Preface XXV. 
York Owl and Paint. Reporter told us a little 
time back, it has undoubtedly been furnished 
in the sharply advancing trend of crude 
petroleum prices within the last few weeks. 
The restriction upon the supply of gasoline for 
the constantly growing requirements, while 
keenly recognized during the last year or two, 
has recently assumed a more serious aspect as 
constituting a menace to the progress of the 
industry. Almost every day brings some new 
suggestion for relief, and the movement to 
secure a more economical fuel for automobiles 
has reached a national and international scope 
through the initiative of the New York 
Garage Association, the International Asso- 
ciation of Automobile Clubs and the Society 
of Automobile Engineers. The reported offer 
of a sukstantial financial reward by the second-: 
named organization for a substitute for gaso- 
line is calculated to lend a quickening influence 
to the mastery of the question. So far the 
most practicable efforts in this direction have 
been conceived in supplying a fuel in which 
gasoline is used on a much reduced scale. 
Kerosene was naturally bound to attract atten- 
tion as the most adaptable agent, for produc- 
tion of the latter was outstripping consumption 
at a rate to make its outlet as an illuminant 
an occasion for increasing concern, but what 
may have appeared as the economical advan- 
tages of this medium were a to a material 
extent by the bothersome quéStions of starting 
