Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-22
OIL CONSERVATION :
POLICY IS URGED
Harry L. Doherty Criticizes
Leaders of Industry for
WaStefuI Practices.

In answer to a request by the Ma
tional Petroleum News of Cleveland,
Ohio, for a statement of his speech de-
livered before the National Petroleum
Association September 16, Henry L.
Doherty took leaders in the oil indus
try to task today for methods which
have been used during the last few
years, and stated that even though
prosperity does return to America as
whole, it will have no direct bearing
on the oil business unless other methods
than those now in operation are en-
ployed
Il congratulated the oil men in my
address at Atlantic City "Wednesday,
September 16) because they have been
saved from disgrace by general bust
ness slump" stated the wire, land
people will naturally think they have
simply been carried down by the flood
of business Reorganization, while in
fact the oil business could have easily
ridden this general business storm with
a remarkably high degree of prosperity
if sane methods of production and dis
tribution had been in force.
Says Resources Are Wasted.
ST have no plan whereby the oil
industry can agree on 3 or 5 men to
consider suggestions and formulate
plans to bring about their salvation. In
fact, if they run true to form, they
will be unable to agree on 3 or or
SO men, nor would they be able to
agree to anything that such a group Of
men would recommend, even if these
men were able themselves to agree.
Il have never been without an ade-
uuate plan since the close Of the war
for the safe and sane conduct of the
oil business. and more than eight years
ago I induced a very earnest and
sincere committee to recommend to the
board of directors of the American
Petroleum Institute that, to be in con-
forTnity with other property laws, laws
in regard to oil should provide that each
pool should be held to be jointly
owned property end should be admins
tered as other joint properties are adj
ministered, and that this would neces-
state that each pool should be operated
as a unit. When this recommendation
was made to the board, pandemonium
broke loose"
Stating that a return of business
prosperity would not help the oil bust
ness much, if at all, and that under
present operating methods in the petro-
leum industry our natural resources
were being wasted, Mr.. Doherty con-
tinued:
I'VE are wasting our petroleum re-
serves at a more shocking rate than
any ether industry, and probably at
greater rate than all other industrial
wastes combined.
There is no hope for the oil indus
try under our present system Of pro-
during oil, for, regardless of how much
or how little we have in the way of
resources. it is bound to be uncovered,
and the bulk of it is bound to be reck-
lessly and unnecessarily wasted" Com
menting on the effect of overproduction
in the petroleum industry on coal pro-
ducers end railroads, Mr.. Doherty said
that If petroleum was to be put in fur
ther competition with the coal industry,
still further crippling it and injuring
coal-carrying railroads. he saw no prom
Use of improvement except for Illegal
and in some cases strong-a arm methods
enforced by the militia to hold back
production"
Service Stations.
Commenting further, Mr.. Doherty
said I'VE have built service stations
until we now have so many that some
of them don't take in. enough money to
pay the out-of-pockot expenses of the
station, leaving nothing for gasoline or
the huge motor fuel taxes. After Grip
ping the coal business end the coal-
carrying roads, the industry proposes
to go into any and every line of business
to enable it to support non-prof1table
service stations and subject any other
line of business that has any possibil-
ity Of profit to unfair competition and
perhaps ruin, rather than to try to re-
form the production end Of its own
business.
What We do is matter of interest
to the men in other lines of business,
and they will probably listen if the men
in the petroleum industry won't. And
they will probsbly act if the men in the
petroleum industry fail to do So"