OCR Text |
Show Gasoline Consumption Figures are dry, but everybody's interested in ars and "gass." And these are remarkable statistics, especially in i view of California's supplying a large part of the nation's cars and Porterville hoping for a local oil field. In 1917, Americans were using gasoline at the rate of about 160,000,000 gallons a month in midwinter and 310,000,-000 310,000,-000 a month in midsummer. Here is the gain since that: The peak consumption per month rose to 350,000,000 gallons in 1918; 40,000,000 in 1920; 500,000,000 in 1921; 585,000,000 in 1922; 680,000,000 in 1923; 830,000,000 in 1924 and nearly 1,000,000,000 gallons this last summer. Here is an increase of more than 500 per cent in eight years. Where will it stop ? How long will the supply last? One guess may be as good as another. But here is a notable fact. While the aggregate consumption con-sumption has increased so enormously, individual consumption consump-tion has increased not at all. The nation has kept on using, per car, year after year, an average of about 525 gallons. Yet the average car is driven more miles per year i now than it used to be, as roads improve and new uses are found for the automobile. This added mileage has been met by more efficient engines, using less fuel per mile. |