The Washington times., 1924-04-10

ana those OF the management
United States are distinctly d!
The. owners Of the smaller produc-
ing concerns are not worried at all.
On the contrary, their representa-
tives repeatedly have testified be.
fore various Governmental hearings
that where foreign companies, espe-
clally the Dutch-Shell, have entered
the field, the prices obtainabIe for
crude oil Immediately have sheen
boosted. 1t also has been testified
that the competition Of alien com
pan1es in certain sections has re-
suited in lowered prices for gasoline
and other petroleum products to the
consumer.
Depletion 10 Certain.
The thoughtful citizen, grateful
though he may be for these alleged
temporary benefits, is mostly con.
cerned that the foreign invaders are
hastening the depletion of the Amer.
lcan petroleum reserve already seri.
ously endangered by the enormous
drains made upon them by Amsri.
can companies driven by an insatia.
bic craving for immediate profits.
He fears the nation may find itself
at no distant day dependent in some
great emergency on a foreign and
uncertain Oil supply.
LAT best, he clearly fOresees day
when, the national StOreIIOuse
empty, he will be compelled to pay
higher prices, impossible prices.
maybe. for the ''gaS" for his fliVver,
tI0e grease. for his farm implements
and factory machinery the fuel oil
for his boilers and all the other pc.
trOleum products in everyday use.
when the oil must be, imported from
the foreign reserves now so care
fully conserved, or Obtained from a
sIlale industry yet to be built ND
mere. He has still a greater con.
cern' as will appear later.
Oil Companies Worries.
"a So far as the big American Oil
companies are, concerned, their -wor-
ries chiefly are that the foreign
interests here do not always ''play
the game"-hold down the price Of
crude and keep up the price to the
consumer: that the foreigners do not
open their fields at home to the
American exploiters, as the fields
have been opened to almost any
one here; that by their forehanded.
ness they almost completely have
shut in the American producers from
that vast world of raw petroleum
that hes outside the boundaries Of
the United States and Mexico.
These are serious enough worries
no doubt for the moment, but in
the long run 1t will make little
difference in the profits Of those
American companies big enough to
have built up their own distributing
systems. When their own crude
Oil supply is gone. these concerns
simply can turn importers, boost
their prices as may be necessary
and devote their money making
energies to supplying the demand
OF the worlds greatest consuming
public-the people of the United
In the meantime, as export fig.
ures show, they are bending their
efforts to outsell their foreign com.
pet1tors in American petroleum
products.
Increase In Exports.
Exports of petroleum and it's
products from the United States, in.
GLIDING fuel oil bunkered by for
elgn ships, jumped from 101 zoo, 900
barrels in 1922 to 1877 ,OOO, 900 barrels
In 1923, an increase of more than
one-third in year.
The use of fuel oil is increasing
In all industries. Merchant ships.
American and foreign, according to
the American Petroleum Institute.
bunkered 6S,129,137 barrels at
United States ports in 1923, as COM
pared with 50,666, 494 barrels in 1922.
an increase Of one-fourth.
The most disquieting feature of
this report is that it shows a ire
mendous increase in bunkering of
domestic fuel oil, from I6,9SS,172
Barrels in 1922 to 43,43O,47O bar
rels in 1923; Mexican fuel oil deliv.
cries here decreasing in the same
period from 33,678.322 barrels in
1922 to only 19,69S,667 barrels in
1928.
How much of this vast total was
/