Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 166, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1920 — Page 3 Advertisements Column 1 [ADVERTISEMENT]

A Newspaper Man Asks Information About Gasoline Prices ' ♦ j “AV /HAT arelbe reasons for the advance \X/ in prices?’was by the vv President of a large daily newspaper. Continuing, the gentleman said: “I can conceive how the cost of a manufactured article might increase as much as 50 to 100 percent because of the increased cost of raw materials, labor, etc.; but it has always seemed to me that the price of a’ product taken from the ground at a comparatively low cost should not be affected to any marked degree?’ This constitutes a fair question, and we are glad of an opportunity to answer it frankly. , Gasoline is refined from ci ide petroleum by a lengthy and expensive process, and is, in the truest sense, a manufactured article. Time, labor, and heavy investments • enter into the manufacture of gasoline from the crude, and each of these necessarily affect the price. The cost of crude is a dominant factor in fixing the price of gasoline. The extraordinary demand for petroleum products, plus the abnormal increases in the cost of labor, machinery, and money necessary for drifting and equipping oil wells, have combined to force upwards the price of crude oil f. o. b. Whiting from $1.54 to $4.30 per barrel in four years, nearly 180 percent. For the same period the selling price of gasoline has increased but 44 percent Since the Armistice was signed, the production of automobiles, tractors, trucks, and other power using machin.ery, has created a demand for gasoline far in excess of normal. Gasoline reserves have been reduced to an'alarm- - ing extent, and the bidding for crude oil on the part of refiners generally, has forced prices upward. The Standard Oil Company (Indiana) having practically no wells of its own is obliged to go into the open market and compete with other refiners for the crude oil it requires. Because of its acknowledged superior efficiency in manufacturing, the Standard Oil Company (Indiana) despite these conditions has been able to exert a marked deterrent pressure upon the upward sweep of the gasoline market. Standard Oil Company (Indiana) x 910 So. Michigan Ave., Chicago SIM '

HELP The Dewey Biggs Post of the Amer-: ican Legion j by Doing Your Trading On WEDNESDAY, JULY 14 i - ' . ~s~ ’ .. ~~ ' —■•* T~~~ ' "-' " u -—, — ' * —, '•• 4~ - 1 '■ -4 The merchants of Rensselaer have agreed to < donate 5 per cent of their gross sales on that ; day to the Legion to be applied toward securing J headquarters for the Legion. . < LAWN FETE A .lawn fete, given under the allspices of the , Women’s Auxiliary to the* Legion, will be held on the court house lawn in the evening. There will be dancing and other forms of entertainment at the court house and all are urged to help the. Legion to nrakethe drive a success. ex COMMITTED * ._ _ _ * _ _ _ _ _ J-' L' -

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