El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-03-10
Investigate 4
Proposition In
Making 4 Buy
oil Man Says Too Many
People Take a Flyer
Without knowledge.

/ Development Of the Texas oil in
dustry is not a matter of speculation
nor Of investment nor of gambling
/ said A. ". Montgomery, Of the firm
Of Montgomery & Griggs, Ga Caples
building. agents n FL Paso for the
( Hog Greek Petroleum Co, a Fort
+ Worth corporation
1t is merely a matter Of business,
F OF public spirit and enterprise.
Developing oil is something that
requires technical knowledge. IL is a
business, in other words. just as any
other line OF honest endeavor is a
business The fact that here and there
is to be found a crook in the bust
ness should not condemn it; you find
that kind Of a man in any line Just
as much as in the oil business But
: the legitimate oil man is a bene-
factor and in the specific case Of the
state OF Texas he is a great bene-
factor.
Texas People Getting Money.
some of the people who are criti-
cising the oil business ougt to visit
the oil fields OF central-west and
north Texas. Do you know that they
have taken out of the earth more
actual money up there than any other
single line OF endeavOr in Texas has
produced in the same period Of
time2 That is something TO ponder
over.
Now. who got the money! The
people Of Texas got the money, be-
cause, thus far. the central-west and
north Texas fields have been de-
veloped largely by Texas money. BY
that ] do not mean to say that the oil
men have not invested their money
right along with the money Of the
Texas shareholders. There is not a
legitimate oil company operating IN
Texas that was not financed origi-
nally by an oil man with his own
money or the money OF his immediate
friends who knew him personally and
backed him
There is at present what might be
termed an oil craze due to the stories
Of fortunes made in the business. It
VIII subside gradually, as such things
usually do. There is always excite
ment when sudden wealth is encoun-
tered, just as in the gold fields and
the diamond fields.
What Causes Excitement.
But you cannot wonder at the peO-
pie becoming excited when you see
men formerly penniless. or. at best
possessed Of but a few acres Of more
or less worthless lands. awake to find
themselves overnight the prOprietors
OF oil tracts worth hundreds OF thou
sands Of dollars and with wells com
ing in every 30 TO 90 days which will
pay them immense royalties. II IS
enough to make the blood stir
Unless the small companies with
valuable oil leases find means to fl
nance their properties for develop
ment purposes. they viii eventually
lose their leases The big companies
VIII take them over as they have done
in other fields. Then they will con-
tral not only produ2tion- but develop
ment They viii develop those fields
at their leisure-not with Texas capi-
tai. but with eastern. or what we
might better term foreign capital
they VIII bring money from elsewhere
and the money they take out OF the
oil holes will 90 elsewhere.
Has Happened Before.
This is not guesswOrk for Il has
been demonstrated In other fields
Therefore I say to the people Of
Texas that II they intend to own
Texas, and by that I mean own the
realty OF Texas, own the towns and
cities Of Texas, then they have got TO
take care Of this oil business They
have got to finance these companies
organized. many Of them. by Texas oil
men, and they have got 10 retain
shares in the wealth that is being
produced from one Of the greatest
natural resources Of this section
The wage Garner who can afford
only 10 invest SO or 500 is entitled
20 be let in on the development OF a
great Texts resource as much as the
moneyed man. but It is not OF him that
am speaking when I speak OF fl
nancing the oil business IN Texas.
Man with Money Should Aid.
Il am speaking Of the man who pos
sesses above the ordinary business
judgment, who is an efficient ousi-
ness man and has sufficient funds 10
devote some OF II TO this purpose. He
may not find the oil business par