The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-28

/ RangoOn, Burma. That boastful Amer
/ lean who takes pride in the commonly
/ accepted theory that the United States
was the first country in the world to pro-
/ Guce petroleum and an oil trust must
humble himself before the unbusineSs-lil1e
/ Burmese. For more than two hundred
ana IiTty years the BUSINESS of producing
ana reTlning petroleum oils and bi-prOd-
l ucts has been pursued in Burma by
trust Wnlch was 50 close q corporation
tnat II might well give points even to
I the beloved Standard OIL itself That
ancient trust has not terminated, although
II mas undergone two great changes in
FORM and within the last two years the
burma Oh company emerged from q two
years Dattle-royal with Mr.. John d.
kOckefeller,s corporation with it's colors
/ DraVely flying and the laurels of victory
set ABOUT its greasy brow. incidentally,
II may De mentioned that the oil indus
| Try Is the most important in Burma and
mat II IS a source Of great and growing
wealth.
About the time that the inhabitants Of
Massachusetts were reduced to a pit
tance Of five grains Of corn for Thanks
giving dinner. q Burmese genius. who
tradition declares was a woman, con-
| celVed the notion of digging for oil. A
crude, WaXy pc trOleum had been SKINNED
on the tops of shallow ponds and used
Z both Tor fabrication and illumination
since a time when the memory of man
runneth not to the contrary. But the
digging was stroke of genius. Pits We're
sunk INTO the ground, and the Oil-sand
springs discovered. These pits were sunk
deeper and deeper, until they went down
80 or 500 feet Men went down into the
pits with buckets to gather up the oil,
and were hauled up with their freight at
the end of rope, TO the other extremity
of which was attached a yoke OF bull
locks or half dozen men in harness.
The bullocks, or the men, ran down
| long inclined plane and pulled up the rope
over a creased wooden bar. Even the
windlass was unknown. The gases. in the
pit were so foul that no man could re-
main below for longer time than three
or four minutes Naturally the process
OF oil production was slow, but it paid.
As paying proposition, it was deemed
wise to keep the business in the family of
/ the original genius. Before the neigh
bOrS knew what was going on, the family
trict where oil was known to exist. After
several generations the family grew to
| be so numerous that more distinct form
of organization was necessary. Thus
came into existence the close corporation
of the "YOya.' There were twenty-four
families represented, and the pdrticipa-
! ton in the rights of the Goya descended
in strict order Of primo5eniture TO the eld-
est son in the eighteen families of which
the male line was head, and to the cid
est daughter in the remaining six fam
| lilies in which the female line ruled.
The head of each Of these families was
known as TWin-ss-yO and the twenty
four elected one of their number to be
president under the title Twn-gyi-min.
D
permission to one Of the Yoya families
for permission to sink a we'll That per
mission, II granted, vas subject to the
approval Of the president. who was thus
empowered to limit the supply of oil to
the condition of the market.
It was not long before the members Of
the YOya had too much money to permit
them to soil their hands with work. so
the Twln-sa, or diggers, were admitted
| from the outside, given wells and per-
mission to dig. Such an independent
well had to pay a fixed royalty to the
YOya, and also had to sell its entire prod
uct to the same cOrporatiOn-an arrange
ment bearing a striking resemblance to
/ that imposed upon independent oil pro-
dUCers in later days and distant lands.
After a long time the YOya became so
rich and powerful that il was a menace
to the state, having almost as much power
as the petty king Of Mandalay in whose
domnions the oil field was located. Be
ing unfettered by constitutional TestFc-
lions or bOthersome political machinery,
King MindOn stepped in and constituted
Royal Oil monopoly. He left the YOya in
possession of its ancient rights, and told
the corporation and the world that the
production of oil must remain independ-
| emit But he required in the interest of
the public welfare, that all the oil should
be sold to him at a price which he fixed.
That was in 1886. just at the dawning of
the age OF petroleum in the United States.
King Mindon could not possibly have
copied any western ideas in this move
ment, whatever precedent ne may have
established for the guidance Of those who
hold the petroleum business in trust for
the use OF mankind.
But the British advance swept over
King NindOn's realm and put an end to
his power. In his stead, SO far as the
oil business was concerned, there arose
and reigncd a proper British joint stock
company, the Burma Oil company. That
concern left the TWin-sa in possession of
their property, but bought and vended the
oil. Finally the experiment OF drilling
do
pean fashion, was tried. The result was
practical failure. Then American aid was
sought, the cable drill brought into use.
the wells were driven down TO 1No0 and
1900 feet, the deep springs in the rich
sand were found, and, Just twenty years
ago, the modern Burma oil industry had
its birth.
The British still control the field in a
financial way, although the lands and
wells are owned by natives Of the old
Yoya stock, or Chinese and native specu-
/ latOrs who have acquired land on chance
The actual work I'm the field Is done
by Americans. Not long ago an Amsri-
can became involved in a quarrel with
a native and was arrested on a charge
of attempted murder. II WIS proposed
to try him summarily before a local judge
without benefit Of counsel and without
a jury. Petitions were circulated pray
ing the government to have him tried In
RsngOon before a jury Of his peers. Ihe
petition, which was formal and most re-
spectful was reinforced by the quiet
whisper that a summary trial of the
American on such a serious charge would
result in a complete cessation Of the oil
business in that particular field, for every
drill was being operated by an American.
Whether such threat was necessary or
not, the man was taken TO RsngOOn, tried
by a Jury and acquitted.
The great American company the
Standard was not successful in its ef-
forts to dominate the financial end o.
the Burma oil business. 4 great war Of
competition vas launched against the
Burma company in India. and the Ameri-
can company delivered some telling
blows. The Burma company retaliated by
going into territory heretofore exclusive /
" belonging to the trade of the Stand
ard. For several years the war went on
at a ruiuOus rate, but two years ago the
American concern agreed to cOmprO- I
mise. The Burma company now has its I
natural sphere of influence in the In /