192 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Bureau ot Mines 



A TANK FARM 



Where one of the group of huge storage tanks has been set on fire by lightning. In our 

 automobiles we also use the electric spark for ignition, but to better purpose. 



Conservation touches petroleum at 

 many points. There is need for a coun- 

 try-wide thrift campaign looking to the 

 saving of this essential resource. Alan- 

 power and oil ought to be conserved at 

 all stages of production and consumption 

 "by better methods in the discovery, drill- 

 ing, recovery, transportation, refining, 

 and use of petroleum and its products. 



The price of crude oil has just reached 

 a new level, and eventually this must in- 

 fluence the price of the refinery products, 

 a fact that ought to give impetus to thrift 

 among users of every petroleum product. 



WHERE THE WASTE BEGINS 



Unwarranted optimism, which seems 

 indigenous in most parts of the United 

 States, has led both the oil industry and 

 the public to waste this best of fuels. 

 The program of wastage begins below 

 the ground with only partial recovery, 

 goes on above the ground with leakage 

 and evaporation, and continues all along 



the line to the indiscriminate burning of 

 fuel oil under boilers with regard for 

 convenience rather than for efficiency, or 

 to the even less defensible use of pe- 

 troleum for oiling our roads. 



In oil-field operation, in refinery prac- 

 tice, and in the use of oil everywhere, too 

 often the dollar test of economy is the 

 only one applied. The situation, how- 

 ever, is critical enovtgh to demand an- 

 other rule — that of taking thought of the 

 morrow and of weighing the questions 

 of ultimate supply and demand. 



But. with those early forest conserva- 

 tionists of old England in mind, the ques- 

 tion may be asked, Are there no practical 

 substitutes or other adequate sources? 

 Tbe obvious answer is in terms of pres- 

 ent prices ; the real answer is in terms 

 of cost in man-power. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF OIL OVER COAL 



Whether on land or sea, fuel oil is 

 preferred to coal because it requires less 



