Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-24
OIL TERCENTENARY
CELEBRATION HELD
Monument Unveiled on Spot
Where Liquid Fuel Was
Discovered.


: CUBA. n. ". July 23.-The tribute
OF a child. grown to vigorous man
hood, to ats parents was paid here to-
day by the oil industry of America TO
the obscure Woodland Spring. where
500 wears ago q white man nrst founu
oil on the North American continent.
and TO the site OF the first OIL We'll
drilled In America. go,
Under the shadow of the high
wooded hillside. on lands forever ne
longing to the Indian race. representa-
tivss Of the petroleum industries joined
with those Of the State of New York,
TO witness the unwilling of ter.
eentonary monument at the side ot
tha snring and the well. Repeating in
n measure the history of three cen
turtles ago. when Father Joseph DE "a
Eeche D'Allion. Franciscan ms
sionary and explorer. was guided TO
the spot by Indians. members OF the
two original groups again today stood
together on the site.
Although the exercises dealt chFfiy
with the past. Robert l.. Weich, OF
New York City, secretary and general
counsel Of the American Petroleum
Institute, In his address ventured
predictions as to the future OF III"
Industry, which saw it's birth just
outside Of this village.
An Optimist on Oil,
"rut me down as an optimist as
70 the future Of this great industry.
Mr., WEIGH said. las u believer that
its practical men will solve its prob
lens. and that this industry. despite
the fears of some. will not drift into
the lamentable condition of Its sister
business, the coal industry"
Giving q hint of the possibilities IN
The use Of the gases to lit oil from
Its underground storehouse, Mr.. Welch
continued:
THE overwhelming fact of the pres
ent situation is not that we have
great over-productton of oil. as serious
as that Is. 1t Is not even that our
problem Is the restriction of produc-
ton. II is that the industry shall
make practicable and useahle that
which IS already known by many rela-
tive to the use OF gas in the lifting
Of oil.
\ "If the vast knowledge already ac-
cumuiated should be added to. If neces'
sary. and given practical application.
there Is every reason TO anticipate
that, whatever may be the disadvan-
tages of the new practices. which
seem sure TO come, the tremendous
fluctuations tn the supply will fade
from the petroleum picture and with
them the violent and, to many. mex
plieable rise and fall OF prices. Fur.
Their. our potential resources will be
vastly increased and both our produce
ton and our market greatly extend
ed"
THE petroleum industry also is
working out" Mr.. Welch added "some
means to bring about public realiza-
ton that the industry is as democratic
as the Federal Government, and that
the public who compose that Govern
ment are entitled to every pertinent
fact, opinion or Judgment before any,
thing revolutionary shall be done at
fecting the interests Of the producer
or the consumer, or the national de-
Tense and the national security"
? Other Speakers.
Other speakers We're representatives
Of the Seneca Indian Nation-Theo-
dure F. Jemerson, jr., of Braut, N. Y,
and Of the Franciscan order--the Rev.
Bonaventure Mcintyre of the Francis
can Monastery at Winsted, Conn.
Each called attention to the history Of
his respective group. A Seneca In
dian war dance concluded the cere-
mony, which had been interrupted
just after the unwilling Of the monu-
ment by a dowupour of rain. This
neeessitated moving the exercises into
- nearby pavilion.
The program was under the aus
f,ices Of the New York State Oil Pro-
ducers' Association.