The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-07
TO STIMULATE
 OIL PRODUCTION
Call Main 4 8 o O
By HOLLAND

1 e" iork' November 5.-(Special )-In-
 formation came from Washington this
 morning which told of the disposition of
 the committee of the Senate which is
 io" considering the revenue bill to take
 such actlon respecting the taxation of oil
 aS VIII tend to stimulate production and 1 Aol ID impa1r or greatly decrease 1t. For 1 reouctlon Of production it is believed hv
 the authorities would be the effect we're the revenue bill as it left tbe Housa oF
 r'epresentatives to contain, when the
 senate hnished with it, the same provi-
 slon respecting oil and minerals which
 the House put into the bill.
 l Public opinion was awakened to the
 danger which unwise taxation of these 1 industries might cause so far as pro- ductlon is concerned. Secretary Lane urged Congress not to tax these indus tlles m such manner as to impair their usefulness. A. c. Bedford and Henry
 L. Doherty have been influential not onl7-
 Tn informing the public and in that man
 her creating public opinion. but also in 1 persuading the Senate committee that it
 IS the part of wisdom not to impose such 1 taxation upon the oil industry as would De sure # cnforeed greatly to Impair that industry.
 one CT the several astonishing devei- oprnents which have been caused by the war; has been the demonstration thas ; tue world .s now entering upon wi,ae
 IS sometimes spoken of as tue oil age 1 one evidence of the enorinity Of this in
 uustry is to be found in the fact that the iS
 'nree hundred and fifty million barrels v oii' A lew years ago that would i nave been sufficient greatly to overstocS
 tne market and to create a surplus which no demand could possible greatly reduce
 Today we are told that althoueb tba United States is producing nearly three
 hundred and fifty million barrels of
 oil q year nevertheless this falls far snort or the world demand for oil It IS oniy a generation ago, or perhaps q
 tlttie more, that oil was produced and marketed chiefly for the purpose or providing illuminants. But the chemists ana other men of science demonstrated how it was possible to procure the light CT spirits, the very highly refined oil, ana also to secure many by-products that had great commercial value The pest judges say that the chemists have not as yet exhausted the field for the development of by-products of oil
 There is plenty of gas for Illuminating and some other purposes and the use of electricity for lighting houses and streets has greatly increased, but new ertheiess electricity and gas have not de- creased to any considerable extent the utilization of petroleum for illumina- tlon. Furthermore, science has shown how to so utilize petroleum as to make lTf a mol ,1,Y,e,t
 commercial advantage. Therefore the demand for oil, refined so as to ba sltsiE lzed in internal combustion, is sur fa < increased and this product is to beea vexs great factor in our industrial life.
 OIL AS FUEL
 The latest and possibly what is w NA the highest commercial development oa oil it it's utilization as fuel If the t@d States could be relied upon to fY1 all the oil that is necessary fos 4A purposes then an important probles a before the country would not fas be solved, shp4>-all the authorit that even though We produce three at dred aid fifty million barrels O. all sl| year nevertheless there is not s&psa We must go to Mexico or other Isr3s al the world to secure all that is nece ssi fv Recently reports have come from Philippines which, if they arc w founded in fact, make it certain t{ss new and great reservoir of oil s N exploitation by American capital se En Philippines.
 WHY FUEL OIL?
 Some years ago the managers . - A Southern Pacific railroad were persuaed that as part of their lines were Nth- in convenient distance of the oil fflds It might be expedient and economiA to substitute oil for coal for generatng steam in locomotive engines. The sx- periement was successfully made. Thn4 science and capital combined to perfect the oil burning engine for vessels and did that with success. Not many tests were needed to show that for all marine uses oil was superior to coal. Some of of the passenger steamships which forzi weight, oil shows an increase in h@t value over coal of not less than 30 p6r cent and sometimes as much as 60 pel cent It is a great saver of bunker spac@ and it is also a saver of labor. Som4 of the passenger steamships which for$ merly carried 300 stolxers can, by thu use of oil reduce this force to not mon than 60 stokers. Always there is max imum power since furnaces do not hav to remain idle to clean fires. Any on of the great ocean steamers can tax in oil enough in four hours to serve pun poses which 1t would require two day of bunking with coal to secure.
 But If we are to have an oil burnin marine it will require at leaSN six hundred million barrels of oil year. The entire oil output of the world now is not more than five hundred mil lion barrels. Gradually the managers ol industrial plants are making use of fue oil in place of coal. It Is stated tha one industrial plant in the east which employed 63 men in handling coal, In cluding the firemen, found itself able td make highly satisfactory use of 1t power plant with only seven men. aftel fuel oil was substituted for coal
 Mexico is not only the present. but tn future reservoir which is relied upon t meet whatever necessity there may b( for enlarged use of oil on account of in dustrial demand. The Mexican field can be very greatly increased. Four years years ago c. w. Barron of Boston wis tied Mexico for the purpose of studying the oil fields there and he returned i'm pressed with the fact that if peaceful conditions can be maintained in Mexico if property can be protected, there stupendous opportunity for the invest ment of American capital in the o fields of Mexico These views MT. Bar ron set forth in a book which has a9 tracted wide attention both in this couI try and Europe and later developmen have justified all that he said in u book. These are some of the reason why the new age Is now spoken Of no only as an electrical age but as the Q age.
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