13Aug37: 1-Gal. Buyers Mob Oil Stations

DETROIT EVENING TIMES

Dateline: Friday, August 13, 1937

FRONT PAGE

1-Gal. Buyers Mob Oil Stations

Use $20 Bills, Demand Air And Water

A swarm of customers–each demanding a gallon of gasoline and paying for it with at $20 bill–today descended on stations accused of cutting prices in violation of state fair trade law.

It was Detroit’s first taste of what has come to be know in other cities as a “worry war.”

Sponsored by the Michigan Gas Dealers Union, Local No. 1, the caravan of about 40 cars moved from station to station. Police were called, but could find no law being violated.

STICK TO ROUTINE

Each driver, under the established routine of the “worry war”:
1–Purchased a gallon of gasoline
2–Demanded that his tires, oil and water be checked, his battery refilled and his windshield and windows be polished.
3–Demanded a 3-cent discount on the one gallon purchase and offered a $20 bill in payment.

The two attendants on duty ran themselves into a state bordering on hysteria and then called police. A scout car crew stood by as the customers kept on coming.

With the aid of a nearby grocer who supplied change for the beleaguered station, the 40 cars were serviced and moved on to a station at 4200 Third Street.

Here three attendants ran out of change in a few minutes and announced the station was closed. When the doors were closed and the electrical pumps shut off, the caravan was ordered to move on by police. It circled the block several times, then moved on to another station.