Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-23
he HQskin Letter 81 r : as:s=
INVESTIGATING GASOLINE INDUSTRY.

INDUSTRY.
tween the high price Of gasoline ant
the enormous earnings of the STANDARD
Oil company, together with its subsidi.
airy and associated interests, and othel
oil producers of the country. Senator
Mcclellan OF Tennessee was the first tt
introduce a resolution calling for an in.
vestigation, and it was adopted prompt.
~ by the senate on May 10. Later
Senator LaFollette of Wisconsin, who
is chairman of the committee charged
with conducting the inquiry. introduced
another resolution which gives the in,
vestigators wider latitude and greater
authority in order that the JOB may be
a thorough
The LaFollette resolution may be
said to be a drastic one, permitting
the committee to summon witnesses.
subpoena documents, papers and rec
ords of all kinds, and to employ counsel
to aid in getting to the bottom of the
subject. 1t is to be taken for granted
that the oil and gasoline interests will
be represented at the investigation by
an array of attorneys and experts such
as is seldom brought together, and
the Wisconsin senator has said that
he wants the best legal assistance in
the country in order to make SURE that
the public interest is s~safeguarded.
With millions of automobiles. motor
cycles, trucks, tractors, motor boats.
airplanes nd stationary gas engines of
various kinds in operation in the Unit
ed States. and with the owners of them
oil h1uSp0 Na cn1sno ororr dow - &c oh
vious that interest in the LaFollette
Investigation will be widespread. More
over, 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
make kerosene. 1t was there and it
had to come out. Representing almost
the lightest component of crude oil,
gasoline is extracted by a 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 vapor and will
quickly evaporate. 1t cannot be con-
fined for any length Of time in barrels,
even if they have been repeatedly
coated inside with wax and painted
outside to make them alright. Even
in the coolest weather it will pass
through the wood.
Until about so years ago practically
the only market for gasoline was in
Europe and it was exported in small
quantities. No one dreamed then that
it was to become one Of the indispens-
able necessities of daily life. Cen
erals who directed the Civil war in this
country and the Franco-Prussian war
the suggestion that the time would
come when a great war could not be
fought without this fuel. They could
not have visualized the development Of
motor transport. of gas-driven aircraft
and s~eacraft, and of the fighting tanks
that played such a vital part in the
recent world war.
A century ago a newspaper editor
suggested that the time would come
when the mails would be transported
through the air. but it is doubtful that
that prophetic genius had a vision Of
the modern light fuel that would make
possible the flight of heavier than air
machines.
When the demand for more gasoline
began to press upon the petroleum in
dustry it was met ct first by the re-
coverv of more leasing head gas"
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 possible 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 retained in the
casing head and drawn off for distilla-
ton into gasoline.
About 1913 the Cracking" process
of producing gasoline came into use.
being first exploited as a secret proc
ess. However, its principle has gradu-
ally become known and it is now gem
orally adopted by oil refiners. Crude
oil. which has Welded it's products of
gasoline and other of the lighter dis
by the ordinary methods. is
confined in a vessel and subjected to
both heat and pressure. which breaks
the Hydrocarbons or Cracks the
oil. 1t is a popularity of the process
that it o he repeateds nany times. and
more gasoline is formed every time.
Even the heavy oil paraffine car be
cracked into crude oil. and the crude
oil cracked into gasoline. The cost
of the process is not prohibitive, and it
appears to have solved the problem
of gasoline supply as long as there is
abundance of petroleum.
The gasoline investigation by the
senate committee will necessitate the
of considerable money. 1t
will cost the government a neat sum-,
and it will cost the producers many
times as much. for they will be fighting
for their profits and will spare no x
pense. The government has no way
of %recouping its outlay. but those who
produce and sell gasoline have only to
add / cent, or a fraction thereof, to
the price and the public will pay the
bill. That is ono of the things that
the public does most frequently pays.
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