Evening star., 1942-11-22
East May Lack
Oil for Heat,
Official Warns
Lays Acute Shortage
To Failure of u. S.
To Formulate Plan
BY JAMES Y. NEWTON.

"A nigh Government official de-
clared last night that of the
three pressing problems-man-
power, food and oil-now await
ing decision at the White House,
oil was the most acute and that
failure of the Government to
formulate a plan for allocating
petroleum supplies may mean
freezing temperatures in many
Eastern homes this winter.
Although transportation facilities
have been limited since shortly
after the outbreak of war, oil has
been extravagantly and sometimes
wastefully used There has been
and still is, he said, no overall plan
for dividing the Eastern supplies Of
petroleum among the various users.
There is no plan for determining
how much of the East's petroleum
will go to the military, how much
will be used for transportation, in
dustrial plants or heating. While
there is some rating Of the essential
lty OF the users, the rating is poorly
defined. Under the present planless
state, he added, it is possible for
industry or the armed services to
dip far too deeply into the limited .
oil stocks at the expense of the
other users which are no less essen
tial.
Traced to African Campaign.
Oil officials have declared the cur
rent critical petroleum shortage is
due to military needs for the Afri-
can campaign and the inability to
move as much oil East by tank car
as had been hoped. The Federal
official said proper planning would
have anticipated those eventualities
and that considerable savings could
have been made by tighter control
over consumption before the situa-
ton became desperate.
The War Production Board un-
doubtedly has the power to make
plans to allocate petroleum among
the different essential users, but has
taken no action, he said. RESPONSE
bility for handling the oil problem
is scattered among a number of
agencies, including WPB, the Office
| of Price Administration and the
Office of Petroleum Co-ordinator.
The agencies have attacked the
problem piece-meal, resulting fire.
quently in contradictory statements
regarding the same phase, the Of
fetal said.
Maladjustments have been the in
evitable result of this lack of PLAN
ming and coordination of supply
and demand, the official added. Oil
for home heating has suffered from
the grabbing which has resulted
from the absence of a plan.
No Decision on Quantity.
While WPB delegated to OPA
authority to ration gasoline and fuel
oil, there has been no decision as
to the quantity of gasoline and oil
to be rationed, no breakdown as to
the parts of the overall stockpile
which should 60 to these uses, the
official declared. Rationing, while
the best method for distributing
equitably scarce commodity, is a
loose system unless backed up with
precise data as to how much of the
commodity there is to distribute, he
pointed out.
Officials in recent weeks discov-
cred that there was not enough
petroleum in the East to supply all
the needs of the rationing programs,
the armed services and industry.
Petroleum Co-ordinator Ickes rec.
commended to WPB cut in con-
sumption of 10000 barrels a day az
necessary to pare demands within
the limits of supply. OPA, acting on
orders from WPB, began cutting
consumption. The first was a re-
duction in value of "a" gasoline
coupons from four to three gallons.
OPA said other cuts would be made
later.
The official described this way Of
handling the situation as backing
into" the problem.
One of the three important prob
lens now in the hands of President
Roosevelt is the appointment of q
Gear" for oil. He disclosed recently
that he had the matter under con-
(See NEWTON, Page A-5.)