The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-26
Frederick Haskln's Letter
Especial co~.esposdenes .
Investigating Gasoline Industry.
Especial cozrepondenes 81 Ia A

zuLDEIlODIAEE-
torcycles, trucks. tractors, motor
boats, airplanes and stationary gas
engines OF various kinds in opera
ton in the United States. and with
the owners of them all buying gaso-
line every day, it is obvious that
interest in the La Toilette investiga-
ton will be widespread. Moreover.
the use of gasoline enters into the
pleasures and recreations of a large
part of the population, as well as
into their business activities Hence
anything affecting it or the price of
it is doubly important.
Once A Waste Product.
Gasoline, like all other products
of crude petroleum, was for a long
time disposed of as waste in the
effort to make kerosene. II was
there and it had TO come out. Rep
esenting almost the liEhtest com
ponent of crude oil, gasoline is ex-
tracted by distilling process, Just
as whisky is produced, and in
much the same sort of apparatus.
1t is of a highly volatile nature.
so nearly a gas that when exposed
to the air it rises in an invisible
yapor and will quickly eyapOrate.
It cannot be confined for any
length of time in barrels. even if
they have been repeatedly coated
inside with wax and painted out
side to make them alright, Even
in the coolest weather it will pass
through the wood.
Until about so years ago practic-
ally the only market for gasoline
was in Europe and it was exported
in small quantities. No one
dreamed then Athat it was to be-
come one of the Indispensable ne
cessities of daily life. Generals
who directed the Civil war in this
country and the Franco-Prussian
war in Europe would have been
amused at the suggestion that the
time would come when great war
could not be fought without this
fuel. They could not have visual
lied the development of motor
transport, of gas-driven aircraft
and seacraft, and of the fighting
tanks that played such a vital part
in the recent World war.
A century ago a newspaper edi-
tor suggested that the time would
come when the mails would be
transported through the air, but it
is doubtful that that prophetic gen
JUS had a vision of the modern light
fuel that would make possible the
flight of heavier than air machines.
When the demand for gasoline
began to press upon the petroleum
industry it was met at first by the
recovery of more casing head gas"
Petroleum and natural gas come
from the same wells, and usually
on the first flow the gas is in the
excess, for it is simply the vapor
of the oil Much natural gas is
lost from new wells, but it IS pos
sible to save a large part OF the
lighter product at the casing head
or mouth of the well, and much of
the light oil, in a state closely ap-
preaching gas, is now regained in
the casing head and drawn off for
distillation into gasoline.
About 1913 the cracking" pro-
cess of producing gasoline came
into use, being first exploited as a
secret process However, its prIn-
and it is now generally adopted by
oil refiners. Crude oil, which has
yielded its products of gasoline
and other of the lighter distillates
by the ordinary methods, is con-
fined ina vessel and subjected TO
both heat and pressure, which
breaks up the hydro-carbCg.s OF
cracks" the oil. Il is a peculiarly
of the process that it can be re-
peated many times, Gzld more case
line is" formed every time. Even
the heavy oil paraffine can be
cracked into crude oil, and the
crude oil cracked into gasoline
The cost of the process is not pro
hibitive, and it appears to have set
tied the problem of gasoline sup
ply as long as there is an abund-
ance of petroleum.
The gasoline investigation b. the
Senate committee will neces51tate
the expenditure of considerable
money. It will cost the govern
ment neat sum, and it Will cost
the producers many times as much
for they will be fighting for their
profits and will spare no expense
The government has no way OF re-
coupling its outlay, but those Who
produce and sell gasoline have only
to add a cent, or a fraction thereof
to the price and the public Will pay
the bill. This is one Of the things
that the public does most ire