The Washington herald., 1918-06-16
NO SHORTAGE
IN GASOLINE,
REQUASTATES
Reports Show There Is at
Present a Considerable
Surplus.

Malicious stories have been spread
about the country with q remarkable
degree of regularity concerning the
probability of a shortage Of gasoline
and the possibility OF the government
putting 4 stop to the unlimited use
Of passenger cars.
The Washington Herald has persist
emily shown there Is no danger Of .
! shortage in gasoline or even Q gov
eminent eurtailment Of its use. Now
Motor Age" a weu-known automo-
bile authority, backs up these state
ments.
surplus Of Gasoline
Reports to the effect that a gaso-
line shortage prevails are untrue" It
says. There Is no shortage Of trans
portaIon- There is surplus Of gas
oline.
Tank cars are standing idle In the
yards Of many gasoline distribution.
Reports to the effect that gasoline
and kerosene are to be mixed to ccn-
serve gasoline. and cards are to be
issued for the use Of gasoline, with
motor cars on a ration of one gallon
a day, are labeled by government Of
ficials as propaganda fostered by man
ufacturers OF appliances designed 10
operate on kerosene or on a limited
supply of gasoline.
Government officials do not deny
the probability Of q gasoline short
age In the future when the govern
ment reaches its maximum power in
the war. When many thousands Or
airplanes. tractors, trucks, tanks ans
passenger cars are employed, there
is no question but that conservation
of gasoline must accompany them:
but the suggestion Of gasoline cards
Of a ration OF one gallon q day, or a
mixture OF gasoline and kerosene, are
unsubstantiated by the facts.
DIsapproves Advance
Efforts by oil producers to with
hold production and increase prices
are denounced by NJ L Requa, d.
rector Of the oil division, United
States fuel administration, in a let
ter to A C. Bedford. petroleum war
service committee, New York. Mr..
Requa states:
81 cannot too strongly emphasize
the statement that the government
will not at this time view with ap-
proval any further advance in the
price OF crude oil, Because of the
war and the demands that are be-
ing made for various essential prod
uets II is obvious that the law of
supply and demand has broken
down
"'win you. therefore. make IL
plain to the producers of oil that the
oil division believes there is no JUS
tiication for an advance in the price
Of crude oil at this time and will
expect the industry to cooperate
with the oil division in an endeavor
to maintain existing prices as maxi
mum prices.
Competition in the form Of pay
ment Of bonus should also be re-
strained. / do not mean by this that
varying prices should not be paid for
oils Of varying quality. but these diff
ferentials once established should not
be further advanced
I shall be obliged If you will give
fun publicity to these views and take
the matter up with the advisory COM
mittee on production, affiliated with
your committee, for full consideration
and report
Opening New OIL Fields
THE House Of Representatives has
passed the oil leasing bill designed to
open up more than 5000 900 acres Of
government oil lands in the West to
meet the requirements of the army
and navy and for other war purposes.
The bill allows the government TO
lease one man $50 acres of govern
ment oil land or not more than $500
acres to a corporation. The govern
ment will receive an eighth of the oil
obtained.
THE bill further settles the difficult
ties between Western oil men and the
government over the closing up of
reserve lands by the Navy and De-
partment Of IIterior. by allowing
operators on government land whose
wells were closed by the government
action nine years ago to continue
their work under the royalty-leasing
plan Of the bill. Under the old plan
the operators took the oil free from
the government land"