WHERE THE WORLD GETS ITS OIL 



191 



Photograph from Mining Review, Los Angeles 



the; lakeview "gusher" of California 



In its day a record-breaker, but not comparable to the Mexican "gushers." The spectators 

 on the sand-bag embankment later discovered their linen to be spotted with oil-mist. 



new Ranger field in Texas, the expense 

 attending the drilling of a single well is 

 something to be considered in the econ- 

 omy of the business, especially when, as 

 the Bureau of Mines states, oil wells, like 

 everything else, cost about twice as much 

 as they did before the war. 



The geologist simply applies his science 

 to the problem of making as many wells 

 as possible successful and of preventing 

 drilling where oil cannot be found. Every 

 "dry hole" is, in the last analysis, a tax 

 on the consumer, that patient Atlas of 

 the world's ever-mounting load of high 

 costs. 



A recent study of the results of ex- 

 tensive geologic examinations on the 

 Osage Indian lands shows conclusively 

 that in this region, which rather favors 

 the Government geologist in his effort to 

 locate oil, his geology was right 87 per 

 cent of the time, when tested by the drill. 

 Business can ask of science no better 

 percentage of success than that, and the 



money and labor and supplies that can 

 thus be saved to the nation constitute no 

 small item. 



A BIG LEAK — THE STOCK PROMOTION GAME 



One of the leaks in the nation's task 

 of finding oil is nearer home to many of 

 us. The stock-promotion game attracts 

 too many dollars to no useful purpose. 



It has been stated that two years ago 

 these much-advertised oil companies, 

 with more assets on paper than on the 

 ground or under the ground, were to be 

 credited with a very small fraction of 

 1 per cent of the oil yield of Oklahoma ; 

 indeed, the issue of stock certificates 

 reached the point where for every $555 

 of ill-advised investment only one dollar's 

 worth of oil was produced. Thus does 

 the combination of unscrupulous stock- 

 peddler and ignorant investor undo much 

 that the conscientious oil-producer is 

 striving to accomplish in getting the 

 most oil out of the ground at lowest cost. 



