Evening star., 1942-06-10


Cne explanation ~ -
Is that the po- David Lawrence.
litical pressure of Representatives
and Senators from Western States
had its effect and that many Of them
feared an adverse result in the No
vember elections If rationing of
gasoline were subsequently proved to
have been unnecessary.
Still another explanation-and 1t
sounds mere reasonable than the
others-is that the administration
officials who have been imposing
restrictions right and left without
thought of the effect on the people
now are confronted with the most
serious rationing problem of all and
one which, unless it is proved abso-
lutely essential might become
boomerang.
That the American people will
accept any kind of rationing that's
really needed may be taken for
granted. But they don't want ra-
tioning that's based on faulty figures
or guesses or the excessive zeal of a
beaureaucrat.
The truth is the Congress group
who boiled over on the subject of
nationwide rationing are not con-
vinced that it's necessary. They are
In show-me attitude.
Scrap Supply Key Factor.
Under such circumstances 1t be-
comes Mr. Roosevelt's duty to prove
the case for nation wide rationing
He cannot do so without making
personal check of the figures. Such
checking as he has already done
reveals that there is wide discrep-
ancy in the estimates of the experts
as to available scrap rubber, and
that's very important factor in
the whole problem
Well, if the President cannot get
reliable statistics, nobody else can,
and the next job is to find out just
how much scrap rubber is available
Once figure is determined that
can be relied on, the necessity for
nationwide gas rationing to con-
serve rubber will either be proved
or disproved There is certainly no
harm in few weeks delay so as
to assemble the necessary data.
1t may be, of course, that the
course of the war in the Pacific had
something to do with the Presidents
change of attitude on Nationwide
gas rationing. If, for instance, our
fleet is soon to take the offensive,
it may mean that we can cut the
lines of communication of the jap
anese to their newly acquired pos
sessions In the Netherlands Indies.
This could mean the recovery of
some of the rubber plantations
within II months, and that would
bring in rubber to help take care of
our needs.
But it is improbable that the
American Government would ven-
ture to lean on such contingency
at this time. The problem of supply
for our military forces is on the
way to solution, but this does not
provide anything for civilian use,
and 1t would be dangerous to allow
any considerable amount of the
military stockpile to be used until
the war had shown far more de-
cided swing in our direction than
1t has thus far in the Pacific.
Small Amount Needed.
1t is estimated that it will require
only about $500 tons of crude
rubber mixed in with the reclaimed
or scrap rubber to increase the
mileage of rs per cent of all our
automobiles by at least a couple
years. This is very important
extension. The answer to whether
1t is wise to divert even such small
amount of raw rubber cannot be
given until it is definitely deter
mined how much scrap rubber is
actually available. That study is
now in progress.
Certainly there is no need for gas
rationing in the mid-continent areas
where distances from oil wells to
consumer are small unless the con-
servation of rubber is taken into
consideration. The Eastern sea-
board and some parts of the Pacific
Coast area will continue to have a
gasoline shortage, irrespective of the
rubber problem. but even these areas
will benefit by temporary accretions
to the gasoline supply if the rubber
promblem is solved.
AS the anti-submarine patrol
proves more effective and transpor-
tation by inland waterways and
railroad tank cars is gradually
brought into enlarged use, the short
age in the East will tend to be re-
lieved.
But as for rubber-that's some
thing else. The truth about rubber
is that conservation everywhere is
essential till somebody in the scien-
tific world finds the answer either
In more re-treads or synthetic prod
ucts.
Reproduction Rights Reserved.)