Evening star., 1942-05-12
Gasoline and Tires

| Inc gdSOllne raClOnlng program
which will be inaugurated Friday ir
the District and seventeen Eastern
States, is an important war conserva-
tion measure in its own right.
Diligent efforts have been made to
improve facilities for the overland
delivery Of gasoline and heating oil
but the total which can be moved
each day In this fashion is about
100000 barrels short Of meeting the
East's essential requirements, which
run little over 100000 barrels a
day. Under these conditions, and
while the sea lanes normally used by
tankers continue to be infested with
enemy submarines, there remains no
choice but the stern elimination of
all non essential uses Of gasoline.
In the long view of our wartime
transportation problem, however, it
Is not going to be sufficient merely to
overcome the present gasoline short
age. The 28,OO0,00 or more automo-
biles in which motor minded America
rides to work are just as dependent
on tires as they are on gasoline, and
the shortage of rubber is far more
critical than any shortage of gaso-
line. We produce the latter in
abundance in this country, our fuel
problem being one Of transport. In
the case of rubber, however, we face
an entirely different situation. AS
pointed out in letter to The Star
today from P. w. Litchfield, chairman
Of the board Of the Goodyear Tire
and Rubber Company, we have de-
pended on Malaga and the East
Indies for 95 per cent of our crude
supply-sources which now are in
the hands of the Japanese. We have
on hand stock pile Of about 100000
tons, slim margin to cover our own
military needs and those of our
Allies. So far as the civilian motor
ist is concerned, there will not be
any new rubber until projected syn
thetic plants come into production
two or three years hence. They will
have to make out with what they
have-the tires already on their cars
and this vital reserve is being
wasted now with little If any thought
for the future.
For some reason, the American
motorist refuses'to take seriously the
repeated warnings that he will have
to lay up his car when his present
tires wear out. Mr.. Litchfield men
tions recent survey of industrial
plants which revealed that large
proportion Of drivers ride alone.
This is true In war as well as civilian
industries In the case of plants
which average an employment of Is
persons per car, from 80 to 80 per
cent of the cars were found to be
transporting only the driver. The
only possible conclusion is that the
educational campaigns designed to
encourage voluntary group riding
have been failures, and motorists, by
and large, will not abandon old driv-
ing habits until they are obliged to
do so. Yet these habits must be
broken. Since there is no possibility
OF adequately substituting streetcars
and buses for existing private We
.hicles, group riding must be intro
duced on a large scale or we are
facing a disastrous breakdown in
transportation.
Undoubtedly, the most effective
method Of bringing about this neces-
sary pooling of cars is to ration gaso-
line for business as well as pleasure
driving, and to MAKE the rationing
applicable to the country as whole.
We should not forget that, while the
gasoline shortage may be local in
character, the entire country is in
the same boat so far as rubber is
concerned.
Perhaps the rationing program in
the East will be used to appraise the
feasibility of rationing gasoline
throughout the country, as a means
of conserving tires. Certainly it is
to be hoped that this is the case, for
the officials responsible for the con-
ServatiQn of gas and tires will be
sadly remisS in their duty If they
wait until the existing and fireplace
able stock of tires is exhausted before
adopting drastic measures to pre-
serve them. The war outlook is far
too serious to permit of any fur
ther Wishful thinking in this vital
matter.