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. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE v By Dr. Van H. Manning. CHAPTER I. PETROLEUM IN HISTORY AND LEGEND 3 II. WHAT IS PETROLEUM? 11 III. DAWN OF AMERICA’S PETROLEUM INDUSTRY 30 IV. FOUNDER OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY 37 V. PETROLEUM AS A WORLD INDUSTRY 44 VI. LOCATING THE OIL WELL 57 VII. DRILLING THE OIL WELL 65 VIII. COLLECTING AND TRANSPORTING CRUDE: THE PIPE LINE 76 IX. REFINING AND MANUFACTURING PETROLEUM PRODUCTS 89 X. PETROLEUM AND OTHER INDUSTRIES 106 XI. PETROLEUM ON THE SEVEN SEAS 116 XII. PETROLEUM IN THE GREAT WAR 129 XIII. AMERICA’S INVESTMENT IN PETROLEUM 148 XIV. PETROLEUM IN THE FUTURE 160 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS