Evening star., 1942-12-13

took, the name of the dealer and
his own signature. If the customer
is not at home when the driver calls,
he is unable to fill the tank as he
once did, but must make another
trip.
Consumers who have contracts
with oil dealers may deposit their
coupons with the distributors. When
this is done, the burden is taken
from the truck driver, but must be
borne instead by the Office force.
In the Office. after the proper en-
tries have been made. the coupons
must be pasted on sheets. There
must be separate sheet for each
period coupon and for each de-
nomination of gallonage coupons.
These sheets are in turn exchanged
by the dealer for whatever amount
of oil they represent The large
suppliers must then turn them into
the OPA and receive certificate.
Orders Inconsistent.
Here another complication enters
the picture, resulting from incon-
sistent Government orders. Oil
dealers are permitted. under OPA
regulations, to obtain an amount OF
oil exactly equal to the number of
coupons thev surrender to their sup
plier. But, under. an OPC directive.
they may not receive more than Is
per cent of the oil delivered to them
last year. If the demand on the
dealer. in strict compliance with
rationing regulations. is greater than
Is per cent of what he received a
wear ago. additional oil can be
granted him only in violation OF the
OPC regulation.
Yet. dealers can't drop customers.
If they do, no other dealer will
agree to take them on. They don't
want any more business than they
already have. Competition has en-
tirely disappeared. This complica-
ton is rapidly producing a condl-
ton in which consumers who have
not previously been regular patrons
of some oil dealer are finding 1t
difficult to get any one to serve
them-even though they have the
coupons and the cash.
Million Gallons Idle.
Suppose, however. a dealer has
coupons to surrender to his supplier
and has not exceeded his IS per
cent quota. He may still have
trouble getting oil for his customers,
despite the fact that million gal
Ions of oil are lying in reservoirs
along the river
If OPC Directive SO were in opera
ton, the dealers say, this condition
would not exist Under this order,
oil suppliers are permitted to pool
their facilities. Thus when one
Supplier runs out. he may draw on
the reserve stocks of another COM
pany Three large centrally To-
Gated reservoirs, approachable by
rail and by barge. have been desig-
mated for the Washington area for
use under this pooling arrangement.
Trains OF tank cars could come into
the District, dump their entire load
for another load When tank trains
now come in. they must be dis
persed to bulk plants throughout
the area and it takes as long as
week before the train can be as
sembled again for the westward
trip.
System Isn't Working.
The only trouble is. the cooling
system isn't working Mr.. Ickes, as
petroleum co-ordinator, set up the
Petroleum Industry Committee. Un-
der this group. supply and distribu-
ton subcommittee were established
The subcommittee for the Eastern
seaboard was again broken down
into a committee for zone 3. COM
prising the District. Maryland and
Virginia. And the zone 3 commit
tee was once more split into three
separate committees for the District
'snd for each of the two States in
volved.
Even ujt n t1,jc rom plicot tod cot