Evening star., 1914-04-26

I s.. n0o.ooO in She'll ordinary shares. and
100000 in cash. 60 per cent of which
Is provided by the Royal Dutch"
! The latest information concerning the
efforts of the foreigners to get hold OF
the American oil resources shows that
the General Petroleum. Limited. has OBJ
! tanned an option on the controlling stock
Of the Union Oil Company for 100000 ,O0f
and that negotiations for the sale are
now on. The General Petroleum. Limited
| has already acquired a tract of forty
acres at Point Fermin, San Pedro har-
Dor, near Los Angeles. Cal. and is said
to be planning large tank farm for
the storage of oil prior to shipment. and
is also to erect great factory for the
manufacture of Diesel engines. which
operate on oil. 1t has also come to the
ington that the Shell Trading and Trans
port Company has acquired eighty acres
OF land in the midway field of California
| for an oil tank and station.
E, 1t is knowledge of this situation ano
| also what the navies of other countries
are doing to obtain a supply of oil tina,
led the Navy Department the other day
| to advance a rather unique proposition
| to Congress, which has not yet been
acted upon, because the members have
not yet recovered their breath. In the
| first place. the navy has decided that
| in the future all battleships and other
ships of the navy are to be equipped 70
burn oil. That is said to be settled
pOIlcy, ana IS DdSeO upon greater sus-
tanned speed with oil, increased radius
of action. absence of smoke. ease of fir.
| ing reduction in space for boilers and
reduced number of men for operating
| The Navy Department believes and
makes the statement that the military
advantages which are to be gained by
building oil-burning ships are sufficient
| to justify almost any cost for fuel. and
that the ships which burn only Oil fuel
| have a distinct military advantage over
Iii ,. htfr IN- G.
ent fiscal year the navy used 16,OOO.Ooo
gallons of oil. and for the next fiscal
| year the estimate is 3O,OOO,O0O gallons,
with the consumption increasing very
rapidly as the new ships come into COM
mission The navy has been fearful of
the ever-increasing cost of oil for power
purposes, and, learning that the United
States still owned large areas OF OIL
lands in California, its proposition to
Congress was that these lands should
be retained for the use of the navy. the
government to drill the wells and pro-
duce the oil.
Investigation proved that the California
oil lands supposed to belong to the
United States were in litigation and that
it might be impossible to obtain control
OF them. The next proposition of the
Navy Department was that the govern
| ment should lease oil lands. Tt has been
figured that the navy could produce its
own oil for practically nothing by selling
the by-products. the gasoline. kerosene
and paraffin. This suggestion might
frighten some members of Congress. who
products. would 1t not be directly COM
peting with private enterprise?" In the
meantime the British navy is going right
ahead. the sum of $500. 900 having been
asked for oil reserves. The officials OF
this navy reported to parliament that oil
IN large quantities had already been pur-
chased and that there will be no difficulty
| in obtaining oil in the future
:: !:
BY the time another fiscal year rolls
round Miss Julia C. Lathrop. the head of
the children's bureau,
1ne CnlldrenS will be better fortified
Rvr.o, to measure wits with
congressional com
mittee than she was a short while ago.
Bureau chiefs of years experience know
what an inquisition the committees are.
when appropriations are being asked for
and all have learned to be cautious and
conservative of speech, realizing that any
weakness in their argument would likely
be used against their appropriations on
the floor of the House.
Miss Lathrop, enthusiastic with intense
interest in her work. answered the ques-
tlons of the committee freely, and, some
the public health service, certain of the
| members endeavored to show that this
older service was now doing what the
new children's bureau wished to do. Miss
Lathrop testified that whenever she want
ed information she got it from the public
health service. and added that DIR. Rupert
Blue treated her most courteously.
Pressed further along this line of argu-
| ment, Miss Lathrop resorted to wom-
anly eXpedient and answered that she
q a n ba
public health service for information.
This was too good for Representative
johnson of South Carolina to keep all to
himself and when the proposed increased
bureau in the House the other day he
| repeated the conversation and then add
ed: Therefore she wants a bureau OF
her own. or division of her own, to
duplicate the work. Do you gentlemen,
in your sober moments want to say that
| a great bureau (the public health serv-
ice) sustained at cost of more than
a million dollars year shall not be
called upon to furnish the information
that it has gathered. but that a separate
division shall be established for that serv-
ice? If you do. vote for this amendment
in this stampede
The House evidently agreed with Miss
Lathrop's contention that she did not
| want to be constantly asking the public
health service for information. for it
granted her the increased appropriation
| which she sought.
X *
The utter dependence of the United
States on foreign countries for some of
the latest develop
Royalty on ments in power
r: r producers was hui
before the House committee on naval
affairs recently when Rear Admiral Grif-
fin admitted that after a most thorough
| investigation of the various types of
! heavy oil engines the navy had been
forced to select a German make for one
Of the American vessels.
The admiral told the committee that
the German firm was to be paid $32 ,O9S
for the plans and for license to manu-
| facture two of the engines, each of o50O
horsepower. The engines, which are to
be placed in the twin-screw oil fuel shin
now building at the Mare Island navy
yard, are now being made at the New
York navy yard. If they are successful
1t will be necessary to pay royalty to the
German company before other similar
engines can be built. Rear Admiral
Griffin further explained that all of the
the market are Of foreign design. This
declaration interested the members of
| the committee and they brought out the
| fact that the United States Navy is pay
ing royalty of so cents per horsepower
on turbine engines, the royalty on the
hattleship New York, with $4,000 horse
| power, being $4,000.