r 



20 CONSERVATION THKOUGH ENGINEERING. 



that we should first make every effort to increase the domestic supply 

 through the methods that have been indicated 



(1) The saving of that which is now wasted, below ground and 

 above ground. 



(2) The more intensive use, through new machinery and devices, 

 ol the supply which we have. 



(3) The development of oil fields on our withdrawn territory and 

 in new areas such as the Philippines. 



In addition, we must look abroad for a supplemental supply, and 

 this may be secured through American enterprise if we do these 

 things : 



(1) Assure American capital that if it goes into a foreign country 

 and secures the right to drill for oil on a legal and fair basis (all of 

 which must be shown to the State Department) it will be protected 

 against confiscation or discrimination. This should be a known, 

 published policy. 



(2) Require every American corporation producing oil in a foreign 

 country to take out a Federal charter for such enterprise under which 

 whatever oil it produces should be subject to a preferential right on 

 the part of this Government to take all of its supply or a percentage 

 thereof at any time on payment of the market price. 



(3) Sell no oil to a vessel carrying a charter from any foreign 

 government either at an American port or at any American bunker 

 when that government does not sell oil at a nondiscriminatory price 

 to our vessels at its bunkers or ports. 



The oil industry is more distinctively American than any other of 

 the great basic industries. It has been the creation of no one class or 

 group but of many men of many lands the hardy, keen-eyed pros- 

 pector with a " nose for oil " who spent his months upon the deserts 

 and in the mountains searching for seepages and tracing them to 

 their source ; the rough and two-fisted driller, a man generally of un- 

 usual physical strength, who -handled the great tools of his trade ; the 

 venturesome "wildcatter," part prospector, part promoter, part 

 operator, the " marine " of the industry, " soldier and sailor too " ; 

 the geologist who through his study of the anatomy of the earth crust 

 could map the pools and sands almost as if he saw them; the in- 

 ventor ; the chemist with still and furnace ; the genius who found that 

 oil would run in a pipe these and many more, in most of the 

 sciences and in nearly all of the crafts, have created this American 

 industry. If they are permitted they will reveal the world supply of 

 oil. And upon that supply the industries of our country will come 

 to be increasingly dependent year by year. 



BY WAY OF SUMMARY. 



It would seem to be our plain duty to discover how little csal we 

 need to use. To do this we must dignify coal by grading it in .terms 



