Evening star., 1942-05-26
Nationwide Gasoline
Rationing Faces
Storm in Congress
Members From Central
Stotes Getting Together
For Concerted Action
BY JAY G. HAYDEN.

have faced is blowing up over the
proposal to impose drastic Nation
wide restriction on gasoline con-
sumption, beginning July /.
- Members from the whole great
region between the Allegheny and
: Rocky Mountains, comprising ap-
: proximately half of the House OF
Representatives and three-fifths OF
the Senate, virtually all are on the
warpath and they are getting to-
, gether for concerted action. 1t may
be that the administration can con-
vince this group that the plan con-
templated is the only practicable
way to meet the necessities of the
war production situation, but such
persuasion is not going to be easy.
There is no dispute as to the
necessity of doing everything within
treason to conserve rubber supply
But there is great doubt as to
whether a hard and fast cut OF 50 per
cent in civilian use of automobiles is
the best means to this end.
= Other Materials Involved.
a First. there is the fact that gaso-
4iine production in any case must go
ION because it is incidental to attain
-ment of other materials which the
Army and Navy must have, and that
.anything like so per cent cut IN
use of automobiles would require
obstruction of vast quantities OF gas
>oline for lack of storage facilities.
Fuel oil for naval vessels and home
and industrial heating, toluene for
manufacture of TINT, lOo-octahe
gasoline for airplanes, lubrlcaung
oil of many special types, greases
-and a multitude of synthetic aro-
~matics used for such purposes as
coating aircraft wings, are some OF
&the more vital elements TO Wnlcn
production of Just ordinary gasollne
is a bvproduct. Of some of these
-toluene for eXample-War plants
even now are not getting enough.
: There is the argument advanced
nv Senator johnson, Democrat, OF
Colorado that disuse Of automobiles
does not necessarily spell retention
of rubber for war purposes: that
tires standing still deteriorate as
RAPIDLY as when they are used MOD
erately. There is an impression
abroad that if the Government now
had piled up all the tires being used
for non-essential purposes they
wouldn't be good for much by the
time they are needed.
Extent of Conservation.
The Congress members want 10
know how thoroughly other means
of rubber conservation have been
canvassed- instance, the collec-
ton of scrap rubber and its use to
reduce the new rubber content OF
tires now being manufactured.
What, they ask. are the possibilities
of redesigning some of the double
wheeled Army trucks and reducing
speed of these in training opera
tions?
One member reports seeing 20
acres of nine tired trucks, parked
bumper to bumper in the sun and
rain for weeks awaiting delivery.
What measures of conservation are
being taken by our Allies, to whom
we are supplying tires and other
rubber equipment, is a frequently
heard query Another is why aren't
effective measures being taken
everywhere to restrict driving speed
rigidly?
Plainly, Congress is getting ready
to inquire into all of these questions.
Various approaches to the prob
,i,,r
of automobile users, are being sug-
gested. One of these is the 80 per
cent cut in delivery of gasoline to
filling stations which was in vogue
along the Atlantic seaboard before
the system of individual rationing
was instituted incident to an added
20 per cent cut in gasoline delivery.
Closing filling stations on Sundays
and from pm to 7 am. week days
generally was practiced in this con-
nectlon.
System Reduced J0y-Riding.
The Congress members who
watched this system work hold that
1t accomplished 80 per cent diminu-
ton in driving without real hard
ship to anybody. When their tanks
were running low the dealers of
their own volition, restricted sales
to three gallons and sometimes as
low as one gallon per customer.
There was some inconvenience, but
the main effect was a decided de-
cline in joy-ridlng.
Filling station men, in fact, are
providing the only effective policing
of the haphazard card system now
in vogue in the East Because there
vehicles or x card holders, there is
no way of checking the pumps.
What actually happens is that the
dealers sell freely to qualified buy
ers and, as it is reported, chisel
more or less, until their tanks begin
to run low and then they refuse to
give more than three gallons at
crack even to those who are vested
with an unlimited right to buy.
If card rationing is to continue,
all who have experienced it agree
there should be some limit on every
body and a requirement of coupons
to show for every gallon dispensed.
Otherwise BLACK market" opera
lions are bound to grow.
! British and Canadian Problems.
The British and Canadian prob
lens are different because neither Of
them operates refneries. They buy
gasoline, fuel oil and other petro-
leum ingredients separately. The
British had no limitation of con-
sumner purchase of tires or other
rubber goods before Pearl Harbor for
the reason, naively stated in recent
official handout, that they did not
expect that if war came in the Far
East it would lead in four months to
the complete loss of Malaga and the
Netherlands East Indies where 30
30 per cent of rubber is produced"
But the British had drastically
reduced rubber consumption, first,
by restricting private automobile
users to gallons of gasoline per
month, and secondly, by turning
70 of, re fn