Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-10-31

Some such plan Is going through, because
it is necessary to the war effort.
The Montana oil industry is made up of
Independents. 1t is up to them to get to-
gether to save themselves. When we say
save themselves" we are thinking in terms
Of the speech Of Oil Coordinator Harold
Ickes to the Independent Petroleum AS
ISOLATION sessions at Wichita He said
g" while still believe that the oil bust
ness can serve the requirements of vic
tory best If 1t is kept healthy we now know
that. inevitably the industry will have its
casualties of war, just as certainly as will
the men who serve in combat
Just two weeks ago. was called as a
witness before the War Minerals sub-com-
mittee of the United States Senate, and
devoted a considerable part of my testi-
mony to a plea for more exploration, so
that we might reverse the alarming down
ward trend of new discoveries of oil. sug-
gested, among other things, that there might
well be a review of the price structure
have no conviction on the subject but
have an open mind and I think that we
ought to take a look at the facts assured
the committee that my office was prepared
to collaborate with the price administrator
in an analysis of this problem
THE office of petroleum coordinator con-
siders the encouragement of exploration to
be so important that we are determined to
do everything within our power to get you
the materials that you need-and get them
for you in such manner as to spare you,
just as far as we can, the formaIities and
delay-or, as you probably would put it,
the fred tape"-which I know that you
frequently find irksome. OF course, in the
getting of this material, it may be necessary
to deny some other branch of oil industry
need, for we must remember that only GER
tain amount of material is available for the
industry. The best that we can do is to try
to see that the material goes for the best
possible uses-and that means the uses
which will contribute most to the winning
of the war-a war which may well last for
years
II know that it must be discouraging to
you men, who know how urgently important
it is that oil be discovered, produced, re-
fined and transported to our war industries
and our fighting forces. and who neverthe-
less fail in your efforts to get the materials
necessary to such activities.
Moreover, the problems of the WHIP be-
come more worrysome day by day as the
demands of war increase and multiply. 1t
Is for this reason that you, and all of us.
must be aware of reality, regardless of how
unpleasant it may be. We must recognize
that there just isn't enough material to go
for the most essential uses
and that we simply have to figure out ways
of making the most of it.
I'm fact, the war production board has
already taken the position that the oil in
dustry should utilize. just so far as possible,
the inventories which it now has on hand
before it can expect serious consideration
Of pleas for any substantial amounts of new
With this situation in mind, the office
Of petroleum coordinator has been study
ing the possibilities that may lie in the re-
distribution of materials now held by oil
operators, although, as I speak, nothing
specific along this line has been agreed
lpon 1t seems to me to be perfectly sound
n principle that those operators with ex-
,esses in materials should be willing to
make them available, on reasonable basis.
o those who are short of their requirements.
"Of course, I am familiar with the prin-
ipal objection which is offered to this sug-
,estion. It is that operators who were wise