The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-11-08
Frederic Haskin's Lettei
Gas About Gas.

E Washington, D. G., Nov. S.-There
is NO subject upon which you can
collect more transformation in Q
xiven length OF time than that Of
our failing supply Of petroleum.
And it II subject that comes ome
to everyone who rides in an auto
mobile in the form Of high price
for gas. and of frequent alarms as
to the complete failure OF the sup
ply.
These alarms are generally Offset
by equally stirring tales OF enor-
NOUS supplies of oil untapped. or
of the discovery of substitutes which
will soon niake us independent OF
petroleum as petroleum made No In
dependent Of whales for an oil sup
ply. The humble owner of q divver
does not know whether to believe
that he may be robbed Of his trans
portation any day by the failure OF
his fuel supply, or that the supply
10 inexhaustible, or that he will have
to change his carburetor presently
and use a fuel made out Of alfalfa.
shavings and waste paper. Like
wise he is sometimes tempted to be-
lieve that he will have to 60 to war
and fight for q supply Of gas with
other nations, and at other times he
is encouraged to think that the
United States will be as independ-
ent in this respect for all time as
the irreconcilables would have II
be in political questions.
! The oil supply question. like every
other vital question in America, has
been converted into frightful bug
aboo which is used to scare Us BY
all sorts Of interested and mis-
chievous persons. as boys use hol.
low pumpkin and a sheet on Hal.
lowe'en. People that want to- In
wade Mexico and people who oppose
Intervention, people that want te
stir up feeling against England. and
people that want us to love her
people that want a high price 3ol
gas and people that want low one
all use this question IS q means t
an end. and all Of them can fint
figures to support their several con
tentions.
:! This IL the Truth
I Yet the facts about the OIL sup
ply are comparatively simple, &C
cording to the bureau of mines.
The consumption of gasoline II
this country increases at an alarm
ling rate. That is the first import
ant fact. 1t looks as though "
would always use all the gas We cal
get. Barring some improbable grea
!, find OF oil in this country, We viii
always live in fear Of a shortag
and we will occasionally SUITE
from q temporary shortage at leas,
We are dependent upon constan
new discoveries for keeping up OH
supply. From 20 to IS per cent O
the oil We use in any year come
, from new wells. We are to som
extent like the tramp who neve
. knows where the next meal is com
! ing from, but who nearly Away
finds 1t somewhere. Each yea
there is a little oil boom or bi
one somewhere in the United States
and that oil boom saves the situa
!, ton. II a year or two should pas
without the opening of new well
4 Of substantial value, there woul
4 be a shortage which would prob
! ably continue until new finds wer
| made
In other words, while the end L
our known oil supply is Just litti
1 way ahead, our unknown oil sur
ply keeps coming to the rescue
: But it is not a thing to rely upol
Then, too, our known oil suppl
e is being stretched in ways that wer
2 not dreamed Of a few years agt
Wells in old fields, such as that q
Bradford, Penn, which were SUI
posed to be about exhausted, ar
being made to yield by ingeniou
methods. Water-flooding, and tn
forcing of a flow of oil by means {
compressed air are the best of thes
methods. AS a result of what the
have shown some experts beliey
that we have not been recoverin
more than 20 per cent Of the o
!, from our wells, and they beliey
that our estimate Of oil supply
. this country must be increased ;
least SO per cent and perhaps 1,
per cent.
G Three Sources Of Supply.
G Our supply of motor fuel may /