May 25, There have been many wars in the Shanghai area in recent years, but none in which the ordinary resident feels so personal an interest as in that which now rages over the price of gasoline. For some time past it must have been apparent to many motorists that the oil companies were being subjected to some kind of pressure. Successive reductions in prices have been allowed for which there appeared no particular reason, and certainly no precedent. But the final announcement came as a bolt from the blue, first grade gasoline from Messrs. Honigsberg at sixty-three cents and two different grades from the companies at sixty-four and sixty-nine. Was it only a coincidence that these announcements appeared all on the same day? Inscrutable are the secrets of business men. But the public may be content with the result without asking further questions.
The price of gasoline has an importance for motorists out of proportion to the actual figure. Almost the.first question that the owner of a new car Is asked by his friends is, "What mileage do you get?" The answer is a big factor in the choice of a car. One may go further and say that the running costs are a prime consideration in"the buying of any car. Quite apart from the question of time saved, an element not to be overlooked, it ought on actual figures to be as cheap run a motor-car in Shanghai as to travel by ricsha, We are thinking, of course, of the man who takes the small necessary' amount of trouble to look after his car personally, instead of delivering. himself' bound into the hands of the chauffeur, But with gasoline at eighty-five or ninety cents the gallon, the matter assumes a different complexion. We are all entitled to what we have for as much as we can get. But the fact that the oil companies have brought down their prices from the $1.10 per gallon at which gasoline stood about a year ago, through successive stages, to the present sixty-nine, indicates that this field must have been a veritable gold mine to them during all the years of their unchallenged monopoly.
There can be no question, we think, on which side public sympathy will be in the fight. The sun has shone upon the companies for a very long time and they have made a great deal of hay. Now Messrs. Honigsberg have had the courage and initiative to try to "break their supremacy and the public have every cause to be grateful to ithe former. It is not only that Messrs. Honigsberg are selling first grade gasoline cheaper than tha A.P.C. and Standard Oil: they have compelled the companies to lower their charges, thing which no one else succeeded in doing, although the Automobile Club tried hard.
This fact has to be remembered the fight goes on. Obviously the oil companies will not surrender their monopoly without struggle, They are big people to fight. They have unlimited capital, huge organization and the great economic advantage of bringing their gasoline here in tank-steamers while Messrs.
Honigsberg have to use the more costly and cumbersome method of drums, The companies may yet put down their prices to a point at which their tiny though courageous opponent cannot sell without loss. If that should its happen, we are sure that Shang hai motorists will remember the firm that succeeded in breaking the monopoly prices and will sce that they are not left with a cargo of unsaleable gasoline on their hands for the sake of a few cents.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.