The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-05

lack of transportation creates a short age The preferential list is set forth as follows:
 Railroads and bunker fuel. "Export deliveries or shipments for the army or navy.
 Export shipments for the navies and other war purposes of the allies. Hospitals where oil now is being used | for fuel.
 Public utilities and domestic consum- CTS now using fuel oil, including gas oil
 "shipyards engaged in government work.
 Navy yards.
 1 "Arsenals.
 4Plants engaged in the manufacture, production and storage of food products. Army and navy cantonments where oil is now being used for fuel. Industrial consumers engaged in the manufacture of munitions and other ar- ticles under government orders. "All other classes. In issuing the preferential list the fuel administration at the same time ex- emIted all users of oil from the opera tion of the Monday closing order as 1t has been shown that most of the oil con sumers already were excepted under the previous exemptions. This exemption in- cludes net only users of fuel oils, but also consumers of all petroleum and pe- troleum products
 After reviewing the food control act, under which the proclamation is issued, the Presidents order sets forth
 Whereas, it is not possible to move promptly our abundant supplies of fuel oil by reason of traffic congestion on our railways and the transfer to trans atlantic service of a large number of tank steamers originally engaged in coastwise trade and it, therefore, seems desirable that plan of control be made effective in case the distributing com panies are unable to transport as re- qured fuel oil to all consumers now be- ing served.
 Now, therefore, < . hereby find and determine and by this proclamation do announce that it is essential in order to carry into effect the purposes of said act, to license the importation. manufac- ture, storage and distribution of fuel oil to the extent hereinafter specified. All persons, firms and associations en- gagged in the business of both manufac- turing and distributing fuel oil. includ- ing gas oil, whose gross sales amount to more than 100000 barrels per annum, are hereby required to secure on or before February Il, 1918, license, which license shall be issued under such rules and regulations governing the con-
  scribed. s''
 Nearly one-haf of the fleet of oil tank CTS which have brought oil from Mexico to the United States have been with drawn from the service, it was said to- night, to supply the American and all lied navies.
 This has depleted the oil supply in the United States to considerable extent and has created serious situation in the, 1 Ct n hn aqna0iallU l. lifornia, consumption is outstripping pro- duction.
 In supplying orders on the preferen- tial list producers and distributors, if their stocks are not large enough to fill all orders, will cut off consumers begin ming at the bottom of the list, until their orders and stocks balance.
 An explanatory statement issued to- night by the fuel administration said:
 These rules and regulations are pro- mulgated by the President for the pur- pose of assuring an adequate supply and equitable distribution of fuel oil, for pur- poses vitally essential to the national security and defense and to the success full prosecution of the war. The shortage in the amount of fuel oil which can be delivered. because of transporta tion conditions, is such that it is clearly a wasteful and unreasonable practice to de- liver such fuel oil for uses which are not intimately and directly connected with the prosecution of the war.
 'The license engaged in tho dstribu- tion Of fuel oil in that part of the United States east of the rocky mountains shall not, without the consent of the fuel ad- ministration make any deliveries of fuel oil to any customer of anyone of the classes mentioned until he shall have delivered to customers of every class designated higher on the list with whom he may have a contract all fuel oil for which deliveries shall then be due upon contract Cifferentials as between members of the same class may be made only with the consent and under the d. rection of the fuel administratio
 When there is sufficient oil for all. this priority list of course. will not be operative. There is now ample oil for all needs. but there is not sufficient transportation available to carry it from producer to consumer"