The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-21

tFies dependant upon our natural re- sources, oil takes its proper place.
 These industries have been referred to
 by Judge Gary by A. c. Bedford by
 Henry Clews and by others as first,
 the iron and steel industry dependant
 upon American ores which are plentiful.
 Second, food, dependant upon American agriculture which can be greatly ex-
 banded; third, cotton for which already our friends across the sea ale making earnest appeals so that they can as soon as possible resume their textile industry. Next copper, for there must be great reliance upon copper if the work of reconstruction and upbuilding is to be expedited and we'll performed And then there is the oil industry. With the exception of copper the oil industry is the youngest of the great industries which has been developed
 in the United States, for the oil industry
 began about the time of the outbreak of the civil war some sixty years ago.
 But it was not until thirty years had passed before this industry was so ad- Vaneed that oil began to find it's proper
 place as a. power producing energy. Today almost every industry is depend ent upon one or another of the products obtained from crude oil The airplane and the animal drawn wagon now de- pend upon one of the products of pe- troleum. In fact were it not for this industry modern transportation would be unknown.
 So also there is good understanding of the fact that the modern develop ment of electricity would not have been possible were 1t not for tht utilization or the products of crude petroleum.
 IS EXHAUTION PROBABLE?
 The industry as whole represents in dollars hundreds of millions every year. One of the Standard Oil com panies has invested seventy-ffv million dollars in developing and perfecting its export of petroleum and its various products to the far east. The other day A. c. Bedford who is chairman of the
 board of directors of the Standard oil company of New Jersey, said that one of, the seasons why 1t Wass thought expedient to increase the capital stock by hundred million dollars is based upon the opportunity which now opens for very large export trade MT. Bedford did not So state-b those who are familiar with the oil industry say that within a few years American oil 1 Will lind very great market not only | in England but also upon the continent of Europe. That market was in part | secured by the energy and efforts of !! water Clark Teagle who is now presi 1 dent of the Standard Oil company of | New Jersey, for he was intensely oc- cupied for several years in establish | ing markets for American oil upon the 1 continent of Europe and foresaw as the | result of those things which he did l obtain large increase of these mar 1 kets, which would surely have been secured had not tho European war be- 1 gun.
 There however does arise at times the question of the permanence of this | natural resource. Nobody doubts that | our iron ores are sufficient to furnish l raw material for hundreds of years | even though the United States forges | ahead relatively as rapidly as it has in 1 the past in the manufacture of steel and | iron. Of course with proper cultiva- ton and adequate fertilization the vast | reaches of the cotton fields of the | south may be relied upon every year to yield large harvests and that is also l true of the land throughout the country | from which food products are obtained | The resources cannot be exhausted | While it is possible that the enormous l demand for copper may make it neces- sary for the copper industry to seek | new fields as it has already done in | south America, nevertheless there is no great danger of the exhaustion of 1 copper at least for many years. Nor is | there any danger that our bituminus coal deposits can be exhausted But not even the most expert of the men of 1 science who have with patience inves- tigated the American soil, studied geo | logical formatione and taken heed of 1 evidences of the existence of oil are able to assert that the time is far distant when our natural resources in oil will be exhausted