The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-23

Arc Purely WHdchtterE.
Very few of the mosquito swarm of
little companies now stingfng the public
have any proved grounds. Such hold
ines as they have are on wildcat" ter
rltory. Among oil men the word wild
cat" does not have the same sinister
meaning that Il does In ordinary fnan-
cial parlance, for broadly speaking all
territory Is wildcat" at first, and there
would be no oil produced at all II some
body had not drilled into wildcat" In
the first place But II one finds out that
the Bunkum Petroleum Company. which
has been favoring one with its litter
aturs," Is basing its predictions OF huge
profits on q piece Of wildcat" real es'
tate in the glorious West one safely
may assume that tho odds are at least
1000 to / that II never win achieve
them.
Moreover, the best of wells often de-
crease In value, rapidly as the pool that
they have tapped Is exhausted. Unless
new ones are found aggregate produc-
ton cannot be maintaincu.
How Public In Deceived.
In its advertising It is favorite trick
Of the stock selling company TO give
figures of some well that 1t owns as the
daily production" whereas the figures
are really those OF the biggest day. Or
maybe the OUTFIT has no well at all. in
which case II always can dwell upon the
phenomenal performances of next door
wells which tho public knows about
A typical instance of such effrontery
Is that of a stock promotion company
which raved over the 1000 barrels day
said to have been obtained from q single
well Of the Okmulgee Producing and Re-
ining Company. Then on its own ac-
count the advertiser went on:
Saying we get 1000 barrels from the
first well on this lease (and I will bet
| you that 1t is bigger than the we'll OF
| the Okmulgee Producing and Refining
Company, this well would give US ar
| income OF more than $4,000 a day. We
| have locations for sixteen such gushel
wells That would give US $4,000 bar.
rels Of daily oil production and an in.
come of more than $4,000 n day, oil
more than 100000 a month"
Exposed by Advertising Club.
Says a bulletin OF the Associated Ad.
vertising Clubs OF the World, which ha:
done good work in exposing these dream
ers:
Not only is such advertising BON
| pdotiC III ZIG eNuciic, 1ut IL - InlSleaQ
ing. The 1000 barrels referred to a.
the production Of one well of the Okmul
gee Producing and Refining Company 1,
what Is known as flush production. 1
results when q well is shot and the in
terror OF the earth 90 aroused that
great flow OF oil temporarily results
This soon decreases to what is know
as settled production. and the evidence
is that the larger wells decrease in fiov
much more quickly than the smalle
ZONES.
| 'The 1000 barrel wells in the okmul
gee field average on settled production
around 600 barrels a day. To comput
possible profits on flush production 4
misleading advertising. and 1t is
method in common use by oil stock pro
motion companies"
Most OF the stuff put out by tn
Questionable oil companies under tn
name of literature shrieks its owl
warning mile away to persons witt
good ears. For example. 1t ia almos
a sure sign of weakness somewhere 1
the company selects a name almos
identical with that of some enterpris
known to be successful Usually /
docs this to get what benefit It can on
OF the similarity OF names, with tn.
knowledge that n certain proportion o.
prospective dupes will not detect tn,
difference.
| Proximity without Limit.
Another popular dodge is to expatiat,
on the proximity of the company's OF
property to a gusher which everybod,
has heard about 1t is conceivable tina
a company with good prospects anc
sound intentions might like the publ,
to know that it is in the same field witt
hA fa pax
Is all 1t has to advertise-and man,
companies have no more than that
will not get very far with men of judg
ment And proximity" in the oil pro
motors vocabulary, may mean anythini
from being patch of leased land mex
door to regular gusher TO being on tn,
same North American continent,
In the same county as the Bazzuzlun
we'll" advertises the faker. Then fol
lows copious rehearsal OF the Bazzuz
lum's wondrous record and prophecy o
similar riches for itself without men
ton of the fact that the Bazzuklum /
at one end and the fake at the othe
end of a Texas county as big as thre
New England States combined.
OF course all the oil catch penny art
lists make much in their weird pam
phlets OF, such historic truths as job
d. Rockefeller's rise from poverty O.
flood OF oil. and so on down to tn
story OF the latest CrGsus of Petro
leum.
= Another FavOrite Method.
Similarly they ply the reader with tn
figures of the output OF companies tina
: have participated in the boom OF tn
last two years, always with the assur
ance that the benefits that accrued I
the happy investors in these enterprise
surely will fall or are at least mos
: awfully likely to fall to the lot of tn
investor. Oh. lucky mortal now bein
importuned TO avail yourself of thi
memorable opportunity to get in on III
ground floor OF this great development
Occasionally. II must be acknowledge
there is a company which also says
"If you can't afford TO lose we don
want you in. but II we do strike oil you
dividends will be large"
AS before remarked, often the we
that is the subject OF all this bally
hooing is remote from any real pro
Queer. which fact does not dissuade tn
promoters from flooding the land wit
pictures OF oil fields with derricks a
I thick as ships masts in Erie Basin an
: great big arrow pointing to a derric
I in the dead centre of this pleasing land
scape marked "our we'll"
The very headlines OF some OF IN
D famboyant advertisements collected 70
the chamber of horrors of the Associate
Advertising Clubs of the World are
dead giveaway, and the certainty tina
any number OF persons have sunk thel
, savings with these companies prove
= anew that Barnum accurately state
i the sucker" birth rate.