GAS AND OIL 



hold fuel in states near the coal fields are eliminated, 

 and gas becomes a raw material for gasoline, plastics, 

 and scores of medicines." By this procedure, Dr. Schoch 

 adds, "Waste of our natural gas resources, long a na- 

 tional scandal, will then be stopped more quickly and 

 more completely than could be done by a bookful of 

 laws." 



That is not disparaging all that has been accom- 

 plished by Louisiana and Texas legislation to curb these 

 wastes. Today the gas industry stands where the oil 

 industry stood twelve or fifteen years ago. But sane 

 men do not light cigarettes with five-dollar bills, and 

 the gas men are learning to like sensible regulation just 

 as the oil men now gladly cooperate in compulsory 

 proration, which they had to take over their violent 

 protests. 



Thus the new chemical values in oil and gas are 

 active allies of conservation, helping importantly at the 

 very source to save our reserves. More than this, when 

 these materials are employed in chemical processes 

 every last drop of usefulness is wrung out of them. Con- 

 verting wastes to values is the industrial chemists' favor- 

 ite occupation. Another pet job of theirs is finding sub- 

 stitutes for materials that are getting scarce and too 

 high priced. 



Ersatz gasoline from natural gas is already a fact and 

 it is not the sole supplementary resource that we can 

 tap if our petroleum supply fails. A chemicaFs-eye view 



247 



