Chapter I: Preface: By Dr. Van H. Manning

_Director of the Division of Technical Research of the American Petroleum Institute. Formerly Director of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of the Interior_

A glance at the chapter headings in this little book shows that it is an endeavour to present in succinct form a survey of a great and ever-expanding economic revolution--the interpenetration by petroleum of all industries, whether of the factory or the field, land or sea, war or peace. This phenomenon has been almost exclusively a development of the past six decades, and the United States of America have been the predominant factor in the innumerable changes wrought thereby. The narrative confines itself rigidly to historic records and material facts, undeniably romantic in themselves. But as the epic unfolds itself, it assumes a super-phase, the import of which cannot be measured by mere figures--a super-phase with invaluable applications to the problems of humanity in an industrial age.

Petroleum, it becomes clear, was the first natural product to which the abstract theory of order, as understood by modern social philosophers, was applied in a large and general sense. It must be accounted good fortune not only for America but for the world at large, that this movement, though gradual at the outset, commenced almost within a decade of the birth of the modern petroleum industry at Titusville, Pa., in 1859. The outcome has tended to influence economic thought the world over, especially since war on an unprecedented scale put all established systems, traditions, and institutions to the acid test.

Foreign observers and critics, friendly or unfriendly, admit that in one matter American foresight and enterprise have taught the older nations valuable lessons--and that is in respect of standardized production--or to put it in another way, organized industry. America’s achievements in this domain during the past half century have represented incalculable and beneficial advancement beyond the industrial conditions of all past centuries. With this record of progress, the growth and expansion of the petroleum industry have been inseparably associated. The famous pioneers in organizing the production, refining and distribution of petroleum have also been pioneers in the application of the principle of order to industry; which, in essence, means the elimination of waste and misdirected energy from human effort.

Organized industry means something entirely different from a system aiming at quick and enormous profits. It is based on a definite theory of scientific effort, whereby all the possibilities of a given resource are developed to their fullest degree, so that waste ceases, the value of the worker’s labour is increased with benefits to himself, and the consumer receives the blessings of nature’s dower at the lowest reasonable cost. As the ensuing chapters show, the accomplishment of these objects in the case of petroleum has involved much more than the application of the physical sciences to manufacturing processes. It has meant the development of systematized methods in discovery and location, transportation and distribution, so that from the moment oil is “struck,” in say a barren patch of prairie, until any one of the many products of crude petroleum is placed in the hands of the consumer--here, or in some distant isle of the sea--there shall be no waste and no injustice, and that all the hands through which it passes shall reap a just benefit.

The far-sighted Americans of the transition period in this country’s history, who created the modern petroleum industry, and built up the machinery for its continuous expansion, began with the definite aim of involving order from chaos. They were from the outset reformers of business methods and enemies of waste. The latter had become colossal during the unsettled years that were marked by the duration and aftermath of civil war. The work of these business pioneers was gradual, but it developed an ever-increasing impetus; and as the years went on the ethical import of their mission became more and more apparent. It would be wide of the facts to say that the element of gain played no part in these developments. Little indeed would be accomplished in the way of progress were the incentive of personal gain in some form or other removed. On this point the Scottish economist, Adam Smith, spoke pertinently one hundred and fifty years or more ago: “By pursuing his own interest a man frequently promotes that of society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.” Nevertheless it is clear that in the case of some of the leaders most closely identified with the organization of the petroleum industry, personal motive and energy were supplemented by a sincere desire to promote the prosperity and welfare of the American people as a whole.

Coming to the larger question of what the principle of order means to humanity in the abstract, it must be noted that all modern thinkers whether they be supporters of capitalism--the system on which all past industrial and national progress has been based--or intellectual socialists pin their faith to that principle as the sole means whereby mankind can be raised to a higher level. Moderate socialists are especially emphatic on this point and it is the key-note of their writings. They attribute the great mass of poverty and suffering which still exists in this world to lack of order--to the failure of mankind, in the individual and in the aggregate, adequately to realize its importance. The goal which all enlightened men, of whatever school of thought, desire to see attained, is the abolition of poverty; not the imaginary poverty of the man who chafes because he cannot have everything he desires; but the actual, galling poverty that is born of the worker’s inability to produce sufficient to earn rewards that will enable him to live according to decent standards. It is to the eternal credit of the leaders of the petroleum industry in America that they have set a beacon of order and efficiency which lights the road by which that great end--the abolition of poverty--may be reached. It is a principle that runs like a golden thread through the vast and complex system that has grown up around petroleum.

The ensuing chapters show how much it has meant in prosperity and progress to the world at large to have a great natural resource like petroleum developed to the fullest degree of its potentialities, so that all who come in contact with it participate in some measure in the benefits. These considerations are obviously of greater importance than some others which have been impressed on the public mind in exaggerated terms. The fact that a few men of organizing genius may have reaped fortunes in consummating the aim of bringing order out of chaos and turning waste to profit is of slight significance in comparison with the certainty that millions of people have been benefited by their operations. It is one of the rooted axioms born of human experience that genius of whatever order, so long as it assists civilization, is entitled to exceptional rewards. Particularly is it true of that rare order of genius which lies back of directing minds. Without their leadership the efforts of humanity to advance itself would be in vain. What the extraordinarily efficient organization of the petroleum industry has meant in wealth to such leaders is in the aggregate but a drop in the bucket in comparison with the benefits conferred on the people as a whole--increasing rewards for the producer in every stage of its development, lowered costs for the consumer, and stimulus to countless forms of industrial activity.

Thus it can be truthfully maintained that the spirit of coöperation, honest endeavour and hatred of waste and slovenly methods by which the present condition of that industry has been achieved offers a valuable and well recognized message from America to the world at large, and suggests a solution for many of the ills that beset civilization to-day.

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