Evening star., 1923-08-28
PETROLEUM CRISIS
V|EWEDASPROBLEM
Economic Question VitaIIy
Affecting Gasoline User,
A.'C. Bedford Declares.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
TITUSVILLE, Pa. August 2S.-The
present crisis in the petroleum In
dustry presents an economical prob
lem which as vitally affects the gas
oline consumer of the future as the
gasoline user of today, a. c. Bedford.
chairman of the board of the Standard
Oil Company of New Jersey, declared
last night in an address at services
to celebrate the memory of Edward
Laurentine Drake-"the founder Of
the petroleum industry"
"Whatever the outcome" he said.
"and 1t cannot be more than appSox-
imately foretold. the extent Of the
problem of enormous storage for either
crude or gasoline must rest on
the results of such expedients as al
ready resorted to, such as the reduc-
tion in the price OF certain grades of
crude, the pro Grating OF runs and 9TH
er steps designed to curtail produc-
tion.
"If the task of financing and carry
dng over a huge surplus of either
crude or gasoline is forced on the in
dustry, it will undertake and accom-
plish this as it has before undertaken n
and accomplished tasks beyond its
Rests on supply and Demand.
I'm highly competitive business
such as the oil industry ultimate
solution of the problem will rest with
the law of supply and demand" :
I'VE are now in the midst of
crisis in the industry. and j have no
desire to minimize the extremely seri-
must confess that II the petroleum in
dustry ever ceased to be abnormal, /
think 1 should find 1t very dull in
deed"
After detailing figures on the pro-
, duction of crude oil and gasoline dur
ing the past year, Mr.. Bedford said
that his company, in view of the diff
ficult situation had revised the prices
1t was paying for crude oil In Louis
lana.
II would like to say here" he said.
that there is no business policy of
the Standard Oil Company of New Jer-
sey which has anything in common,
either in connection or execution.
with the policies of any other unit of
the petroleum industry, irrespective
of any similarity of name or classi-
fication.
Cites Varying Viewpoints.
.In the present crisis cf the indus
try there are varying viewpoints and
varying policies, and whether the
viewpoint and policy of the company
i represent is right or whether it is
wrong, l can claim at least for 1t
that 1t is an individual policy, con-
ceived and created in it's own board
of directors for it's own guidance and
that 1t does not govern the action of
any other unit of the industry"
Mr.. Bedford traced the history of
the petroleum industry from that
momentous day-August IS. 1859.
when Drake obtained free petroleum
from hole he had drilled in a rock
up TO the present time. He said that
during his connection of forty years
with the industry he could not re-
call any time when conditions could
be described as normal in the sense
tween production and consumption.
Although Drake died little con-
scious of the stupendous conse-
quences of his achievement, the dis
covery of petroleum is now acclaimed.
Mr.. Bedford declared. as having
brought about the most momentous
revolution in the history of in
dustry.
First Well Not n Great One.
That first we'll was not great
one as wells go nowadays, he said.
producing about twenty barrels a
day but there was serious question
locally as to whether such a quantity
could ever be used Events. however,
quickly proved the country's ability
to absorb the new-found supply.
In 1906 the petroleum industry had
combined assets not exceeding three
quarters of a billion dollars. and ex-
listed primarily to supply the world
with kerosene, while in 1922 the in
dustry. with combined assets ten