Evening star., 1941-08-08

age was raised.
And the strange So u ;'SS
thing .about it is David Lawrence
that the barrier in the way Is
neither the oil distributors nor pro-
ducers, but the matter OF price con-
troll. For the dilemma arises In al
lowing the cost of shipping oil by
tank car to be absorbed by the mo-
torist and at the same time prevent
ing the higher price from being
charged on oil that did not reach
the Atlantic seaboard by the tank
car route. Until somebody can nnd
q solution to that problem 1t Will
not be possible to apply the formula.
The public may not realize that
there is actually no shortage OF
crude oil in America. Thus the an
nual consumption of oil in the
United States is about q billion and
= half barrels, whereas Germany
consumes about S per cent OF that
amount and Britain even less than
that total. But even with con-
sumption of about 20 times that OF
Germany, the reserves OF American
oil are not being tapped. The real
dificulty, of course, is transporta-
ton. The tankers which carry the
oil by water to the Atlantic seaboard
have been requisitioned for use by
Britain.
Is there then no other way to
transport the oil from Texas and
midcontinent? For price there is
4 way. It would cost the consumer
somewhere between 2 and 8 cents
extra per gallon to pay for the
more expensive method Of transpor-
tation-the railroad tank cars-but
1t is probable that the American mo-
torist would be glad to pay the diff
ference In the Eastern area for the
brief period of the shortage.
Tank Car Surplus Exists.
Are there enough tank cars for
the purpose? The American Associ-
alton of Railroads ofice here has
made a survey of the tank cars
available. In fact, the railroads and
the oil companies made q joint sur
vey in June and found that there
was . surplus OF about 1880 tank
ears available for the transportation
Of oil. This means that from six to
eight, million barrels Of crude oil
could be handled. To put it an
other way, 10000 carloads would
supply from 100000 to $4,000 bar
rels OF gasoline a day. The daily
consumption in the Eastern area is
about 1,250,000 barrels and there Is
. shortage due to the diversion OF
oil ships amounting to about 33ls
per cent or approximately 100000
barrels a day.
The railroad officials figure that
the tank cars could be used on q
six to seven day around. But
even calculating on a Today round
trip for the cars, the 10000 tank
ears could carry about 100000 bar
sels, which is equal to the shortage.
II motorists practiced q bit Of vol
untary conservation along the lines
Of the advice being publicly given
by the oil companies there might
even be q small surplus of gasoline.
Two problems are involved which
would have to be settled. One re-
lates to freight rates and the other
TO consumer prices. AS for the first,
the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion would probably approve in 10
days q new freight rate based on q
bulk rate If the oil companies en-
tered into a contract for transpor-
tation of large quantities Of oil from
midcontinent.
Profit Is Consideration.
The increased expense of carry
ing the oil by tank car over the
railroads would have to be absorbed
by the motorist. The price control
authorities here would have to sane
ton the transaction. There would
still remain the question Of how to
prevent those Eastern oil companies
which would not have q long haul,
or which might have oil reserves
In stock, from charging the new
price and making a. big profit while
their competitors whd paid the extra
costs for transporting their oil
would be paying higher transpor-
tation rate. It is dificult to sep
.arate the oil for price fixing pur-
poses since it comes in part by pipe
line now to Ohio and other points
inland near the Atlantic seaboard,
by barges over inland waterways
and in part by railroad tank cars.
1t may be that the Government
could label with stamps the portions
that came by tank car and put
au Of it into . reserve supply, ap-
portioning the extra supply among
all oil companies and levying q
special tax in the Eastern area Of
an extra cent or fraction thereof on
all oil sold. Then the Government
would have enough money to pay
the increased freight cost on any
oil transported by tank car. Surely
some one in the realm Of oil handling
can think up a kind of McNary-
Haugen plan for the distribution Of
oil to the consumer so that America
can use her untapped reserves and
keep the cars moving day and night.
For 1t is unquestionably true that
passenger vehicles today are busi-
ness vehicles on weekdays in trans
porting workers to and from their
l. az