The Brooksville Journal

Petroleum Body
Seeks To Curb
Gas Black Market

The Petroleum Industry Committee on Rationing for District One meeting in New York today set in motion an intensive program to cooperate with the Government in stamping out the Black Market operations which have been stealing more than 2,500,000 gallons of automotive gasoline daily.

Mr. A. Clark Bedford, Chairman of the Committee for District One, comprising seventeen Atlantic Coast states and the District of Columbia, stressed the importance of stamping out the Black Market.

"Gasoline is one of the principal weapons of this war," he said. "It is playing a tremendously important part in the battle of Europe and soon will play an even more important one.

Naturally, military needs come first, but mis-use of our limited home supply robs millions of honest car owners, doctors, war workers, and others who must use a limited amount of gasoline. Slowing down the War Effort at home actually jeopardizes the lives of our fighting men. The Government, the public, and every employee of the Petroleum Industry must cooperate to stamp out the Black Market in gasoline."

The Petroleum Industry Committee on Rationing announced the appointment of a Chairman for every state in the District. The Chairman for this state is J. F. Early of the Standard Oil Company of Jacksonville.

The State Committee will acquaint all dealers with the facts about the Black Market and organize them to combat this menace.

A cooperative advertising campaign paid for by oil companies supplying virtually all of the gasoline sold on the Atlantic Coast will appear soon and will put the facts before the public.