Evening star., 1925-04-03

necessary. All oil is found in So
called pools. Some are large, some
are small. Any one with a legal title
may tap the discovered pool in
score of ways. 1 have come to be-
lieve that this is wrong. That it is
an old. outworn system, which causes
huge wastes of this valuable natural
resource In my opinion we must
provide for the unit operation of
pools. Instead OF paying the land
amount of oil captured on his land,
we must pay all of them according to
the amounts Of oil which underlay
their lands as the oil and gas existed
as an undisturbed pool"
Henry L. Doherty, as he spoke, was
seated in his home on the top of the
Cheseborough Building in New York
City. The president of the Cities
Service Co. is unique figure in bust
ness life, for the holding company of
which he is the originator and direc-
ing genius is not only one of the great
oil-producing and distributing COM
panies but one of the few Nationwide
holding companies which own and man
age street railways, gas and electric
light and power companies in more
than a hundred cities.
Began as N Newsboy.
Born in Columbus. Ohio, 54 years
ago, this Scotch-I Irish lad had little
schooling. He went to work as
newsboy. and most of his education
he acquired from gas catalogue. At
81 he was suggesting new practices
in he hlyS
universally adopted. Emerson Nc
MILAN. public utility expert, was at
tracted to him. Mcmillan was unique
in his day, because he advocated the
principle, now generally followed, of
more service to the public at lower
cost.
At 80 Doherty joined the Denver
Gas and Electric Light Co. and began
the sale of this company's securities
to its customers, the first attempt of
the kind. Next he established the
Henry L. Doherty Co. and in 1910
the Cities Service Co. Today this
company operates 64 public utilities
properties in 10 States, serving cleo
trio light and power to 225 cities and
towns, serving nearly 100000 people
with both natural and manufactured
gas, while the company's street rail-
ways carry 10o,000,000 passengers
yearly
Its oil division is active in 26
States, producing 10000 barrels. of
crude oil daily. operating 900 miles of
oil pipe lines, $500 miles of gas pipe
lines and refineries in Pennsyl-
vania. Texas, Oklahoma and Massa
chusetts. 1t supplies more than 1,400
cities and towns. --
Has 10000 Stockholders.
The total investment in Cities
Service Co. and its subsidiaries
is 100000, 900. Today this organiza
ton stands among the first four bust
ness combinations of the world in
the number of individual holders of
its securities, for the number is now
over 160, ,00O-the population of a
city.
Mr. Doherty never seems to tire;
his conferences are as likely to be at
am. as at 2 pm. Just now he is
engaged in the most far-reaching
ever raised in the history
Of the oil industry He is advocating.
as you will see from the. quotation
above. revolutionary change in the
control of the production of crude
OIL Opposed to him are most of the
powerful oil interests i'm the world:
President Coolidge has recently ap-
pointed a commission, consisting of
Secretaries Hoover, Work, Wilbur
and Weeks, to judge the conflicting
ideas.
On the subject of public utilities
Mr.. Doherty was fluent. II see moth
ing in sight whereby power can be
transmitted without the aid OF trans
mission lines" he declared. THE
tendency is toward higher and higher
voltages, and the cost of power is
constantly decreasing. in spite of
higher prices for labor and increas-
ing fuel costs. The old technical eX-
perts used to talk about the point of
saturation, but that was joke. Some
day | would like to see every bed
room in every house in every city in
the United States, equipped with an
electric fan. We still have world
of opportunities ahead of us in cleo
trical development. ] see nothing
ahead but continued growth for the
electric light and power business.
Electricity is our best developed sci
ence but there are probably more
and more wonders yet to come.
Function of SuperpOwer.
How about superpower, Mr.. Do
herty?"
"Superpower is merely power on a
large or super scale. Tie eight or ten
plants together; if one in one city is
overworked or gets out OF order, others
will supplement and supplant it. The
linking up of all the power plants of
the Nation may some day be possi-
BILE and practicable, but that is look
ing quite way into the future
Sixteen billion dollars is invested in
the public utilities of the United
States. This is 4 times as much as
in the steel business, s times as much
as in the automobile business and
10 times as much as in the meat
packing business. 1t is only exceeded
in capital investment by the railroads.
What effect Will motor bus COM
petition have on the street car busi-
neSs?" he was asked.
There is no reason to believe that
vehicles propelled by gasoline, and
running on rubber tires. can ever
seriously compete under like condi-
tions with cars on steel wheels, rum
ming on steel rails, and supplied with
power from high efficiency, central
stationed, power plants.
Would Bar Competition.
There is a place for the gasoline
propelled, rubber-tired vehicle, but
not where there is heavy traffic and
long hauls For the greatest con
venience and economy the gasoline
vehicle should not be allowed to
duplicate the service of the street car
but should be used as a supplement
ary and feeding service"
I'm your. opinion, which form OF
government regulation is best for
communities served by the large util-
ity corporations?"
Regulation by State commissions is
Infinitely superior to any other form
of public regulation. Today the
public utilities engineers and ac-
countants employed by the State com,
missions are even better Informed
than the public utility operators
-. .,,,n, MANY Of the State enPi.