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Show WILL GASOLINE SUPPLY BE EXHAUSTED? In disousMiip I In" lnr-vrnm? demand for gasohlie ami the pros pecis of an insufficient supply P. J Haskki says the oil supply I Question, like every othci vita) question in Amcricaj has been con Verted into a frightful bugaboo, which is used to scare, and ye1 th truth is Hirrc is no uim reason for undue alarm, and Llaskill makes ibis statement : The consumption of gasoline in this country increases at an alarming rate. That is the first important fact. 1 looks as though we would always use all the gas we can j grt. Barring some improbable great find pi oil in this country, coun-try, we will always live in fear dff a shortage and we will j occasionally suffer a temporary shortage ai least We are dependent upon constant new discoveries foi keeping up ur supply From 20 to 35 per emu of the oil we use in I any year comes from new wells. Wo are to some extent like the tramp who never knows where the riext meal i. coming from, but who nearly always finds it somewhere. Each year there is a little oil boum or a big one feonfewhere in the United States, and that oil boom saves the situation If a year or two should pass without the opening of new wells i of substantial value, Mien- would be a shortage which would probably continue until uev finds were made. ! In other words, whili il d "i our known oil supply just a little way ahead our unknown ml supply keeps ( oming to the res ue But it is not a thing to relp upon. Then, too. our known oil supply is being stretched in LM ways that were nol dreamed of a few years ago Wells in oil fields sueh as that ai P.radford. Pa., which were sup-posed sup-posed to be about exhausted, are being made to yield, and LLm the forcing of a flow of oil by means of compressed air are LLm the best of these method.. As a result ot what they have shown, some experts believe that we have nol been recbv-; recbv-; ering more than 20 per cent oi the "il from our wells, and i they believe that our estimate of oil supply in this country must be increased at Least 50 per rent and perhaps Km per eeut. J The sources of new supply of motor fuel are natural gas and the I' tar produets of coking; also tin- "l from shales and tin' production of alcohol from vegetable matter. But gas produced from either source would be much more expensive than tne present ;irtKi As to the present situation and 1 li outlook, Haskiu says: 'The situation maj ! sized up by saying thai no ri -at shorta A sudden exhaustion of the oil Bupplj i- apl in occur bul Jempo-:-ary shortages anl disturbing vacillations in pricf are almosl i ei tain to occur. The supply of motor fuel probably can be sustained indefinitely, and whether this is don and Imw well depends Largely ; upon how the Bupph is administered bj the government and by the private interests why) control it This administration in turn probably prob-ably depends upon how well the average consumer understands hist own interest in the matter ami how vigorously he asserts it |