The Washington herald., 1918-04-27
FUEL OILBIG
ASSET IN WAR
Holland Says Proclamation
of President Emphasizes
Its Importance.

vinceo that a critical condition might
arise on account OF traffic congestion
on the railroads, deemed it e&pedient
in January OF this year 70 issue a
Proclamation In which be sid: TT
Is not possible to move promptly our
abundant supply of fusFsoH by rea-
: son Of the traffic congestion on our
railroads and the transfer OF trans
Atlantic service Of q large number
Of tank steamers ordinarily engaged
In coastwise trade"
The President then knew that there
Is oil in plenty, but that. neverthe-
less, much Of IT is unavailable by
reason OF lack Of transportation fa-
eilities. In fact. the Fuel Admins
tration stated that there Is at the
present time ample oil available for
-all possible needs. but there is not
sufficient transportation available to
: carry II from the source OF produc-
: tfon to the consumer"
In these statements is embodied the
> conviction that petroleum 10 vital to
the success of the allies In the war
: because IL furnishes invaluable aid
to efficiency in the Industrial activi-
ties Of peace. .-.
There Is. however, to be speedily O
remarkable increase in transportation
facilities for petroleum, particularly
from what are now the richest known
oil fields Of the world. which are To-
Gated in Oklahoma. A day or two
ago announcement was made that the
corporations identified by the name of
President Sinclair have completed a
pipe line which will deliver at Chi
cago from Oklahoma 10000 barrels of
crude oil daily or considerably in ex-
lNF sE-aIs.
This, however. Is not the only pipe
line construction completed or in
course of completion by this corpora
tion. The corporation has already
built Loo miles of pipe line and its
pipe system is the longest in the
world not built by Standard Oil cap
ital. There Is already projected and
soon to be completed a pipe line from
Oklahoma to Gulf ports which will
be 90 miles in length. When this is
done. then a through pipe line stretch
ing from the Gulf to the great oil
fields of Oklahoma and then stretch
D., ing northerly to Chicago will be utfI-
lied for the transportation and dis
trtbution Of many million barrels of
OIL year. The railroads could not
begin 20 transport this amount of OIL
Romance of Industry.
The development of pipe line con-
struction and the utilization of II
furnish one ~ of the modern ro-
mances of American industry. Some
body OF inventive mind with a
practical turn suggested years ago
when the Pennsylvania oil region
was at the height of its prosperity,
that petroleum be conveyed from
the wells or tanks by means of o
pipe so constructed that the oil
would flow by the force Of grayita-
tion. That proposition was accepted
but only in part, for it was deemed
the better way to equip the pipe
with pumps so that the oil could
be forced by pressure through It,
At first this pipe construction and
metho4N-, were---f0und rto- be- faulty,
out men Of science and. great in
EentiVe capacity perfected the sys-
tenn so that today the pipe lines
from Oklahoma to Chicago and the
projected line from Oklahoma to
the Gulf are regarded as the high
est type and possibly the highest
possible type of pipe line construc-
tion.
= Work Of DIfHeuIty.
The recently completed pipe line
from Oklahoma oil fields to Chi
cago is about eight hundred miles
long. 1t was less difficult to per-
feet apparatus by means of which
the oil could be conveniently and
economically piped for that distance
than it was to secure rights of
way. Many hundred different con-
tracts for rights-of-way were
p necessary to obtain and it was also
Inevitable that there be crossing
of railroads riShts-of-way in nearly
two hundred places. There were
telegraph and telephone lines whose
consent 1t was necessary to obtain.
At last the large force of men en-
ployed In this work were able to
report that they had done their
part.
Then came other difficulties in
vOlving special engineering work
For it was necessary to lay the
pipe across several large rivers,
some of them two and a half miles
wide ana in order safely to do this
II was inevitable that the pipes
be so constructed as to have great
resisting strength. Seven hundred
clamps We're used in so perfecting
the pipe that 1t would be possible
to carry it across or under the
Mississippi River. The work pro-
ceeded after preliminary difficulties
were ended. with a rapidity that
seemed almost marvellous. As re-
Gently as October. 1916, the first
pipe OF the line was received and
the work of laying it was begun
almost a wear and a half ago All