan
ger Of loss OF life and in addition to /
this to pay large amounts Of money
IN order to ascertain whether the Wy |
omiHg field was worthy of commercial |
consideration. They did discover that |
in certain parts Of Wyoming there |
are very rich deposits of oil but that |
discovery was all the good it did, for |
these lands were at once withdrawn !
by the government and the money that |
was expended in prospecting was a
complete loss.
In addition to the great cost which !
will be entailed in prospecting in Cali |
fulnia and Wyoming, there is also !
tho heavy cost of drilling wells in To- |
cations which the prospectors are con- |
vinced gave fair promise. II costs |
twice AS much for the actual work of |
oil well drilling as was the case be- |
fore tNa war began and in addition |
equipment and labor charges are much |
higher than they were four or five |
years ago.
But the first step, II the serious |
Industrial and business crisis which a |
threatened shortage in oil pretended is |
TO be avcrted, was taken in Washing |
ton the other day when an agree |
mCnt was reached whereby the oil /
lands of California and Wyoming may !
be open to exploration and eXpiOita !
tiOn. one of the estimates is that be- !
tween SCO,OJO,uOD and 1000 10000 bar |
rcls Of crude oil can be obtained from .
these properties before they are eN- /
haUstcd. The government having TAX
en- this step the oil producers will now |
supplement the assistance given by |
the government for II is the under
standing here that Notwithstanding |
the heavy cost they are ready to be-
gin the work OF prospecting and drill
ing wells and providing tanks and pipe |
lines.
Now that the government has lift
cd its hand from that part Of the
public domain which is known to
contain vast quantities OF crude oil,
another lesson teaching the advan-
tage of government aid instead of
the dOg-in-the-manger policy Is
learned by those who have read
the reports which tell of the COM
merce of Alaska, for the twelve
months of the fiscal year which end
ed June 30. In money value that
commerce was a little over $lij,0OO-
900. In the previous fiscal year the
commerce of Alaska was of money
value of a little under $lD,00,OOQ.
The export or newly mined gold
from Alaska does not explain this
increase for the value of the gold
mined and exported from the PEN
insula was a little over $ls,00,OO0.
It has been observed that for some
years Alaska has been mining and
sending each year to Seattle and
San Francisco from Sl5,OO0,c0O to $l6.-
10000 worth of gold. The presump-
ton is that there will not be much
increase in the gold production in
Alaska until transportation facili-
ties are greatly expanded. Never
theIess, the $4,000 in gold which
Alaska sent to the United States
in the past fiscal year added ma
terially to our new supply of gold.
Many are wondering whether
copper is not to take pre-eminence
in Alaska's export. excepting per-
haps fisheries. There was a won
derful jump in the production of
copper in Alaska after the govern
mcnt changed it's attitude and aft
er transportation facilities had
been greatly increased. Now
Alaska is producing so great an
amount of copper that her output
ranks well with the output of cop
per mines in the United States.
Some of those who have visited
Alaska would not be surprised If
in the course of two or three years
the copper output of Alaska was
found equal to that of any one of
the great mines in the Far West.
1t was the increase in the exports
Of copper from Alaska in the past