Show 1 i N HAVE HAVE STRANGLE HOLD ON OI OIL OL FIELDS FELDS OF WORLD CLAIl CLAI l English Ing ish Authority Reviews Situation Finds Finds' America Americ Is Is Approaching k Time When She Must Seek New Sources j of of Supply Decla Declares z es They Are All in Imper Imperial ali Hands I. I V I Sir E E. Mac Mackay k E Edgar d r f By ay gar h 1 Copyright 1920 by the tho Wide World News Service Inc Boston Mass f 1 c Editors Editor's Note Note Note-In In the following article Sir E. E Mackay Edgar I howl the In Ing- Ing position obtained by British interests in the worlds world's oil supplies and p predicts that in a raw few w year yean yeara time America will be compelled to Import immense supplies the thep p payment ent for which will find its way way larg largely IY ln Into British pockets r J J LONDON May While 14 14 While America has been exhausting her I IJ supplies p at prodigal speed we have be been n getting a firmer and ever firmer grip on the worlds world's reserves of oil In a a very little while America will vill have to come to us for the petroleum she needs s. 1 T That at h is the discovery which is agitating Washington It Itis is not a new discovery The oilmen of the United i tates have been aware of the situation for a good deal more than a year But congress and the country country- have haye slumbered The average man vaguely el aware that America was a huge oil tank and never being troubled with any scarcity of ot motor spirit has taken it for granted that oil was as Inexhaustible a product as apples The figures of consumption and production the tokens of ot a diminishing domestic supply have never worried him But n now w he is forced to sit up and take no no- no- no tlc tice Unhappily for him happily forus for forus forus us his eyes have been opened too late The mischief has been done M MISSPENT LEGACY In sixty years years America has run through a legacy of petroleum that properly conserved should have Ilave lasted her for at least least least-a a century and a half The Americans havo misused have misused their oil j Just st as they have misused every other form of ot natural wealth Improvidence carelessness a blind gambling spirit have marked all except tha most recent phases of the American oil industry and have wrought incalculable abl and irretrievable ir irretrievable irretrievable ir- ir retrievable losses More ll has probably probably probes ably run to waste In the United States than has ever reached leached the refineries I It has It has been very carefully estimated that there is only enough available oil oilIn oilin In the American soil to last last her her people for another two twenty-two years Yeats ears The effects effects effects ef ef- ef- ef of half a century of reckless mishandling mishandling mis mis- handling are now becoming visible HOUR OF RECKONING Just when Americans have become accustomed to using twenty times as much oil oU per head as as' is used in Great Britain Just when Invention has in indefinitely indefinitely indefinitely in- in definitely expanded the need for oil oU In industry Just when It has grown to tobe tobe tobe be as common as true a saying that o oil l Is king as it iWas was twenty years ago that steel was king Just when the th point has been reached where oil controls controls controls con con- I mon money y instead of money controlling controlling con con- trolling oil the oil the United States finds her chief sources of ot domestic supply beginning to dry up and a time approaching approaching ap ap- ap- ap when Instead of ruling the oil market of ot the w world she will have to compete with other countries for her share of t the e crude product CONSUMPTION AND SUPPLY Already though few people realize It it America is an importer of ot oil La Last t year she Imported from Mexico some barrels of ot two forty-two gallons each This year if she she can get It it it- that is to say if it she has the tankers to move it she it-she she will be Importing more Still Roughly speaking Americas America's consumption of ot oil Is running Funning between two and three million b barrels a month ahead of ot her own production productIon- And her pow power r of pf consumption already as I 1 Ih h have Ve said twenty times as great as ours seems Illimitable There are at this moment s shine ine petrol driven driven driven en Vehicles in use In fn the United States Ont One half halt of the of-the the entire amount of oil produced in the country is required to fill their tanks DANGER RECOGNIZED The The great leaders of the tho American oil Industry men like Ilke Henry HEmry L L. Doherty Doherty Doherty Do- Do herty the president of the ClUes Cities Service Service Service ice company and Mr Bedford of ot the Standard Oil OU company have foresight as well wen as enterprise They have faced the facts that consumption Is ning supply and that an intensified demand will soon be met by a dwin- dwin dwindling ng dl American output They recognize recognize recognize nize that tha a time is coming when a large proportion of the capital that has been suskIn In laying down pipe pipelines lines and erecting refineries will have to be written off oft when the gap betwee between between be be- be- be twee tween Ameri American n. n consumption and Ed American win wul raptly rapIdly widen and when if Americans have failed tailed to develop oil fields of their own In other lands they will bec become me more and mor more dependent upon foreign sources for the supply of one of the first necessaries of twentieth century Industry CRISIS COMING It the shows the magnitude d of ot the the- crisis that is coming that Pennsylvania oil I now selling at the barrel barrel- is is expected ex ex- expected to reach 10 before the year Is 18 out that motor spirit in the eastern cities must soon be fetching 40 cents a gallon that America before 1921 will find herself gallons short of petrol and that unless the leading oil concerns In the country can raise within the current current current cur cur- rent year production will have decreased decreased decreased de de- de- de creased 10 per cent centi while cons consumption mp- mp tion Uon assuming that the present rate Tate is maintained will have Increased d 20 per cen cent CONTROLLING CONTROLLING INFLUENCE INFLUENCE- INFLUENCES V s What controls the oil position In Inside Inside inside in- in side of ot America Is transport and fi fi- fi nance The exhaustion of of- the oil fields means Scrapping the plant laid I I down to connect with them and and and transport charges are so heavy that It is cheaper to put down new plants even at the sy high prices of today than to move the old pipe lines and refineries to freshly opened fields The great American oilfields fields of the present lie in the Hie west but the consuming con con- consuming con con- suming Imming centers are still mainly in the he east Transport therefore is is a problem that every year becomes more and more more crucial But American conditions con con- conditions in hi that respect merely reproduce reproduce reproduce duce the conditions that obtain I throughout th the oil industry of ot the entire world I L venture to say that for the next few ye years r the governing govern govern- ing factor In the oll oil position will b be not the amount pr produced b but t the number of tankers available for moving movIng ing it to GREAT BRITAIN FORESTALLS Men like Ilke Mr Doherty and atad Mr Bedford Bed Bed- ford as I pave have said understand the sitt situation perfectly During the the p past st I few years years' they have been diligently scouring scouring the world for new oil fields But what have they found They have found wherever or almost wherever wherever wherever ever they have turned that British enterprise has been before them and that th contro control of all an the most promIsing promising prom prom- ising properties Is In British hands In Mexico alone they have acquired a strong trong position but oven even there we hold the winning cards Apart from Mexico it Is almost a case of Great Britain first and the I rest of ot the world nowhere I should say that two-thirds two of the Improved j fields of Central and South America Americ a j i are In hands In Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Costa Rica Panama Colombia Venezuela and Ecuador a decisive a really reany overwhelming overwhelming overwhelming over over- whelming majority of ot the he he petroleum concessions are held by British subjects subjects sub sub- and will be developed by British capital CONTROL IN CARIBBEAN AREA I The Alves group whose holdings holding s encircle practically two thirds of th the se e Caribbean sea sea is a wholly British group under tinder arrangements arrangements' which Insure that that the perpetual pe control control control con- con of its undertakings shall remain in British hands No American citizen citizen citizen citi citi- zen and no American group has acquired ac acquired ac- ac or ever ver could acquire an any such position in ia Central America M as I that which his enterprise and person person- I allty have secured tor for Mr Alves Or Or take again that greatest of oil organizations the Shell group to th the e formation and direction of ot which si Sir ir r Marcus Samuel has contributed hi his s unique genius Ably financed and superbly superbly su su- su- su managed the Shell group owns exclusive or controlling Interests In every Important oil field In the worlin world worl d In In the United States Russia Mexico MexIco Mex Mex- ico the Dutch East Indies Rumania Egypt Venezuela Trinidad Indi India a where In conjunction with the Burmah Burmah Burmah Bur- Bur mah Oil on company company It dominates th the e local position Ceylon the Malay states North and South China Siam the Straits Settlements and the Slam Phil PhU- Sir Marcus Samuel publicly declared the other day that the firm I I he represents would never sell out to the Americans That announcement alone closes loses a a vast proportion of ot the worlds world's lands to any invasion Invasion in In- In from the United States PERSIAN CONCESSION One may take it that then the whole of ot the British empire Is similarly shut off from foreign concessionaires So far the imperial contribution to the worlds world's output of ot petroleum has been insignificant It amo amounts to not more than 2 per cent of ot the total That wretched showing may before ve very ry long be improved upon in view of the new interest rest which the war and Industrial industrial In- In industrial developments have stimulated i I In the possibilities of ot an imperial of oil supply supply- But there is no chance so far as I can see see of the empire ever er be be- becoming be coming supporting self in In the platt matter r bf df f petroleum The government therefore therefore there there- fore acted with a shrewd forethought when It a acquired a a. majority Interest In the ordinary shares of the Anglo- Anglo Persian company whose concession has one forty-one years to run and covers covers cov cov- ers the whole of the Persian empire I think it may also and fairly be assumed as assumed as- as that the position we have acquired acquired ac ac- ac- ac In Mesopotamia Insures s to Br British tish interests the development of the local oil oJ fields What It comes conies to therefore Is' Is that with the tho exception of Mexico and to a lesser extent of Central America the outer world is securely barricaded against an American Invasion in fn force There here may be small Isolated sallies but there can never be a massed at at- at CI tack The rhe The British British position is All All AU the known oil oU fields all the thel likely or or r probable oil fields out out- outside side the United States Itself are out out-I in British hands or under British management man management or control or financed by British British- capital MELON FOR THE BRITISH a We shall have to wait walt a few years yet be before ore the full advantages of the situation begin to be reaped But that the harvest will eventually be a great one there c con can n be no manner of doubt To the tune of ot many million pounds a year America before very long will have to purchase from British companies companies compa compa- 4 nies and to p pay y for tor In fn dollar dollar- cu currency rency a progressively increasing proportion I of ot the oil oU she cannot do without lt and Is no longer able to furnish from rom he own stores We are dealing remember I ber with very big figures I estimate that if it their present curve of ot consumption consumption con con- B M especially of ot high grade I products Is maintained the Americans Americans Americans Ameri Ameri- cans in ten years' years time will be under the necessity of ot Importing barrels of ot oil a year At 2 a barrela barrel barrel- a very low figure that figure that means an nn annual an- an annual annual an an- nual payment of ot per pcr annum an annum an- an num hum most jf if not all of which will find its wa way Into British pockets If Jf there are any pessimists left Sn in n the tho United Kingdom langdom I confidently invite them to J put ut that In their pipes and i smoke it IL 1 |