Evening star., 1941-07-31
1000 Places
In D. T.. Area
Would BeHit
Secretary Admits
His Inability to
Enforce Order
Earlier Story on Page A-1.)

Jobs Of more than 1000 persons in
the Washington area may be af-
fected by the closing of gasoline
service stations between 7 pm. and
7 am. daily-called for by Secre-
tary of Interior Ickes today as
means of conserving oil supplies in
the District of Columbia and IL
Eastern States-according to au-
thorities of the industry here.
Mr.. Ickes' proposal, to be put in
operation Sunday, would cover some
800 service stations in the District
and approximately 400 additional
stations in nearby Virginia and
Maryland.
Authorities here estimated that
stations in this area employ an
average of at least six persons each.
This would mean that about $500
persons work in local stations and
some 5000 in and near Washington.
Affects All Stations.
These estimates are in line with
the latest available census figures.
which show that for 1889, gasoline
stations provided jobs for 1855 in
Washington and 1870 more in neigh
boring Virginia and Maryland. 1t
was pointed out that undoubtedly
there has been a considerable in
crease since 1889 in the number of
such employees hereabouts.
In announcing the proposed dras-
tic measure at his press conference
today. Mr. Ickes said that all retail
stations would be included. And. to
make doubly sure that the action
would be effective, Mr.. Ickes added
that he is requesting suppliers Of
gasoline in the affected areas to re-
fuse to make further deliveries Of
motor fuel in cases in which there
appears to be deliberate failure of
retailers to observe the recon-
mendation.
Asked about possible prosecution
of station operators who refuse to
comply, Mr.. Ickes, Who made his an
nouncement as defense petroleum
co-ordinator, said that he did not
think he had the authority to prose-
cute. He stressed, however, that the
oil industry itself asked for the
night closing.
Gasoline industry officials here
declared that they did not believe
many men would be thrown out of
work by the night closings, because
more attendants would be needed
to take care of early morning and
late afternoon rush hours that the
new schedule will bring
They also expressed the opinion
that the closings might not curtail
local sales to any appreciable degree
Merely Buy in Daytime.
you've got an automobile, so
what do you do when the stations
close at night?" one official asked.
And answering his own question, he
added: You'll simply buy your gas
during the day, that's all. Maybe
once in while you'll stay home at
night because you forgot to get gas
during the day. But you won't do it
often after you get used to the
change"
One dealer said he thought the
change would benefit larger stations
which have bigger means of egress
and can accommodate far greater
numbers of cars, even in proportion
to the size than smaller stations.
In calling for nightly closing of
100,0 900 service stations in the East,
Mr. Ickes explained that unless this
action achieves results, 'it will be
followed by other steps to accom-
plish our end" He added that most
people do not appear to recognize
the seriousness of the petroleum
situation-in which shortages on the
Atlantic seaboard are threatened
because of the transfer of so tankers
to Great Britain.