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Show I "Inland Sea" Guards Bulk of World's Fuel Oil SupoWt - ' j 1 - ' ?; 2$ Nfe.. x . "JTr: eVW ' :: .VV'S V: ' . :::smo porto rico ca, ' ' fs , .-V - " ' s . ' 0 siuc ftt ' ' " DOMINGO- dWNEO BY U.S. o fees! Joseph "w - fdr- ' - - - m -.. - (gulf of ... , protectorate I a & DANIELS J :7 HONDURAS J . ,;, - ; ' ISLANDS A SECRETARY OF -j-" . belonging to THE NAVY ;i ';C:--.- friendly q & " ""r" , -gK -v Sl(?',f 1 ' I ' , TATstKOFOlL )T , . s . 1 ON FIRE W. A. CHAMBERLIN. J "W3 UilORS may como that the kai- I 1 i JNv scr has a small army In Mexico, Stories may circulate that hla aviators, operating from basc3 in that J country, menace our borders on tho north antl the Panama Canal on the I south. Facts may show German In- j trlpue and Indicate control by the Teu- ? Hj , t0'na of diplomatic and political chan- H. nls at Mexico City, Caracas and Bo- s H, 1, But theso things have their broadest H international Importance only as thoy l bear upon tha zone of Influence of tho United States in tho thc'orctlcal Inland H, 6ca comprised by tho Gulf of Mexico ? H' j and tho Caribbean our sheltered cor- rldor to South America; tho routo to Colon, the Atlantic entrance to tho Pan- ama Canal and to the. products of th 5 islands within and the lands bordering I Hi upon that Inland sea, chief products of H' which are sugar and fuel oil. M -Vlld fucl oil note that well. VTo may suspect tho presence of hid- 1 den submarine bases in tho coast waters s H of those countries and of mysterious H. wlrotcss plants on their chorea. Con- 5 Hj' flrmatlon may bo had of enormous cash reserves' built up by the Germans in banking institutions of these rcpub- HJ lies to tho south of us. Teutonic propa- 5 ganda may gain its will In Venezuela, ? ' as it apparently has; fan tho flames of I dislike for Uio United States In Colom- ula and ralac the crj-, "Death to tho Grin go I" In Moxico. S Tho American Mediterranean. But to Germany thono are things of minor importance unless thoy weaken the barrier that lias been ralsod be- ) tweon our '"inland sea" and tho open 5 Ulanllc or-strlko at tho oil flalda of Tamplco. 5 This "Inland spa," washing tho shores of northorn South America, Contra". America andt our own gulf coast, has 3 Vtccn calld tho American Mcdltcrra- j ncan. ot of us have accepted the Impllod comparison chiefly as lndicat- ing Iho similarity of tho sunshine on M tho winter ?oaa of tho Mediterranean J and tho Caribbean arid their lure for H the winter traveler. H; "c havb failed to note how tho tropic J H: lands of the Lovant and Xorthcrn Af- rlca border tho European Mcdltorra-r Mcdltorra-r nran. even as similar tropics border our ; H Carlbbonn: that tho Suez Canal oponj i the way for "Wcatorn and Southern Eu-rope Eu-rope through tho 'Modltorranoan to Af-H Af-H rlca npd the Orient, even as tho Fan- Hj imi Canal gives us access through tho : Eulf and the Caribbean our Modltcrra-H Modltcrra-H nan to South America and tho Oriont. H Moat Df uh hnvo failed also to note that the Bardanclloa lead from the Mcdltorrancnn to Constantinople and H; tho rivers flowing from tho interior, and H that our Micstsslppi water road . leads H fo our Mediterranean from tho great K cities of tho Mississippi Valley? Wo navo K not compared tho prcsenco of toll In H' rcr.'ln. tn Russia and In Rumania ani H lt-3 acccai to the Mediterranean with tho fact of oil at Tamplco and in Oklahoma. Okla-homa. Louisiana and Texas flowing through pipe lines to our Mediterranean. But most of all havo wo failed, a3 a people, to -see tho importance of our Straits of Gibraltar tho geographical condition which, with tho aid of our navy, turns our theoretical Inland soa Into a practical Inland sea; extends our Atlantic Coast, as a lino of dofonse, from tho tip of Florida to Venezuela, in South America, and throws out a battle lino .o protect tho Panama Canal a thousand miles away from tho continental con-tinental United States and tho tremendously tremen-dously valuable fuel oil deposits ar Tamplco. together with the other values and products of the Caribbean region. In tho vocabulary of oil Tamplco is a word to Jugglo with; a name wo hear along with Cushing and Hcaldton nn.l Bakcrsfleld and Baku and Casper and Splndlo Top. Tomorrow It may take Itu place In tho lexicon of war and bring Mexico there, even as oil had lt3" effect on tho destinies of Galicla and Kumanla. .Mexico ha3 hoan the fly in much of tho present administration ointment, its oil gives little prom!Eo of quieting the troubled trou-bled International waters. Moreover, Tamplco is the "outward and visible sign" of a probable new Empire of Oil In our American Balkans Central America, Northern Souih America and the islands of the "West Indies. And important as Tampico emphatically emphatic-ally Is today, thcro aro those who be-Hove be-Hove the impending Empire of OH may bo moro important tomorrow that It may bo the final offectlvo beacon lighting light-ing the way of tho United States to Us Manifest Destiny in tho American trop- ' Ics the Ma-.ilfest Destlry that was I glimpsed ! President Grant In our re- lnllonshlp with Cuba. Not that any or at least many of the ' men who think Internationally, believe ' today that tho United States ever will ', enter upon a policy of conquest or an- noxatlon toward tho Latin lands to ; the south of us. But the Impact of i ovonts now Is bringing the peoples of I the American troples and. indeed, of ; moat of Latin-America to feel that ; their prosperity and oven their existence ; a indepondsnt nations, depends upon i the Monr.oe doctrlno In, perhapa, some I advanced form. and"that tho value, of ; that doctrine Is measured by the ; strength of Jls chief defender, the ; United States of North America ! That Tamplco and tho prescntfnnd po- tcntlal oil fUlda there and elsewhere In tho area hero being discussed arc Ines-; Ines-; capably bound up with the certnln wor;d . movements into Latln-Aincrlcn that I will follow th-i cessation o: nostllltlcs In ; Europo seems obvious. The groat war ; has taught tho world that natural e-; e-; sources and raw materials nro not mera- ly things to be exploited, but that th-jy ! may mean tho life or death of a nation; ; In this case, if 6iy inland sea nnd Its ; rosources were to fall Jnto the hands cf . a European autocracy, the death of th ! Ideals of a continont. Motive 'Power for Navies. ; Oil is toda; tho motive power of not only most of tho vessols of the Unltftd : States navy constructed within tho dsc- i ado, but of pmctlcally all the new war- ships of the world, Tho mammoth Brtt-I; Brtt-I; Ish uuperdreadnaught. the Queon Ellza- beth, to mention a quean of one floct t only, burns oil exclusively, as dc others of her consorts. So does our droad-!; droad-!; naught, the Oklahoma, and so do other of the lovlathans of our nary. Up-;! Up-;! wards of fifty of our destroyers that ; jiow aro chasing U.boats in European waters, or convoying United Statse S troop transportn and shipping across the Atlantic are oil burners. As far back as 1011-an age In naval 1 history by reason of what has taken place since then Secretary Daniels an- ? S nounccd that all fighting ships to nc I added to the United States navy in the s i future would hum oil. That may mean that they arc to burn oil exclusively, or ? as an adjunct to coal. Slnco that time $ certain ships of the British navy, for- S mcrly burning coal, havo been recon- t structed to b'urn oil, a striking fact within itself when wc consider the do- mands on British shipyards for pur- S s poses other than rebuilding. Since then, too, Rumanian oh has j' passed Into tin hands of tho Teutonic ! allies and Groat Britain has been shut I off from tho Russian supply, these con- !; ? stituting the world's greatest oil fields ', outsido tho United States and Mexico, j! Note, ihcrcforc. the two sets of con- dltlons tho tremendous Increase In tho I I demands for fuel oil by tho world's navies and for other war purposes and I the elimination of the European supply s from control of the allies. Consider, also, our coal troubles and coal'3 bulk ? 1 when in transport Note that as a re- suit of tho stopping down of the Euro- S pcan supply, Tamplco has for a consid- j! crablo period of the war furnished CO per ' cent of the Juel oil for tho British fleet. !; Therein we havo concrete reasons why j! f Tampico Is internationally important, j! and why a further extension of tho s Empire of Oil In the area of our the- !; I orotlcal inland sea adds to the impor- 1; I tanco Internationally of tho entire sec- ? tion. Incidentally, as indicating tho po- I tentialitles at Tamplco, it Is said that tho oil thus furnished the British floot from that port has practically all como s from ono well. , Key to Naval Policy. ? f What would tho United States Gov- crnment do If Carranza tho Implacable S should suddenly decide that Great Brit- aln could havo no moro oil from Tarn- S Pico, or decree that tho "foreign" Brit- I ish. and American oil companies tnerc 1 should produco no moro oil? "What ' would we do If "revolutionists" In tho S Tamplco-Tuxpam district should shut ! down the oil operations and Carranza were to oxplaln blandly that because wo ' ? had limited his imports of arms ho !; could not "control" tho "revolutionists" j' S and that wo must not? ! Surpose ve try to co-ordinate all this a little more closely in its bearing on ? tho theoretical Inland soa comprised by 1; tho Gulf of Mexico and tho Caribbean. J S Tho United States now has become. In ! s all probability, the second greatest s naval power in tho world. By reason of I Its association with Great Britain In this war thoso two countries will dom- ? i inata the sovon seas after the great war s is fought to a victorious close by tho allies. ? ; From a defensive standpoint tho Pan- I !; ama Canal Is tho key to our naval po!- I; Icy. Except for the Panama Canal wo 5 now would find it necessary to main- i ;! tain two navlen Instead of ono. Except ;! ; for the canal it is possible that tho atU- !; tudo of Japan in this war would bo J; quite different from what it now Is $ from what wo think it now Is. ;! ;! Except for that canal the merchant ; marine vosscls wo now are building in J ; such large numbers at Pacific Coast !; j; ehlpyarda, to say nothing of naval craft, !; J; would have to make the Journey around j! tho Horn duplicate the trip of the Ore- S jj gon during tho Spanlsh-zVmcrlcan war i before they would tc available for the I trans-Atlantic trade. J Except Car tho canal innumerable j' things from tho Pacific Coast that are i contrlbu,Ung to our part in winning xno ;! war would be o delayed In transit-for ( obviously ths railroads could not accept !; ; further burdens-as to bocome almost it l' I not quite valueless. That canal must be protected. Panama Is a lock canal and' therefore much more' susceptible to attack than on ocoan-lcvcl canal would bo. A ton of dynamite from the air, or, indeed, a much .smaller amount properly directed, might close the canal tor an indefinite period. When wo. built it, one recalls with Interest, In-terest, there woro to bo no more world wars, and the necessity for protecting It was minimized In the minds of tho puo. lie Pacifist objections even to fortifying fortify-ing Its approaches were heated However, How-ever, 'n c now know It must be protected, not only from tho air, but from Jand and sta. And wo depend upon our navy to protect It our battle fleet, our submarines, sub-marines, our hydroaeroplanes, our roistering, fighting marines with tha aid, on land, of such of the army as may bo noccssary. The Panama Canal is at once our naval strength and our naval heel of Achilles if one may bo permitted permit-ted to fit the navy out with a heel. A Dividedrieet. At the beginning of tho great war tho ! German fleet scurried to anchor within an Inland sea- The British fleet took ; up its ceaseless watch at tho entrance to that sea. It could not leave, nor could it soparto Into units for purposes 1 other than to watch at the mouth of J tho holo for the rat that It seemed un- J Hkcb over would como out. At no tlmo could the British feel safe in reducing their fleet at the mouth of tho Kiel ! Canal to a point where it would be be- J low tho entire German high seas fleet in effectiveness. This Illustrates what amounts to a maxim in naval strategy: A fleet divider' is a fleet defeated. Except for tho Panama Canal wo j would bo forced to divide our fleet be- 3 tween tho Pacific and tho Atlantic, or, j as before pointed out, build two fleets. 5 Under the naval demands of tho pros- ont war tho latter is what we would j havo been obliged to do build two ) fleets. And how, pray, could wo havo j dono that, considering tho difficulties wo havo had In strengthening our pres- cnt navy and building a merchant ma- rlne? There is but one naval power In the S Far , East, but it reputation Is such, s particularly on tho Pacific Coast, that i public opinion both cast and west of tho Rocky Mountains would havo united against our denuding the Western ocean of fighting, craft if tho Panama s Canal were not In existence. Assuming tha.t Japan would havo tho temerity to I send a force to attack us, now that tho Panama Canal is in operation, that force $ would bo mot by detachments of our fleet, operating from our bases at Hawaii and other Islands of the Pacific. $ If the Panama Canal w'cro tho objec- Jj tlvo of such a forco. and it passed tho ! first line of our fleet in tho Pacific, It ;! would encounter heavy and probably sufficient fortifications at tho Pacific !; cntranco to tho Panama Canal. I1 Great Britain has her Gibraltar to j' guard the entrance to the Mcdltcrran- j! can and tho mouth of the Suez Canal. And wo have our scries of defenses to !; protect tho Atlantic cntranco to our Mediterranean ho Caribbean and tiro ;! Gulf of Moxico and tho mouth of tho ; Panama Canal. Eastern Defense of-Canal. ;' Thcro arc three great passageways ; from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico j! and tho Caribbean: Ono between Key West, Fla.. and Cuba; another between !; Cuba and Haytl, and a third between !; Porto Rico and tho Virgin Islands. Our I effectiveness for making our theoretical ! inland sea a practical fact begins at ' Pcnsacola. on the Gulf Coast of Florida, whero wo have a hydroaoroplane sta- tion. Key West, a point of great naval ;! Importance, reaches out into the Gulf 'I Stream at tho narrowest point of the passago between tho United States and !; Cuba, and ninety miles across tho Gulf ',' Stream Is tho great friendly harbor of ;! Havana. Beyond Havana wo havo a series oT defenses 'aBout which the jxo- pie of tho United States as a whole j' know little, but which have been grad- 5 ually extended and strengthened ever J c since tho Panama Canal began to tako 5 form as an American project. j At the east end of Cuba tho United States owns tho harbor and naval sta- i ; tion of Guantanamo, a harbor with ; suillcient capacity to furnish anchorage 5 ; for the entlro American fleet. Separat- Ing Cuba and Haytl is one of the two I great passages between the Atlantic ) ; and the Caribbean proper which trafllc ; takes en routo to the Panama Canal. S ' Guantanamo guards this passage at tho s Cuban side, and without doubt tha ; United States han a thorough under- standing with Haytl as to tho strategic iaolo St. Nicholas, which Juts out to- s I ward the passage on tho Haytlcn side. Wo oxorclso protectorates over tho ? .island, which comprises tho two repub- lies oflllaytl and San Domingo, and i ' their harbors would voluntarily open to s us In case of a threat against our Inland ; sea and tho Panama Canal, a fact con- ; firmed in the present war. ; Beyond Haytl and San Domingo Is ) ' Porto Rico, owned by tho United States; I and boyond Porto Rico Is the final i ; great joccan highway for traffic between tho Xtlantlc and tho Panama Canal. And just across that passage, beyond s Porto Rico, is our real Gibraltar the Virgin Islands (SL Thomas and Its fel- lows), which wo recently bought from Denmark for ?23.O00.000 and which I could havo been bought In tho days or w.ooo.oco. Hamilton's Childhood Home. Beyond St. Thoma3 Is a now land of romance for romance abounds this sldo throughout the inland soa also tho training grounds of Lord Nolson, tho birthplace of Napoleon's queen, tho childhood home of Alexander Hamilton. Moro Important to modern-day history and to tho defenses of our Inland sea ! Js the fact that thu islands of tho region, from St. Thomas to the main- ; land of South America, now aro In tho hands of tho cations that controlled them In their days of romance, our as- J eoclatcs In this war, France and Great Britain. ' Thoso islands are Santa Lucia, Guade-loupe, Guade-loupe, Martlnlquo and tho lessor ones. down past Barbados to Trinidad, hug- ing tho very coast of Venezuela on tho ! mainland. ', It is of incidental importance that fur- ! thcr down the mainland of South Amer- lea, Just nround tho corner, as It wore, ;! from Trinidad, are British and Fronch ; Guiana. Theso aro without Important harbors, to bo sure, but they aro colo- !; nles of our friends which adjoin tho j' southern boundary of Vchezuola, least friendly of the east coast South Amerl- can countries in Its attitude toward the United States. Boyond Fronch Guiana. !j to end our voyage in that direction, Ilea tho mouth of the Amazon and, tho long ; coast lino of our good Portuguese friend, ', Brazil. i Outsido our inland sea, Britain owns the Bahamas, off tho southern point of Florida, and tho Bermudas, ott our At- ;' (antic coast, tho latter being a British naval base. England has also a naval ', base at Halifax. No other European ! power has a military foothold within striking distance of tho Caribbean In tho ' Atlantic Great Britain also owns th? ; Island of Jamaica, within our Inland sea, and tho colony of British Honduras. Hondu-ras. So much for tho military importance of the Panama Canal and our Inland sea nnd the measures for Its defence from the outside. Fucl oil production has been linked up in this article alon? (jwlth the Panama Canal as ono of our greatest assets in the American Mediterranean. Med-iterranean. Having had a broad panoramic pano-ramic view of tho "Inland sea." lot un now turn to the oil factors at Tamplco and elsewhere, which, In conjunction with the canal and other values, make this inland sea a naval necessity to the United States. In tho first place, as to tho Importanc6 of tho Tampico oil fields, there is a British naval oil baso at Tamplco, as before pointed out, and from thoro for a considerable period has como moro than "half of tho fuel oil for the British Navy's war operations. What is tho extent of the field? Tho United States consular representative represen-tative at Tamplco recently has reported on Its potential- oil productivity. Ho put3 It at 03,000 barrels a day. An-othor An-othor Investigator puts tho dally production pro-duction during the summer months of 1017 at 1,039,000 barrels. But let us stand on tho figures of tho Unltod States consular arrcnt. ? Eight hundred- and thrco thousand barrels dally moans 293,000,000 barrols In 305 days. If tho 1,039,000 barrel cstl-! cstl-! mate were used as a basis that would ( mean a potential production in a yoar or J upward of -100,000.000 barrols. Tho total production of tho entire ! United States for 101(1 was only 300.700.- 000 barrels. ; Utilizing a DIoscl engine, ono ton of ; oil Is roughly oquivalont to six tons of coal in fuel value; under a bollor a ton of oil equals about throe tons of coal. Tamplco. Mexico, and the gulf ends of plpolines from oil flolds of the United Slates can furnish moro oil to a navy having access to our Inland sea than ! could be gotten in all tho rest of the ; world combined by a navy shut out ; from that sea. ' Is It not to our Intorests to protoct ! that sea and cultivate friendly rola- J lions with all tho countries that thrive thoroln and thereabout? Is it an area. ' so close at hand that our stateemon and our publicists and our business men ! are liable to underestimate its im-portanco im-portanco as thoy look beyond to South J America proper, or turn to the dovelop- ' mont of China and Russia? ' Gold made Alaska, and when the !; Klondike was "uncovered the war dogs j! of throe nations strained at their '' lushes while Great Britain. Russia and '! the Unltod States oxamlned interna- tional titles. They have crouched and growled more than once over the ;' asphalt of Vonozuela and the rubber of Ihe Orinoco. Geld and diamonds in South Africa and followod the Jameson raid and tho Boor war. To a naval power oil ;! riches are more Important today than '', gold and diamonds. In its overseas ' relations a nation's strength Is meas- ured by Its naval strength. ; Suppose a new Gtaaa Pool were sud- ; denly discovered In Cuba? Suppose a ' new Spindle Top should spurt forth an ' I I ocean of oil in Colombia, vjuun fen of tho Panama Canal? Suppoie tft tj other Dos Bocas and a Ccrro Ar i i should suddenly begin heaving cntiJJ (ifmn millions of barrels of oil into tho air t pgi I Venezuela, oven as the other Dos Boca and the other Cerro Azul did after titf. ihar burst from control in a supcrCcufif fejjj D similar terrain Jn Mexico? Yhit 1' Qt;ea S new Cushing should develop in Cu Cerniai ;! RIcn, or a new Hcaldton In Pausai a j; What If tho West Indies should pr-i jlif !; ently come to exceed the unporlanM 'AijCfrcu tho oil world of tho Dutch East Ioia'iajQ (0 l' Central America become a steend He- Sk, mania, northern South America acM" ' j, Baku? j ll Bol Theso arc not idle speculations. "Oif i5va f like gold, "Is where you find it." Eft3; itla tu drill holo in tho tropics is a pnwM f-ltace 5 To bo sure, tho phraso is ovcrncrW gfea 0j i by tho stock profiteers: not cwy drJ fe holo will produco oil. If such were UJ. lU co!ne caso, "wlldcatting" would low Ja lie a h glamor and tho oil reserves of W fa; world would not bo in their pre"! jpi op state- And, Incldontalb'. tho oU lJ pperj 5 market of today, with its comrnerc b tragedies and pitfalls, would b l ' other story. ', A World Storage House. J . But Spindle Top was merely n j tjW-S tjW-S accountcd-for mound one day, and U ; Ml S townsfolk pointed the linger of icora- j tho so-called "dodderer" who t planted a derrick at its base. Tbe W after, men at tho far ends of lie i"J ; dropped the things thoy were dolcf :j ; hooded for Beaumont on th J j! coast of our Mediterranean. The t. j S torj' of oil is full of such eperUcuUr . S cldonts. H,' , A soctlon like that within oor l-. I bog. buying what Jt did from ibe Itj of tho world whon Grant uIW .. I !' manifest destiny and selling 5 then did to tho rest of the Tforid ,l S ono thmg. An area of that srei cij tent and fertility-, lying i' dJLijtf I ! the broad ocean highway ol the V J ! centering at the Panama CaoU,Jli(l ifl ; sesslng naval stratoglo ' which could mean the death e. ' United States and of democracy c : Western Hemisphere If MnlrT vj European powors. having I borders most of the world's c.;Tj and a preponderance of the worW - , ; oil Is anothor. . y Such an area, BUddcnly rj ' military Importance given the of the discovery of further fields and its buying power rw of a producing oil district In" ; , what it now is-that wouJd be u j Our interest today, in the 1 guarded by Pensscoto. Ha-ana, Guantanamo, Perio i" ' St. Thomas, is the Panama C i igr in Cuba nnd tbe "d of the tropic, plus the vast ou T.mplco, plus the & plcratlons herein outHaed. ri" , world's demand which t IP w Iiosslng tho world's Poct J plus the fact Uat oil I, W coal as a nar fuel-pHw Jyf i that the Caribbean is U e"r.-tfjt , the knifed Sutes to Son -physically and prcholofficay. 1 if |
