Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-08-07
Barges Could
Solve Ickes'
Oil Problem
And That Cut He Plans
Is 600o, Not 1915
BY HUGH s. JOHNSON

"A > Is becoming quite appar-
ent this seven-to-seven gas
station business isn't doing
much more than cause a lot of
inconvenience to people who
don't watch the clock and read
the papers. creating consider
able unemployment. bitterly
pinching the business of gas
distribution and making every
body sore as hell.
The trouble is that we haven't
been told the facts and the sus-
picion is growing that Mr.. Ickes
didn't take the trouble 10 get
the facts before, as Paul NAL
ion remarks, he set out 10
"Ickesate" everybody.
AS has, already been demon
strated by other commentators,
the average annual use of gas
by non-commercial automobiles
is about $50 gallons a year. The
threat 10 ration TO five gallons
a week would mean 260 gallons
a year. This is a cut of 90 per
cent and not the 1918 per cent
Mr. Ickes says he is aiming for.
Apparently the sweet secre-
tary didn't even make a barn
yard, dead-reckoning calculation
before he began his speciality of
threatening and ranting.
A S EVERYBODY knows, there
is no shadow of a threat
of shortage of American Pc
troleum products. This whole
business is due 10 a wholesale
raiding of the established Amer
lean transport system OF ocean
going tankers to give them to
the British.
This savagely restricts, but
does not necessarily destroy the
TRANSFORMATION of-pntrnieum
from the midcontinent and Gull
ports TO the Eastern seahoard.
II doesn't destroy it because
there are other methods OF get
ting the oil East
One is through railroad tank
cars. Another is by motor
trucks, a third is by pipe line.
There is a fourth, the subject OF
this column. which will be pres
, entity discussed.
The trouble with all these al
ternativeS is vastly increased
cost as compared with tanker
transport. Railroad tank cars
cost three times or more per
barrel 10 move a given tonnage.
Pipe line costs are in between
but easily double ocean costs.
Furthermore, 10 construct the
necessary additional pipe lines
would take long time and use
1000, 900 tons of steel--a stra-
tegic shortage item.
Motor transport is further out
of reasonable consideration both
because of a higher cost than
any other method and because
of an even more acute shortage
of the needed material and
equipment.
TN THIS problem, have been
Il astonished to learn that no
serious consideration has been
given to a fourth possibility be-
fore turning 10 well-known
easier way of putting arbitrary
and soaring heat on a long suf-
fering public. I mean towing
petroleum products 10 The East
Coast in barges.
don't pretend TO be an eX-
pert in this field. ! can't even
vouch for the figures / am about
10 use. except 10 say that they
were checked by one of the fore
most tonnage experts in this
country and counter-checked
with another.
We have oil barges in our
eastern waters capable of vari-
Gus cargoes from 10000 10 So
900 tons.
am told that good ocean,
going tugs could do this Job.
towing two barges about 100
miles a day, that larger barges
could be built in two TO three
months time. and that the aver
age cost of one turn-around. with
at least 10000 barrels capacity,
would be about $4,000 or so
cents a barrel which is less than
tanker costs.
MAYBE this is all wet II is
wi merely a preliminary in
quiry relying on disinterested
expert opinion. But il smells
10 me like pay-dirt. At least,
why hasn't this alternative been
thoroughly sifted before reach
ing an overnight arbitrary de-
cision 10 Just scramble the au-
tomotive underlying pattern
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