New Britain herald., 1923-10-02
FORD MAY RETAIL
 GASOLINE AND OIL
Wall Street Hears He Nay RiTil
 Standard Oil

New York. Oct, s,-RsPoFts seEs current iH Wall street yesterday that Henry Ford planned 10 enter the oil industry in a large way. and would make the retailing of gasoline aAa motor oil q psH Of Ford service al the s,eeo or more agencies under hls control in the United States.
 No announcement or hls ihteAllaHs has been made, but it Is known that Ar. Ford recently called 10 Detroit the heads Of four of the largest inde- pendent oil companies. known te have large surplus Of gasoline on hand, None Of these officials would sdmit yesterday that he had talked business with Mr Ford,
 II is reported that the plan under consideration by Mir, Ford and the Ford Motor company officials would be 10 purchase the excess supplies Of independent companies. probably through a subsidiary 10 he organized. and 10 ship this surplus 10 eoneentra. ton points. from which it would be doled out to Ford dealers 10 be retaii- ei fro established agencies, That Mir. Ford Is looking at conditions un- der which the fuel which operates au- tomobiles is sold was indicated when it became known that he was having three test oil wells drilled by A. J. Dalton of Huntington. W. Va. in the Pond Creek. Pike county. r.. neid.
 Is Not Satisfied. !. IL is known that Mir. Ford thinks The present system of distribution of gasoline to be inefficient. and that there Is too great a spread between the cost of production and the cost Of the fluid to the consumer, The oil Trade Journal. In Its issue of yester- day. said;
 "If Henry Ford makes the retailing Of gasoline and motor oil part of his Ford service In the United States we may expect to see profit margins in the marketing business consider ably narrowed" The Journal adds: | "Once in the retail marketing busi- ness. 1t is hard to tell how far Mir. | Ford would go if he devoted his in- | genuity to working out more efficient and economical methods of handling | gasoline and motor oil. It is quite certain that he would force all other marketers to meet his prices. This would cut deeply into the profits of the big Standard Oil marketing or ganization, as we'll as the large and small independents"
 Plan Called Logical
 Certain well informed men, who watch Ford movements closely, un- ierstand the f1iver maker is nego- iating for oil properties. planning to produce crude oil in huge quantities, 'efine it into gasoline and sell to Ford ,ar drivers only at Is cents a gallon.
 The plan. Wall street fnanciers point out, is logical and economically ,ound.
 According to current financial dis rict information gasoline now retail ng in New York district at 22 cents ,allon is manufactured at around 10 'ents. Assuming this to be true, Henry Ford, with his own oil wells, ,ould sell gasoline for 16 cents at a profit.
 To Only Ford Owners
 Announcement of 16-cent gasoline o Ford owners exclusively would reate unprecedented demands for 'ord cars Ford gas stations would ake away much of the trade of sta- ions now operating at profit. Crude oil and refined oil prices, Wall street thinks, would necessa rily tumble to meet Ford prices. This :, tould bring a price cutting war and eduction of prices all along the line. he entire industry would have to be eorganized to meet the new condition I nd independent oil companies in that vent might join with Standard Oil to ght the invader.