Fuel Oils i'or Pumt Irrigation 401 



measure. 4J'2 cents per hundred was added to each of those rates. Re- 

 cently all freight rates in the Western district have heen advanced 25 

 percent. The new rate for fuel oil is 43 cents. Fuel oils are figured 

 at 7yl pounds per gallon, and refined oils at 6.6 pounds. The advance 

 from 30 cents to 43 cents is, therefore, an increase from 2J/3 to 3^ 

 cents per gallon, an increase of minor importance when compared 

 with the chanji^e in price at the refineries. Some fuel oil users protested 

 against the recent advance in letters to the Arizona Corporation Com- 

 mission, but interstate rates are outside iho jurisdiction of that Com- 

 mission. 



There is excellent reason for loweriiij^ the rate on kerosene. Kero- 

 sene is equivalent to a me<Hum or iDW-gradt- tops for use in internal- 

 combustion engines, and in case tops is unobtainable, as was threatened 

 several times during the past )ear, kerosene could be used, at least to 

 mature crops already planted. Rates on the various oils should be 

 governed in part by the values of the oils ; the value of kerosene at 

 shipping points is about one-half that of gasoline. The application of 

 the same rate to both oils is an anachronism, dating back to the time 

 when kerosene was the more valuable of the two oils. Furthermore, 

 gasoline has a flash point below, and kerosene has a flash point above, 

 ordinary air temperatures, .so that gasoline is dangerous to transport, 

 while kerosene and gas oils are not. The relative densities and freight 

 rates arc shown graphically in Fig. I. In that figure kerosene is 

 >hown to be of the .same density as jjas oil. while its freight rate is 

 ecjual to tb.at of gasoline. 



FUEL OILS AVAILABLE IN ARIZONA 

 At the present time C November) the fuel oil market i^ much easier 

 than it was in midsunuiier. This is due in part to the slowing down of 

 industries, and in part to the diminution in export, caused by the 

 present rates of exchange. These causes are transitory ; the shortage 

 next summer probably will be as great as it was this year. 



Arizona is situated much closer to the California oil field than to 

 any other, and freight rates are lower from the west than from the 

 nearest field to the east. Nevertheless, since midsummer of 1919 most 

 of the gasoline shipped into Arizona has come from Texas, Oklahoma, 

 and Wyoming, and during the past year most of the kerosene has come 

 from those fields. Also beginning in August, considerable gas oil for 

 pumpintr engines has been shipped from Ranger, Texas, to Casa 

 Grande, Flfri<la, McNeil, and Willcox. 



