Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-08-29

painfully employed men and women ia
this country. Therefore their capacity
for bodily effort may be estimated at ap-
proximately 100000 horsepower.
Now, the power development of all
engines using petroleum fuels in the
United States is estimated to be nearly
1,732,000,000 horsepower. More than
$3.50 of this is developed by motor We
hicIes-i.e., automobiles, trucks and buses.
The other 232,0O0,00O horsepower is in
manufacturing, electric power and light
ing, construction projects, farm tractors
and machinery, motor vessels, etc. But
all of it is available for satisfying our
daily needs and desires.
Therefore it may be said that through
the medium Of petroleum-powered en-
gines the American citizens general eff
fectiyeness his range Of living .
has been expanded 36 timesl
AirpIanes and Tractors
The airpIane which gives reality to
mans age-old dream Of flight the
oil-fired boilers and Diesel engines which
make unnecessary the living hell of the
stokehold the tractor which plows
ground, saws wood. hauls loads, and does
other heavy tasks for the farmer these
are but a few of the machines which
petroleum has made possible
Add to these the engines and machines
for which it furnishes the fabrication
and you have virtually every work
saving, man-saving device in America.
The farmer, incidentally, is one of
the greatest beneficiaries from the devel-
opment of petroleum products.
On the farms of America, petroleum
drives more than 100000 tractors
furnishes light to SIS % of the homes :.
operates washing machines for one farm
wife out of five provides paraffin for
sealing jars of Jams and preserves .
furnishes internal medicines for stock.
and external remedies for healing cuts
and sores and for repeIling insects
provides quick and cheap transportation
for getting produce to market when prices
are favorable enables farm families
to travel and see something of their own
country and helps in countless other
ways.
The farmers of the nation use 2,124,-
$4,000 gallons of petroleum fuels each
year, and 80, $50, 900 gallons of lubricants
tangible evidence of the service render
ed by these products to all the nation.
Benefiting All the People
From its earliest days, the petroleum
industry has pursued the policy Of carry
ing its products to all the people-fdTst,
10y making those products so useful that
every one would need them, and then so
low in price that every one could afford
them.
Kerosene and gasoline offer good ex-
amples of how this policy has worked out.
kerosene Was the IlFSL BdtlSIdCLOTys III
expensive il1uminant in world history.
AS one writer expressed It: 1.-THE kero-
sene lamp, by 1engthening mans day,
widened opportunity for reading, study
and education; spread culture; added
to the privileges and pleasures of life
all important contributions to civilization
and progress"
Yet useful as the kerosene lamp was,
its scope OF service to humanity is liter
ally dwarfed by that OF the gasoline
engine today.
The gasoline engine has brought cheap
and pleasant transportation to millions
widened the horizons OF their lives
tranformed living habits by making
it possible for people to reside many miles
from the places where they work
changed the physical aspect of the cities
ended the dreary isolation of the
farm revolutionized marketing meth
DDS and furnished a living, directly
and indirectly. to 11,000.000 American
citizens and their families
But these benefits have been enjoyed
to their greatest extent only in America
for only under the American system
have prices been kept low enough to
bring gasoline within the buying power of
the average citizen.
A comparison of average gasoline
prices, including taxes here and abroad,
shows how great an advantage the Ameri-
can citizen enjoys in this respect.
italy .....-..........-..$0sO per us. gallon