GAS AND OIL 



million barrels that is over two hundred and ten million 

 gallons a day. 



We have suddenly become an octane-conscious peo- 

 ple. The protesting ping, ping, ping of the old car when 

 we stepped on the gas proved to our dissatisfaction that 

 the rationed fuel doled out during war days was not 

 up to good, old, prewar stock. Newsreels showing great 

 flocks of mammoth bombers springing into the air like 

 a bevy of quail were an impressive demonstration of 

 the power of aviation gasoline. We are all quite ready to 

 believe that 100-octane gas is a miracle fluid that will 

 run the old family jalopy from here to there and back 

 again on a single gallon. 



But we are riding for a fall unless we realize that we 

 shall get a bad bargain at any price if we put 100-octane 

 gas in the old car. It is as wasteful to burn high-test 

 gas in a low-compression engine as it will be silly to 

 drive the supercar of tomorrow on low-test fuel. 



Assured on the highest authority that we are using 

 gasoline faster than we are finding oil, we have flopped 

 from the cheerful assumption that we have petroleum 

 for a thousand years to the sneaking suspicion that some 

 day, maybe pretty soon, the skeleton of our wasted 

 natural resources will creep out of our national closet 

 and lock the garage door. This is a very serious matter 

 to a people which would rather mortgage the homestead 

 than give up the car. 



"Sure," the pessimist says, "better, cheaper synthetic 

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