Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-13
The Oil Crisis
Ry Frederic j. Haskln


Washington, -. c.. Feb. 10.--When the
Standard Oil Company recently put up
the price of gasoline ono cent gallon the
increase produced the customary reflex
through the American retail machinery,
and the consumer WAS required TO pay
two and three cents more for It. The five
million operators of motor ears IN the
United States had been paying IN typlcai
communities, 25 cents gallon Tor gasoline
Now they are paying p and 2S cents
The public is accustomed to having
prices raised on commodities so tfat ~
hardly gave this incident thought. IL
WAS however, a fash from the great drama
of oil that is today PLAYING itself out IN the
world. n drama that has few parallels In
the history of commodities, and beside
which the world scramble for gold IN the
past generation was mere curtain raser.
The price of gasoline went up because
the price of crude oil, from which IT Is re-
fined. had advanced. Gasoline Is the
cteam of crude oil, the ten or htteen per
cent that is skinned of the top of that
product. 1t is the most refined OF all
fuels. The propellant that hauls the
articles of trade and industry, that sends
the fighting plane aloft, or drives my
Iadv's limousine when she goes calling.
1t is the mother of the automobile IN
dustrv with all its dependents. IL Is
child of Yesterday, today SO firmly cstab-
lished in the industrial household rs to
seem Indispensable.
INCREASED WORLD DEMAND.
There is crisis in gasoline that has
thoroughly alarmed those who know the
problem best. but which seems to be httle
anpreciated by the multitude OF ITS users
throughout the land. Crude oil has gone
ND in price because of the increased world
demand for it. The navies of the world
have found that oil is fuel that IS lar
more satisfactory than the coal they have
been burning Ii can be slowed rs ballast,
and the great spaces occupied by coal can
be used for other purposes. 1T can De ied
under the boilers by the turning OF
faucet, and the stokers may be brought
from the furnace rooms and gwen tiAshS
less like that of laboring In the inferno;
The fuel cargo of oil that may be carried
hy ship can drive it on far longer
Journey than any cargo OF coal VIII take II;
So the navies of the world have turned
20 oil. Likewise the cargo and passenger
ships of recent build have largely suhstl-
tuted oil tanks for bunkers. The American
Shipping Board has shown q marked par
tiality for oil burners. There are many
railroads that have substituted on Tor
coal, and even stationary engines burn ~
In fact it is on the road to a general dis
placement of coal if the supply can be
found to keep pace with the demsnd.
The use of oil has grown so stupendous
that it is difficult to believe that 1T was but
so wears ago that a man named Drake,
while sinking a well III Pennsylvania. IN
search of brine, accidentally brought IN
the first oil well. IL Is difficult TO reail1e
that 10 wears ago the United States pro-
duccd but a hundred thousand barrels OF
oil q day, and had great difficulty IN
marketing it, while today the yield Is ten
times as great and there is q ready market
FOR twice that Weld, were 1t available.
And now that the era of oil has estab-
lisbed itself there is alarm in high circles
lest the whole structure fall because OF
lack of the product. These scientists IN
the Department of the Interior who de-
vote themselves TO a study Of oil, state
that the United States, having produced
st. per cent of all the oil that the world has
so far burned. has reached its maximum OF
production, Is about ready to start on the
down grade, and that, in 20 or 80 years.
there will be no oil ST all left IN this broad
domain. This statement alone should
be sufficient TO send the cold chills up and
down the spines of those investors who are
dependent upon oil for the continuance oi
their industries. The call Of the govern
ment scientists IS for an awakening, for an
up-and-at-'em policy in finding new
sources of supply, and OF reaching econ
omy through more effective Use OF the ml
already in existence.
The United States has been the greatest
producer of oil. and likewise the greatest
consumer. Until recently 1t has contnbut-
ed great quantities to other nations. Now
it has reached the point, however, where 1t
uses more oil than it produces. For the last
wear or two it has cut deeply into the re-
serve supplies that have been held IN
tanks from Baltimore 10 Bakersfield.
Last wear large quantities of oil were I'M
ported from Mexico, but there Is slump
In Mexican production because OF govern
mental interference IN new work, and an
exhaustion of some of those great wells
that literally flowed rivers Of oil.
Next wear there will be need OF more eX-
tensive importations, and still more the
next and the next. The demand for oil
was never so insistent. Yet the American
situation is not TO be compared with that
of Europe where there is an absolute oil
famine. and where fabulous prices are
offered for it. Gasoline In France, for
instance, is controlled by the government,
and the price is not allowed to rise In
proportion to demand. Yet gasoline sells