The Washington times., 1920-05-29

troleum. although the reserves were
depleted during the war period.
perhaps you men don't realize IL,
but gasoline itself cannot be stored
In large quantities. IL ls perishsble
lust like ice or products OF the farm
IL must be sold at the market price
or not at all. The refiners can't
hold back large Quantities until an
advantageous price can be obtained.
for the reason that gasoline, being
very volatile. evaporates rapidly. You
can appreciate the loss In gsilonase
IL you Will stop and consider the
point a moment. A storage tank
might have 100000 gallons in IL 70
day and a month later this might
have shrunk to 10000 gallons. Be-
sides this, there Is great fire hazard
70 the storage OF large Quantities OF
he stuff, and for that reason city
and state regulations as TO storage
II large amounts are very strict.
Taken altogether. IL 10 highly unde-
slrable for the refiners to distiil OFT
any more gasoline In a stated period
than will be consumed during that
time.
$50 the only thing they can do is
to store the crude oil itself. and then
refine IL as needed. They have TO
estimate the amount needed Tor
month say. and then produce that
much gasoline. And whatever amount
they produce must be sold. regardless
OF the market. for after the gasoline
10 once extracted II cannot be heid
indefinitely.
Mistake the Demand.
.And, like anyone else. the oil men
sometimes mistake the demand for
certain period. which accounts pri-
mariiy. I think. for the fluctuations
In price OF gasoline. If they under
estimate the demand for several
months for instance. there Is tenn
porary shortage, and the market
price reflects this. II more has been
produced than there Is ready market
for, then the price goes the other
way.
However. people shouldn't get
alarmed over the present motor fuei
situation. Most experienced oil men
say II is only temporary, ana that
within a year or two, like every other
commodity. gasoline supply viii over
take the demand again.
There are several reasons to think
this way. In the first place. Midwest
crude Is quite likely to advance an
other quarter TO &5.oO a pdrrei' "hicH
Is exceedingly high. Crude at this
dizzy level Is bound to encourage all
sorts OF wild-catting in every section
where there is the slightest chance OF
striking oil. From this source we
ought to get a big increase in produc-
ing wells. Then. too, the govern
ment's new land leasing law is bring
ing many oil prospectors into hereto
fore undrilled land. and that helps.
"Yes. and don't forget that $3.50
crude permits many low-production
vells to be operated at profit, where
as they could not make expenses with
crude at its normal level of about two
dollars.
''One thing we are going to do that
ought to have a good effect is to start
a campaign among motor car repair
shops and service stations to get the m
to adjust carburetors for a nominal
fee of SO cents or a dollar. If there
were some standard charge for this
car owners would have their carbure-
tors properly set every month or so.
but the way IL is now a man hesitates
to ask garageman to adjust the
a., thing. whereas if there werk n small
/ charge he would feel free to have ii
| done every so often. / believe this
scheme will help a great deal. At any
rate, we are going to try it out"