The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-01-15


been donated to medical research. As
g Result. typhoid fever, smallpox and
7 many other deadly diseases have been
7 mastered. The money donated to
0 ihedlcal research has been refunded
many times over through the saving
. OF life and the increase of human eff
: cheney, and intensive research in the
petroleum industry would yield re-
suits incomparably more valuable
than the cost of the work. A fraction
or the sums spent in medical research
, would, If expended in petroleum in
: Vestigations, bring about improved
) methods that would vastly increase
efficiency in the utilization Of each
: barrel of oil. In 1918 the value Of the
: output of crude oil and refined pro-
ducts in the United States was about
50O,Ooo,OO0. Certainly the petrol
cum industry can afford to spend more
than has heretofore been spent in re-
search to discover new methods and
perfecting those in use, for hereby the
recovery of oil will be increased and
utilization will be far more efficient
In this way the cost to the consumer
will be lessened and rapidly dimin-
ishing commodity, one essential to our
existence, will be conserved.
In conclusion, l do not believe that
this problem could be emphasized any
more strongly than has been done in
a letter to me from Secretary Lane,
of September "a, from which l quote
the following paragraphs which have
a direct bearing on the above subject
Millions Must Be Spent.
1t Is not an eXaggeration
to say that millions of dollars must
be spent in experiment before We
know the many services to which a
barrel of oil can be put. There is al
most an indefinite opportunity for re-
search work along this line. Petrol
cum is challenge to the chemists of
the world. And now the world Is de-
pendent upon it as it is upon nothing
else except coal, iron and the food
stuffs and textiles. 1t has jumped to
this place of eminence within 20
years and the world is concerned in
knowing how large supply there Is
and how every drop of it can best be
used
I'VE are behind the rest Of the
NV in % n
poses. We are spendthrifts in this as
in other Of our natural resources. We
can get three times as much energy
as we do of our oil through the use
of the Diesel engine yet we are doing
little to promote development of a
satisfactory type of stationary Diesel
or marine design. Instead of seeing
how many hundred millions Of barrels
of oil we can produce and use, our eff
fort should he to see how few mil
hons of barrels will satisfy our
needs.
The views of M. l.. Requa, in let
an important bearing on this great
topic that l think it well also to add a
few pertinent statements from his
letter on this subject.
Tho Acute Needs That Exist.
-. l am on record in various
published addresses as to my attitude
concerning the petroleum problem
and think it unnecessary to repeat
those statements. l can not, however,
refrain from pointing out briefly, the
aC ute need that l believe exists for
constructive and cooperative work OF
the character that you are proposing.
That it has never been done before
has been due to two causes, one, the
less pressing need, and the other, the
lack Of realization upon the part of
the industry Of the necessity for CO.
operative and constructive action.
Because of the tremendous in
crease in the consumption of petrol
cum products, We have confronting us
problems that have been of little con-
Germ in the past, but will be of very
much greater concern in the future.
Satisfactory answers can not he made
except through constructive action
upon the part Of the industry. There
is no alternative in my Judgment.
1--WE are, in my judgment, just be-
ginning to see the dawn of the real
petroleum era. All signs point to
demand for the product in the future
that will far exceed anything in the
past. l am optimistic enough to be-
lieve that the DIESEL engine will be
perfected and become Of universal ap-
plication II so, the day of the steam
unit will have passed.
"The extraction from a barrel Of oil
of all of the component parts, so far
as is commercially practicable, and
the distribution Of those products in
channels of trade, in a useful and
economical way, rather than their
destruction as is now the case, Is
matter Of highest concern"